Curriculum Vitae (Short Form) Rae Lesser Blumberg University of Virginia Department of Sociology 102 Randall Hall P.O. Box 400766 Charlottesville, VA 22904-4766 (434) 924-6527 [email protected] Education 1970 Ph.D., Sociology, Northwestern University M.A., Sociology, Northwestern University B.S. (with Distinction), Journalism, Northwestern University Chemistry Major, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL Present Position 1998-present William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia Professor Emerita Department of Sociology, University of California, San Diego Former Positions 1974-1998, Department of Sociology, University of California, San Diego 1970-1974, Departments of Rural Sociology and Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison Theoretical/Research Emphasis I’ve carried out development-related research in 48 countries worldwide to date, in virtually every sector of development (e.g., research on microfinance in 16 countries; on conflict/post-conflict in 14 countries, and on gender and development in virtually all 48). I link research on a wide array of development topics to my two main gender theories, a general theory of gender stratification and a theory of gender and development. The key (although not sole) variable of both is women’s economic power: in most situations, it is posited as the most consequential factor in explaining the level of gender equality in a group. My general theory of gender stratification is aimed at universality, i.e., across human societies around the globe and all of Homo sapiens’ evolutionary history, as well as from micro to macro levels (it even can be applied to our closest relatives, bonobos and chimps). My theory of gender & development focuses on the results of women’s relative economic empowerment vs. disempowerment at levels ranging from the woman to the world economy. Recent work posits and finds women’s economic power to be a virtual “magic potion” for development, whereas their disempowerment is a virtual “poison potion,” linked to low national income growth, low human capital formation and high levels of violence and armed conflict (Blumberg 2016a). Again co-authoring with Samuel Cohn, we’re finishing a new edited volume on development (shortly going to press for Sage). This one focuses on gender and development and emphasizes the “power of the purse”– women’s economic empowerment – and what happens in its presence vs. absence. Additionally, I’m now devoting much of my research and writing on the two extremes of women’s economic empowerment/ disempowerment, using my theoretical and empirical work on the “created biology of gender stratification.” I intend to finish my book, The Queen Midas Chronicles (contracted with Paradigm, which was bought by Routledge), during my Chair sabbatical in spring 2019. Toward that end, I’m also wrapping up research on gender and trade through history and across geography, about which I’ve given various presentations during 2017, with another scheduled for the International Sociological Assn. quadrennial conference in August 2018 in Toronto. My research and teaching began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Venezuela (I taught advanced research methods in sociology in Spanish and directed field research for the Faculty of Economics & Social Sciences, Andres Bello University, Caracas; this included leading an expedition to the headwaters of the Orinoco River to study the Yanomamo (well-known as the “fierce people”) and the less renowned but strikingly more successful and egalitarian Maquiritare. I later returned for two years as resident advisor in sociological and survey research on a Ford Foundation/University of Wisconsin project in Venezuela’s Ministry of Education. I’ve also served for six months as UN/INSTRAW’s Acting Director of Research (the agency’s No. 3 position), at its Dominican Republic headquarters. Positions and Recognition in the 2017-2018 Review Cycle - I’m a co-founder and member of Council of Feminist Development, the Sociology of Development Section’s first American Sociological Association- recognized Subsection. (It also appears to be the first ASA-recognized subsection.) - The BBC broadcast and published a write-up on my 2008 and 2015 research on gender bias in the world’s textbooks (they originally were done for UNESCO as Education for All projects). The written version was translated into a variety of languages (I’m not sure about the broadcasts) and I was sent translations in Chinese and Dutch. - There was competition between Routledge (which published Blumberg and Cohn’s 2016 edited volume, Development in Crisis) and Sage (which published my Gender, Family, and Economy volume) for publication of our forthcoming edited book on Gender and Development. It will shortly go to press at Sage. - I was invited to be main keynote speaker at three professional or international conferences: (1) The Midwest Sociological Society, March 30-April 2, 2017, where I presented new work about the “created biology of gender stratification” as manifested in groups ranging from hunters-gatherers to low education white U.S. males. (2) An early June 2018 international conference on gender and development at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, in which I presented theory and data accounting for differences in levels of gender and development in four regions of Asia. (3) A late June 2018 international conference on bioethics at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, where I elaborated on the bioethics implications of my “created biology of gender stratification” construct. Country Experience 4-1/2 years' residence/research in Venezuela; 1-1/4 years in Bolivia. Shorter stays for research and/or development consulting in: Other Latin America/Caribbean – Ecuador (~30 times), Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica, Curaçao, Trinidad, Costa Rica; Asia/Pacific – India, Thailand, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, China, Sri Lanka, Burma, Australia, Fiji, South Korea, Cambodia, Japan, Afghanistan; Middle East/Europe - Egypt, Israel, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Hungary, former DDR, Kosovo, Ukraine; Sub-Saharan Africa – Nigeria, Swaziland, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe. Desk studies of other African, Asian and Latin American & Caribbean nations; U.S. research, e.g. Census Bureau (2000; 2010). Current Funded Research/Updates on Previously Funded Research - I’m currently engaged in one contract in the 2017-2018 academic year: a justice reform/human rights/police reform USAID/DAI project in Honduras, which has high rates of violence. I’m doing research on (1) how to help poor women victims of violence increase access to justice, (2) how to reduce gender inequality and improve access to justice for women, including those in vulnerable groups (youth at risk of gang violence, the LGBT community, people with disabilities, elderly and the Afro-Honduran Garífuna ethnic group, and (3) how to reduce gender inequality facing women in the three operational branches of the overall justice system: the courts, the police and the prosecutors. So far, I’ve done two research trips (January 13-21 and February 28-March 12, i.e., almost wholly on days when classes were not in session) and will be writing up my results and strategy conclusions by May 15. - I’ve also I continued to work pro bono with colleagues on previously funded Inter-American Development Bank research involving gender bias in the classroom in 4th grade math vs. other classes in Chile and in 6th grade math vs. science classes in the Dominican Republic. Our findings on the videotapes of teacher-students interaction (made by other researchers for other purposes) that emerged from our coding and analysis in both countries now have been written up for publication. One article is currently under journal review (on Chile) and another is shortly going to be submitted for journal consideration (on the Dominican Republic). Selected Publications Books Blumberg, Rae Lesser (with Samuel Cohn), eds. Gender and Development: The Economic Basis of Women’s Power. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (under contract for summer 2018). Blumberg, Rae Lesser and Samuel Cohn, eds. Development in Crisis: Threats to Human Well-being in the Global South and Global North. London & New York: Routledge, 2015 (but dated as 2016 in the volume). Blumberg, Rae Lesser. The Queen Midas Chronicles. Boulder, CO: Routledge (which bought Paradigm Publishers); under contract; in progress. Blumberg, Rae Lesser (with Laurel Schwede and Anna Y. Chan), eds. Complex Ethnic Households in America, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006 Blumberg, Rae Lesser, Cathy A. Rakowski, Irene Tinker and Michael Monteon, eds. Engendering Wealth and Well-Being: Empowerment for Global Change. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995. Blumberg, Rae Lesser, ed. Gender, Family, and Economy: The Triple Overlap. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991. Blumberg, Rae Lesser. Making the Case for the Gender Variable: Women and the Wealth and Well-being of Nations. Washington, DC: Agency for International Development/Office of Women in Development, 1989. Blumberg, Rae Lesser. Stratification: Socioeconomic and Sexual Inequality. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown, 1978. Robert F. Winch, with Rae Lesser Blumberg, Maria-Pilar Garcia, Margaret T. Gordon and Gay C. Kitson. Familial Organization: Quest for Determinants. New York: The Free Press, 1977. Selected Articles and Monographs Blumberg, Rae Lesser. “Stalled Revolution: Women’s Low Economic Power in the Middle East-North Africa/South