Feminist Anthropology Research Articles

Finding Empowerment through Continuing Training – Spanish Women’s Perceptions

Empowerment refers to a positive change in the holistic well-being. In this study, the discourse of empowerment is discussed in the light of continuing training process among women in an Andalusian village, in Southern Spain. The study leans on critical pedagogy and feminist anthropology, through which the empowerment process was studied. This is an ethnographic study and a part of a wider fieldwork made during 2003-2007. The informants were woman who attended in a regional continuing education program which aim was at prevent and decrease unemployment as well as at provide further education in growing occupational fields. The empiric data were generated within the training period 2004-2005 during which the informants participated in a course of nursing and health care. Data consist of interviews, field notes, and questionnaires. On the basis of the empirical knowledge, the purpose is to discuss the empowering possibilities that continuing training can offer. Based on the results, the education period appeared an educational intervention enabling a change in women’s subject positions and empowerment at the personal level.

Section News

AbstractASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “Apply for 2014 AFA Dissertation Award, Forman Prize”AAA ANNUAL MEETING | MIDDLE EAST SECTION | Rehenuma Asmi, ed. “MES at the 2013 and 2014 AAA Annual Meetings” by Lara DeebSOCIETY FOR URBAN NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL/GLOBAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Susan Falls, ed. “Submissions Now Being Accepted for Anthony Leeds Prize in Urban Anthropology”SOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA | Maggie Dickinson, ed. “A Note from Out‐Going SANA President” by Julian BrashARCHEOLOGY DIVISION | Kostalena Michelaki, ed. “In Their Own Words: Katie Kirakosian on the Benefits of Joining the AD and Attending the AAA Annual Meeting” by Katie KirakosianCOUNCIL ON ANTHROPOLOGY AND EDUCATION | Melissa Fellin, ed. “Submitting to the Council on Anthropology of Education for the 2014 AAA Annual Meeting: A Note from the 2014 Program Chair” by Bradley LevinsonSOCIETY FOR LINGUISITIC ANTHROPOLOGY | Aaron Ansell and Susanne Unger, eds. “The Lavender Languages Conference Turns 21” by William L LeapASSOCIATION FOR AFRICANIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Jennifer Coffman, ed. “2013 AfAA Reception, Distinguished Lecture and Award Winners: The AAA Annual Meeting in Review” by Jennifer CoffmanARCHEOLOGY DIVISION | Kostalena Michelaki, ed. “In Their Own Words: Chris Shephard on the Benefits of Joining the AD and Attending the AAA Annual Meeting” by Christopher ShephardASSOCIATION FOR POLITICAL AND LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Leo Coleman and Allison Fish, eds. “Research Directions in Neurolaw: How Neuroscience Might Challenge Legal Anthropology” by Barbara FaeddaAAA 2013 ANNUAL MEETING | SOCIETY FOR EAST ASIAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Heidi Lam and Yi Zhou, eds. “AAA 2013 Invited Session Spotlight: Reflections on “Precarious Time: Discussions on the Un/Doing of East Asia”” by Timothy GitzenCULTURE AND AGRICULTURE | Elizabeth A Olson and Greg de St Maurice, eds. “The ExtrAction Topical Interest Group: Anthropology at the Frontiers of Energy Development” by Thomas W PearsonSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION | Christian S Hammons, ed. “The Clifford Geertz Prize and Other Awards in the Anthropology of Religion”EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY SOCIETY | Siobhán Mattison or Adam Howell Boyette, eds. “Evolution and Violence” by Keith F OtterbeinSOCIETY FOR MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Megan Carney, ed. “What's in a Name? Reflections on Cultural Sensitivity and Messaging in Cookstove Programs” by Nathaniel MulcahySOCIETY FOR EAST ASIAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Heidi Lam and Yi Zhou, eds. “Letter from the SEAA President”” by Li ZhangSOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES | David Henig, ed. “Society for Anthropological Sciences Spring Meeting 2014”SOCIETY FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Nadia El‐Shaarawi, ed. “SPA Announces International Early Career Scholar Travel Grant”SOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES | David Henig, ed. “Cultural Models: Genesis, Methods, and Experiences”SOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES | David Henig, ed. “Congratulations to Giovanni Bennardo”

Bridging over Troubled Water? : A Native Feminist Anthropologist's Thoughts on "Bridging" Inside and Outside of Anthropological Studies of Japan in Japan(Part 2: Round-table Discussion - Bridging the Anthropology of Japan Inside and Outside Japan,The Internationalization of Japanese Cultural Anthropology and the Attempt to Strengthen the Overseas Dissemination of Information,The 1^ JASCA International Symposium)

Bridging over Troubled Water? : A Native Feminist Anthropologist's Thoughts on "Bridging" Inside and Outside of Anthropological Studies of Japan in Japan(Part 2: Round-table Discussion - Bridging the Anthropology of Japan Inside and Outside Japan,The Internationalization of Japanese Cultural Anthropology and the Attempt to Strengthen the Overseas Dissemination of Information,The 1^ JASCA International Symposium)

IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH A SAFE SPACE FOR RELIGIOUS SISTERS? CHARTING THE AFRICAN TERRAIN USING THREE CASE STUDIES

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from the Vatican asked the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the US on 18 April 2012 to revise and place itself under the control of an archbishop. 1 To date, there have been unsolicited visitations from the Vatican to the same religious women in the US from 2009-2011. 2 These events are examples of de facto gender-based discrimination within the Catholic Church, which stultify religious sisters by the Church’s hierarchies, and prompt the question: ‘Is the Catholic Church a safe space for religious sisters?’This article uses a historical review to trace the trajectory of religious sisters in the Catholic Church across the ages to the present, in an attempt to analyze how sisters have been/are being constructed in the Church. Using feminist anthropology, the article analyzes various Church documents which show how women’s identities have been constructed. The analysis includes examining how the sisters also construct ‘who they are’ in the different eras of the Church’s life. In addition, profiles of three African religious sisters are used as case studies to argue that through personal agency and education, sisters have negotiated and constructed the Church’s space into safe space.

The politics of Eros: ritual dialogue and egalitarianism in three Central African hunter‐gatherer societies

It has become standard practice within feminist anthropology to repudiate any essential relationship between the biological body and cultural identity. In recent years, the ongoing deconstruction of the body has come to seem the only ‘natural’ fact. By contrast, this article seeks to reconnect sex, power, and culture in a positive sense, by identifying a political system in which power is kept in motion through the body. Literally dancing it out, organized Mbuti or Yaka gender groups perform a recurrent ritual repartee where power is continually churned up and funnelled back and forth between coalitions. The graphic somatic language that emerges through these dances suggests an alternative power‐principle: kinetic, erotic, and fundamentally non‐coercive. Here, the drawing back of the collective eye to the anatomical nature of power, with the simultaneous ritual de‐privatization of ‘biology’, explodes the body out into a collective political force. The cultural visibility of the female procreative body in such contexts is striking. Using the core theme of dialogism, I rethink the creative potential of sexual duality, and work towards a new understanding of gender, power, and the body.

Bringing polyphony one step further: Relational narratives of women from the position of difference

Synopsis In this article I explore the findings of a narrative research project which created space for polyphony and shared authorship. This project is part of my long-time desire to engage with polyphonic writing as part of my academic work. In the beginning, experimental and feminist anthropology was the primary influence on my approach to polyphony. That approach was somewhat limited by the positioning of myself as the researcher. In this project, I tried to bring this experience one step further by sharing authorship with 15 women who participated in an intensive group interaction and writing class on biographies that I organized with a colleague. I explore the achievements and the challenges that arose from this experiment and show how it enabled three levels of polyphony: 1) producing relational multiple narratives; 2) sharing the power of authorship; and 3) providing agency and alternative voices to counter the dominant discourse.

Section News

Abstract:ASSOCIATION OF LATINA AND LATINO ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Alex Chavez and Santiago Guerra, eds. “An Undergraduate Perspective on Coyotaje: Or How I Came to Document Border‐Crossings at the South Texas‐Mexico Border” by Lupe FloresSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION | Jennifer Selby, ed. “Review of ‘Language, Charisma, and Creativity: Ritual Life in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal’” by Neena MahadevSOCIETY FOR LINGUISITIC ANTHROPOLOGY | Aaron Ansell and Bonnie Urciuoli, eds. “Language, Social Justice and the Media” by Bonnie UrciuoliASSOCIATION OF BLACK ANTHROPOLOGISTS | karen g williams, ed. “Library of Congress Changes Subject Heading from Voodooism to Vodou” by Gina Athena UlysseSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF EUROPE | Tracey Rosen, ed. “Learning from, and Contributing to, European Uprisings Against Corruption, Austerity and Neoliberalism” by Andrej Kurnik and Maple RazsaNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STUDENT ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Keri A Canada, ed. “Be(com)ing the Scholars We Know We Are” by Kiran JayaramSOCIETY FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Ronda L Brulotte, ed. “2013 Roseberry Nash Graduate Student Award Competition”MIDDLE EAST SECTION | Rehenuma Asmi, ed. “MES at the 2012 and 2013 AAA Annual Meetings” by Lara DeebSOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGY IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES | Lloyd Miller, ed. “Learning by Doing Anthropology” by Barbara JonesSOCIETY FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Ronda L Brulotte, ed. “2013 Whiteford Graduate Student Award in Applied and Public Anthropology”ASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “Teaching Feminist Anthropology” by Jessica Smith RolstonANTHROPOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY | Amelia Moore, ed. “Taking Another Look at Protected Areas and Migration: What do Migrants Think?” by David M. HoffmanSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF EUROPE | Tracey Rosen, ed. “2013 Graduate Student Paper Competition Finalists” by Tracey RosenSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF EUROPE | Tracey Rosen, ed. “Learning from, and Contributing to, European Uprisings Against Corruption, Austerity and Neoliberalism” by Andrej Kurnik and Maple RazsaSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION | Jennifer Selby, ed. “Signs of an Unmarked Faith: Visions of Secularism, Catholicism and Islam in Paris” by Elayne OliphantAMERICAN ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY | Caitrin Lynch, ed. “AES in Today's Anthropology: An Interview with Sally Engle Merry (Part 1 of 3)” by Jessica HardinAMERICAN ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY | Caitrin Lynch, ed. “AES in Today's Anthropology: An Interview with Sally Engle Merry (Part 2 of 3)” by Jessica HardinAMERICAN ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY | Caitrin Lynch, ed. “AES in Today's Anthropology: An Interview with Sally Engle Merry (Part 3 of 3)” by Jessica HardinASSOCIATION FOR AFRICANIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Jennifer Coffman, ed. “Teaching Africa”AMERICAN ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY | Caitrin Lynch, ed. “AES's 2013 Elsie Clews Parsons Prize”COUNCIL ON ANTHROPOLOGY AND EDUCATION | Melissa Fellin, ed. “Reflections on Anthropology and Education” by Melissa FellinSOCIETY FOR HUMANISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY | Kristen Ghodsee and Rose Wellman, eds. “Writing Ethnographies that Ordinary People Can Read” by Kristen GhodseeSOCIETY FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Ronda L Brulotte, ed. “IV Spring Conference of the Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology” by Gabriela Vargas‐Cetina and Steffan Igor Ayora DiazASSOCIATION FOR AFRICANIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Jennifer Coffman, ed. “Art around the World: Kenya and Virginia” by Jennifer Coffman

Section News

Abstract:SOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF FOOD AND NUTRITION | Meredith Gartin, ed. “Gardens Feed and Fuel Grassroot Organization: The Greening of Detroit” by Benjamin McShane‐JewellARCHEOLOGY DIVISION | Kostalena Michelaki, ed. “Growing Beyond Leviathan: What Role for Archaeology?” by Christopher WitmoreSOCIETY FOR LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY | Aaron Ansell and Bonnie Urciuoli, eds. “Imagining a Deaf Utopia” by Abigail J RosenthalASSOCIATION FOR POLITICAL AND LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Leo Coleman and Allison Fish, eds. “PoLAR will have a 2012 Impact Factor” by Oona SchmidSOCIETY FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Ronda L Brulotte, ed. “Immigration Reform and Immigrants” by Jeffrey H CohenSOCIETY FOR ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY | Rahul Oka, ed. “Society for Economic Anthropology Joins AAA” by Rahul OkaSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF EUROPE | Tracey A Rosen, ed. “Anthropology of Europe, Anthropology on Campus” by Jonathan L LarsonASSOCIATION OF LATINA AND LATINO ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Alex Chavez and Santiago Ivan Guerra, eds. “Why We Still Need the DREAM Act and More” by Mariela Nuñez‐JanesEVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY SOCIETY | Adam Howell Boyette, ed. “EAS and Interdisciplinary Collaborations: The Culture and the Mind Project” by Adam Howell BoyetteANTHROPOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY | Amelia Moore, ed. “Understanding Ecological and Social Resilience in Island Systems” by Jennifer Newell and Felicity ArengoASSOCIATION OF BLACK ANTHROPOLOGISTS | karen g williams, ed. “Thoughts on Receiving the John L Gwaltney Native Anthropology Scholarship” by Melanie Angel MedeirosSOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES | David Henig, ed. “Society for Anthropological Sciences on Facebook”SOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES | David Henig, ed. “Congratulations on the Book Cultures of Migration”ASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “The Sexed and Gendered Body: Comments on the Bioarchaeology of Sex and Gender” by John J Crandall and Molly K ZuckermanNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRACTICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY | Lisa Henry and Jo Aiken, eds. “SfAA Annual Meeting Highlights Opportunities for the Practice of Anthropology in the 21st Century: NAPA members reflect on the 2012 SfAA Annual Meeting” by Jo AikenMIDDLE EAST SECTION | Rehenuma Asmi, ed. “MES Awards and Statement on Gaza”ASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “AFA Dissertation Award Deadline is April 15”SOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES | David Henig, ed. “Best Student Paper in Cognitive Science”BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY SECTION | Julienne Rutherford, ed. “Introducing BAS Editor Julienne Rutherford”SOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES | David Henig, ed. “Online Courses on Research Methods”SOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION | Jennifer Selby, ed. “Clifford Geertz Prize Words of Acceptance” by Julie Y ChuNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STUDENT ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Keri A Canada, ed. “Representation and Witnessing: In response to Brian McKenna's “Medical Education Under Siege” and “The Clash of Medical Civilizations”” by Ashish PremkumarSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK | Susanna Donaldson, ed. “SAW Awards 2012 Book Prize” by Jim Weil

Section News

AbstractSOCIETY FOR EAST ASIAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Anru Lee and Bridget Love, eds. “SEAA Panels in San Francisco” by Elise EdwardsSOCIETY FOR URBAN NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL/GLOBAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Susan Falls, ed. “2012 SUNTA Highlights and Developments”NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STUDENT ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Keri A Canada, ed. “Student Anthropologist Board Members” by Keri A CanadaSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF FOOD AND NUTRITION | Alyson Young and Meredith Gartin, eds. “Gardens Feed and Fuel Grassroot Organization: Neighborhood Progress Inc” by Meredith Gartin, with Lilah ZautnerARCHEOLOGY DIVISION | Kostalena Michelaki, ed. “Things Past and Future: An Invitation for Contributions”ASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “Support an AFA Summer Intern” by Sandra Faiman‐SilvaASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “New Books in Feminist Anthropology” by Damla Isik and Jessica Smith RolstonSOCIETY FOR URBAN NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL/GLOBAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Susan Falls, ed. “SUNTA Best Graduate Prize 2012 Goes to Claudio Sopranzetti” by Claudio SopranzettiASSOCIATION OF BLACK ANTHROPOLOGISTS | karen g williams, ed.”2013 ABA Awards” by Aimee Cox, Melanie Bush, Marla Frederick and Kimberly SimmonsASSOCIATION OF LATINA AND LATINO ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Alex Chavez and Santiago Guerra, eds. “Gracias a La Vida y ALLA” by Luis FB PlascenciaSOCIETY FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Ronda L Brulotte, ed. “Hedonism on the High Seas: Cruise Ship Tourism and Cozumel, Mexico” by Christine PrebleSOCIETY FOR CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Deborah A Thomas, ed. “Looking Back, Looking Forward” by Diana BurnettASSOCIATION FOR POLITICAL AND LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Leo Coleman and Allison Fish, eds. “APLA Salon at the AAA Annual Meeting: Karl Llewellyn and Legal Realism Revisited” by Anna OffitSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS | Hillary S Webb, ed. “Join SAC in New Orleans”NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRACTICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY | Lisa Henry and Jo Aiken, eds. “NAPA Student Achievement Award”NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRACTICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY | Lisa Henry and Jo Aiken, eds. “Ralph Bolton Honored by Peruvian Anthropology Colleagues”ASSOCIATION OF LATINA AND LATINO ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Alex Chavez and Santiago Guerra, eds. “Becoming An Il/legal Anthropologist” by Santiago Ivan GuerraSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION | Jennifer Selby, ed. “2012 Geertz Prize Award Presentation” by Lauren Leve

Enacting masculinities: Pleasure to men and violence to women

abstract Feminist anthropologists have shown how women's bodies have been appropriated and rendered ‘docile’ by so called cultural or traditional practices, as well as by discourse. The compelled docility of African women (as that of other women in the global south), is perhaps especially visible within subtly coerced performances within a context of ‘traditional’ masculinised practices, such as unprotected sex, that leave many African women vulnerable and forced to negotiate a host of health concerns around sexually transmitted diseases and of course HIV/AIDS. This is to be seen as a form of violence perpetrated by men against their female partners. However, in probing condom use through a qualitative study with a small group of women, we notice that it is not simply a case of discerning patterns of hegemonic masculinities in relation to condom use or non-use, and that masculinities are also propped up and held together by the relational configurations of practice formed by (mutual) gender relations.

David Graeber's Wunderkammer, Debt: The First 5 000 Years

Graeber’s Debt: The First 5 000 Years has generated extensive commentary in the popular press and has captured the imagination of both activists at the barricades and investment fund managers in the City of London. Everyone is captivated by his critique of the myth of primitive barter. Yet it is a puzzle that a core element of his argument—the myth of primordial debt—has been largely overlooked. This review seeks to redress this oversight and in the process to suggest that Graeber’s emphasis on violence and enslavement, while compelling, is limited by his quest for origins. Feminist anthropology taught us to set aside the question, ‘when did “it” begin’ and instead open up to other questions, beyond the limits and biases the quest for origins presupposes. One wishes Graeber had entered the wonder cabinet he constructed in this book, rather than use it to ground a teleology.

The Myth of Maria and the imagining of sexual trafficking in Brazil

Based upon the contradictory definitions of the crime, the Brazilian movement against trafficking in persons situates itself as a “struggle against modern slavery.” Within this moralistic context, the movement has frequently utilized invented statistics and apocalyptic declarations regarding trafficking in order to achieve greater “advocacy value” among members of the Brazilian public. A key component of this discursive formation has been the creation and promulgation of a mythological view of a “typical” trafficking victim’s experience: what we call “The Myth of Maria, an exemplary trafficking victim.” The present article seeks to follow the history of the Myth of Maria, developing an initial chronology mapped out and analyzed by Adriana Piscitelli in 2004 and extending this into the post-2006 period when Brazil established its first national policies and plans to combat trafficking in persons. We then analyze how the myth ignores many of the realities revealed by the past decade of ethnographic research into trafficking in Brazil. Finally, we conclude with a structuralist hypothesis (drawn from the field of feminist anthropology) regarding the Myth’s continuing unabated popularity among almost all actors in the political field of anti-trafficking policy.

Section News

AbstractARCHEOLOGY DIVISION | Kostalena Michelaki, ed. “Important Deadline Coming Up for AD Sessions at AAA Annual Meeting” by Kostalena MichelakiASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “AFA at the Chicago Meeting” by Debarati Sen and Jennifer PaticoASSOCIATION OF BLACK ANTHROPOLOGISTS | karen g williams, ed. “Letter from ABA President” by Marla FrederickASSOCIATION FOR AFRICANIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Jennifer E Coffman, ed. “Submission Information for 2013 Annual Meeting” by Mary Sundal and David TurkonGENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY DIVISION | Holly Kathryn Norton, ed. “GAD Awards Call for Nominations” by Holly Kathryn NortonSOCIETY FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Ronda L Brulotte, ed. “Venezuelan Democracy and the Politics of Knowledge Production” by Cristobal ValenciaEVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY SOCIETY | Adam Howell Boyette, ed. “What Evolutionary Anthropologists Can Do for Public Health—and How You Can Get Involved” by Bria DunhamNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STUDENT ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Keri A Canada, ed. “Student Anthropologist Board Members” by Keri A CanadaGENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY DIVISION | Holly Kathryn Norton, ed. “Playing Malinowski in the Classroom: Review of Yams! The Game” by Holly Kathryn NortonNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRACTICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY | Lisa Henry and Jo Aiken, eds. “NAPA Members Contribute to New Book Honoring Sol Tax”ANTHROPOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY | Amelia Moore, ed. “A&E's Inaugural Dissertation Workshop” by Sarah BeskyNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRACTICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY | Lisa Henry and Jo Aiken, eds. “Comments from Incoming NAPA President” by Leni BohrenSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION | Robert W Hefner, guest ed. “Review of ‘Questioning French Secularism: Gender Politics and Islam in a Parisian Suburb’ (2012)” by Kim ShivelyNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRACTICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY | Lisa Henry and Jo Aiken, eds. “Praxis Award Now Accepting Submissions” by Leni BohrenSOCIETY FOR URBAN NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL/GLOBAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Susan Falls, ed. “Fighting Foreclosure in the Bay Area and Beyond: SUNTA'S Conversation with Housing Activist Jesse Trepper” by Elizabeth YounglingSOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGY IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES | Lloyd Miller, ed. “High School Student to College Scholar” by Barbara Jones

Feminism, Feminist Anthropology, and Reflexive Anthropology

The paper discusses the contribution of feminist anthropology to the theory and practice of what has recently been called “reflexive anthropology”. Contrary to James Clifford’s thesis that the feminist critique of social sciences has been of lesser significance in the reflexive analysis of ethnographies, the article demonstrates that feminist anthropology – with its distinct epistemology, awareness of historicity or politics, and recognition of gender – has influenced significantly the reflexivization of cultural anthropology.

Teaching how to Look at and View Bodies within Literature

This paper focuses on how to initiate discussions of the regulatory gaze in primary school classrooms through the study of characters in literature. It specifically focuses on two renowned characters in Spanish literature: Xo la (Bernardo At xaga) and Iholdi (Mariasun Landa). These characters are co mposed of a chorus of looks which in turn also look. We shall carefully reflect upon these looks and discuss how we see others, how others see us, and how we would like others to see us. 1. Conceptualisation and Introduction This paper agrees with the theoretical basis of feminist anthropology's claims concerning inequality. The theory holds that the hierarchy between the sexes is the cornerstone of a social order initially dictated by nature, subsequently ratified by customs, and finally leg islated in law. In this regard, the law takes on board the thesis that an attack on a wo man is structural vio lence based on standards and values, on the grounds of unequal hierarchised relations between the sexes. In connect ion with th is structural vio lence, in recent decades the Basque Country (Sp ain) has been heav ily med iatised due to political violence, whereas sexist violence has been silenced even though it has been generated in the same proportion as in the rest of the Spanish State. These two types of violence in the Basque Country match what researcher Johan Galtung defined as instances of structural vio lence. Whe n there is an intent io nal perp et rato r of violence, Galtung defines this as direct violence; when there is no such perpetrator, he defines it as structural or ind irect violence, a type of vio lence arising fro m the structure of society itself. Beh ind these types of v io lence lies the symbolic cultural vio lence present in religion, language, ideology, art, science, law, the media and also in education. The funct ion is qu ite simp le - leg it imis ing d irect and structural v iolence. Thus the patriarchy institutionalises male do minance in vert ical structu res, with ext remely strong correlations between gender and position, legit imised

Feminismos y prostitución en Brasil: una lectura a partir de la antropología feminista

In this article I explore the possibilities offered by a feminist anthropology in order to reflect on one of the main tensions in the contemporary feminist debate. Basing myself on a research about the relationships between feminisms and the debate about prostitution and sex trafficking in Brazil, I analyze those tensions considering how feminists positioned themselves regarding these issues in this country. I perform this analyzes taking into account the notions related with prostitution and sex trafficking in the recent history of Brazilian feminism, situating them in the context of the relationships this movement established with the State and considering the configurations of both in a transnational approach .

Antropólogas y feministas: apuntes acerca de las iniciadoras de la antropología feminista en México

This article presents the contributions of four female authors whose work were crucial for the conformation of feminist anthropology in Mexico. It situates their research and publications in two contexts. The first corresponds to the conformation of research areas interested in the situation of women within the broader trajectory of professional anthropology in Mexico, comprising a historical period ranging from the beginning of the 20th Century up to our day. The second refers to the incorporation of feminist theory and the gender perspective within critical anthropology from the seventies onwards. The central premise is that this process can be analyzed in terms of the creation and gradual delimitation of an epistemic sub-community within anthropology at international level. In this sub-community, important conceptual and methodological influences can be identified, under distinct thematic areas of the discipline.

Section News

Abstract:SECTION NEWSAMERICAN ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY | Caitrin Lynch, ed.ANTHROPOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY | Amelia Moore, ed. “Exploration Science” by Amelia MooreARCHEOLOGY DIVISION | E Christian Wells, ed. “Wendy Ashmore: 2012 Kidder Award Honoree” by Julia A HendonASSOCIATION FOR AFRICANIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Jennifer E Coffman, ed. “Braided Worlds: Long‐term Research and Relationships in Côte d'Ivoire” by Jennifer CoffmanASSOCIATION OF BLACK ANTHROPOLOGISTS | karen g williams, ed. “Social Discontent and New Struggles in Africa” by Janette YarwoodASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “2012 Forman Prize Winners” by Ellen LewinASSOCIATION OF LATINA AND LATINO ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Pablo Gonzalez and Santiago Guerra, eds. “Ethnic Mexican Migrant Families and Property Ownership: Preliminary Ethnographic Data on the Housing Crisis” by Pablo GonzalezASSOCIATION FOR QUEER ANTHROPOLOGY | Marcia Ochoa, ed.Association for the Anthropology of Policy | Vasiliki Neofotistos and Anette Nyqvist, eds. “Anthropology and Transnational Migration: A Focus on Policy” by Marietta L BabaASSOCIATION OF SENIOR ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Paul L Doughty, edBIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY SECTION | Virginia J Vitzthum, ed.CENTRAL STATES ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY | Lauren Anaya and Christina Ortiz, edsCOUNCIL ON ANTHROPOLOGY AND EDUCATION | Janet I Hecsh, ed “Council for Anthropology and Education 2012 Program Highlights” by Rosemary HenzeCOUNCIL FOR MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY | Margaret Bruchac, ed.CULTURE AND AGRICULTURE | Susanna Donaldson and Joan Mencher, eds. “Out Standing in Your Field: Research among Iowa Farmers” by Brandi JanssenEVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY SOCIETY | Siobhán M Mattison, ed. “Human Behavioral Ecology and the City” by Montserrat SolerMIDDLE EAST SECTION | Rehenuma Asmi, ed. “The Abandoned Classroom and the Arab Spring: Notes from Morocco” by Charis BoutieriNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRACTICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY | Lisa Henry, ed. “NAPA Workshops Committee” by Sabrina Nichelle Scott; “NAPA Mentor Committee” by Niel TashimaNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STUDENT ANTHROPOLOGISTS | Keri A Canada, ed. “Frequent Flyer” by Julie M GoodmanSOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES | David Henig,, edSOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGY IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES | Lloyd Miller, edSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS | Hillary S Webb, ed.” Message from New Managing Editors of Anthropology of Consciousness” by Rebecca Lester and Peter BensonSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF EUROPE | Othon Alexandrakis, ed. “Social Movements, Crisis and Experiments in Democracy” by Marianne MaeckelberghSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF FOOD AND NUTRITION | Alyson Young and Meredith Gartin, edsSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA | David Kamper, ed. “Quilt Aesthetics and Social Organization in Cotton Country” by Teri KlassenSOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK | Jeffrey Hoelle, ed. “A Note from the New Editor of the Anthropology of Work Review” by Sarah LyonSOCIETY FOR CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Deborah A Thomas, ed.SOCIETY FOR EAST ASIAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Anru Lee and Bridget Love, eds. “Interviewing China's Revolutionary Artists” by Emily E WilcoxSOCIETY FOR HUMANISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY | Frederic W Gleach and Vilma Santiago‐Irizarry, eds.SOCIETY FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY | Ronda Brulotte, ed. “American Aesthetics and Chinese Copies: New Politics of Artisanship in Oaxaca, Mexico” by Alanna CantSOCIETY FOR LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY | Mark Allen Peterson and Bonnie Urciuoli, eds. “Language, Health, and Social Justice” by Steven P BlackSOCIETY FOR MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Kathleen Ragsdale, ed “Mentoring Series: Working in the Contract Sector” by Jon PoehlmanSOCIETY FOR URBAN, NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL/GLOBAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Susan Falls, ed.SOCIETY FOR VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY | Wendy Dickinson, ed. “On Photography in Africa: Ethnographic Perspectives” by Richard Vokes

Opinion, In Focus and Knowledge Exchange published exclusively online

Abstract:OPINIONLANGUAGE AND CULTURE | Politics Discussion I |“Revisiting Obama's “You didn't build that: When Gesture is a Part of Speech”” by Rich SandovalLeila Monaghan, Jacqueline Messing, and Richard Senghas are contributing editors of the Language and Culture column in Anthropology News.LANGUAGE AND CULTURE | Politics Discussion II |“From Victims to Accusers: Redefining Rape in Today's Political Climate”” by Robin ConleyLeila Monaghan, Jacqueline Messing, and Richard Senghas are contributing editors of the Language and Culture column in Anthropology News.ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR |““Doing” Anthropology in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Being Mindful of the Cultural Landscape” by Jeff SolomonSarah Ono, Heather Schacht Reisinger and Samantha Solimeo are contributing editors of the Anthropology in the Public Sector column in Anthropology News.NOTES FROM THE FIELD |“Mutual Beneficience with Research Assistants” by douglas carl reeserGLOBAL HEALTH |“Healthcare Inter‐culturally and Inter‐linguistically” by Jim Harries and Jeffery L DealINEQUALITY IN AMERICA |“The Great Gatsby Curve Debate” by Kathryn Marie DudleyCOUNTERPOINTS |“Populist Peasant Studies: The Life and Legacy of Ernest Feder” by Eric B RossARCHEOLOGY IN NORTH AMERICA |“The Most Wasteful People Anywhere Anytime, and Archaeology” by Robert MuckleUNDER THE HUMAN RIGHTS UMBRELLA |“The Exile” by Linda RabbenMIDDLE EAST MUDDLE |“No Olive Branch in Gaza” by Daniel Martin VariscoWHERE THE SOUL MEETS GENOME |“DNA Shall Set You Free” by Jason SilversteinTHE WORLD IS CURVED |“The Progressive Grotesque” by Michael E HarkinIN FOCUS: POWER“After Aceh's Peace” by Leslie Dwyer“When Having “Rights” is not Right: Inequality in Inheritance for Muslim Women in Bangladesh” by ATM Shaifullah Mehedi and Nehraz MahmudKNOWLEDGE EXCHANGECHANGING THE ATMOSPHERE |“A Snapshot of Climate Change in Rural Tanzania, 2010–2011” by L Jen ShafferSarah Strauss is the contributing editor of Changing the Atmosphere, the AN column of the AAA Global Climate Change Task Force.SECTION NEWSASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY | Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “Preserving the Past and Preparing for the Future” by Jane HenriciKeywords:human rights, public anthropology, applied anthropology, fieldwork, archaeology, climate change, linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology, power

Más allá del discurso sobre la ‘inmigración ordenada’: contratación en origen y feminización del trabajo en el cultivo de la fresa en Andalucía

Food production globalization, the feminization of work and international migration flows are some of the fundamental dynamics that converge in the current context of intensive agriculture in Andalusia. This article seeks to address the social construction of the labor market in the intensive cultivation of strawberries in Huelva, more specifically in the context of the introduction of a system of quotas and recruitment in country of origin for female workers from Eastern Europe and Morocco. From the perspective of feminist anthropology and on the basis of a qualitative methodology, the following questions are analyzed: the various factors that influenced the adoption of this hiring policy, its characteristic elements, the changes it has caused in the composition of the workforce and patterns of migration, and the forms of organization and segmentation of agricultural work that accompany it. The analysis of these issues will allow for an open debate on the logic and implications of this system, which tends to be defined as the “ideal model of orderly migration”.