The Association for Feminist Anthropology

Last updated
Association for Feminist Anthropology
AbbreviationAFA
Formation1988
Founded at Phoenix, Arizona
Region served
United States of America
LeaderCarla Jones
President-Elect
Jennifer Wies
Parent organization
 American Anthropological Association
Website http://afa.americananthro.org/

The Association for Feminist Anthropology (AFA), a section of the American Anthropological Association, is an American professional organization founded in 1988 to support the development of feminist analytic perspective in all areas of anthropology.

Contents

History

Feminist anthropology is an integrative approach to anthropology, combining the fields of biology, culture, linguistics and archaeology. The discipline originated in the 1970s and developed from two earlier phases: the anthropology of women and the anthropology of gender. [1] Feminist anthropology was formally recognized as a subdiscipline of anthropology in the late 1970s. [2]

The history of the Association for Feminist Anthropology began in 1988, when a group of American anthropologists met in Phoenix, Arizona with the goal of establishing, "in the beginning, an 'anthropology of women' and later, a feminist and gendered anthropology to the discipline". [3] The organization's founding leaders are: Naomi Quinn, Carole Hill, Sylvia Forman, Rayna Rapp and Louise Lamphere. [4] The group recognized the need for anthropologists who studied subjects of gender and gender equality, to have their own professional space within anthropology. The Association for Feminist Anthropology (AFA) was formally established by unanimous vote in the 1988 meeting, [5] and formally approved as a section of the American Anthropological Association, soon afterward. [6]

The beginning years of the AFA saw the establishment of several areas of interest that continue today. Currently, the major themes that are the focus of working commissions within the organization are: Gender and the Curriculum, Women and Human Rights, and the Commission on Women’s Reproductive Rights and Bodily Autonomy. [6]

Awards and scholarship

Michelle Rosaldo Book Prize

AFA's Michelle Rosaldo Book Prize is named after anthropologist, Michelle Rosaldo, the co-editor of Woman, Culture and Society, the 1974 publication that was instrumental in launching the field of feminist anthropology. The first book award is given to an anthropologist who makes an exceptional contribution to the field of feminist anthropology. [7]

Sylvia Forman Prize

The Sylvia Forman Prize is named for the late Sylvia Helen Forman, a founding leader of the AFA, and a dedicated scholar and teacher, whose work was a major contribution to feminist anthropology. The annual award will be given to one graduate and one undergraduate student. [8]

Publications

AFA annual journals

The official journal Voices was published annually until Spring, 2019. The current journal, Feminist Anthropology will began its first term, beginning in July, 2019. [9]

Books

The AFA has published three edited volumes: From Labrador to Samoa: Theory and Practice of Eleanor Burke Leacock, Gender and Race through Education and Political Activism: The Legacy of Sylvia Helen Forman, and Feminism, Nationalism and Militarism. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthropology</span> Scientific study of humans, human behavior, and societies

Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavior, while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values. The term sociocultural anthropology is commonly used today. Linguistic anthropology studies how language influences social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the biological development of humans.

Feminist anthropology is a four-field approach to anthropology that seeks to transform research findings, anthropological hiring practices, and the scholarly production of knowledge, using insights from feminist theory. Simultaneously, feminist anthropology challenges essentialist feminist theories developed in Europe and America. While feminists practiced cultural anthropology since its inception, it was not until the 1970s that feminist anthropology was formally recognized as a subdiscipline of anthropology. Since then, it has developed its own subsection of the American Anthropological Association – the Association for Feminist Anthropology – and its own publication, Feminist Anthropology. Their former journal Voices is now defunct.

Michelle "Shelly" Zimbalist Rosaldo was a social, linguistic, and psychological anthropologist famous for her studies of the Ilongot people in the Philippines and for her pioneering role in women's studies and the anthropology of gender.

Louise Lamphere is an American anthropologist who has been distinguished professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico since 2001. She was a faculty member at UNM from 1976 to 1979, and from 1986 to 2009, when she became a professor emerita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smadar Lavie</span> Israeli anthropologist

Smadar Lavie is a professor emerita of anthropology at the University of California Davis, and a Mizrahi anthropologist, author, and activist. She specializes in the anthropology of Egypt, Israel and Palestine, emphasizing issues of race, gender and religion. She received her doctorate in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley (1989).

Sandra Lynn Morgen was an American feminist anthropologist. At the end of her career, she was a professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon, and previously served as vice provost for graduate studies and associate dean of the Graduate School, and director of the University of Oregon Center for the Study of Women in Society.

Leith Patricia Mullings was a Jamaican-born author, anthropologist and professor. She was president of the American Anthropological Association from 2011–2013, and was a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Mullings was involved in organizing for progressive social justice, racial equality and economic justice as one of the founding members of the Black Radical Congress and in her role as President of the AAA. Under her leadership, the American Anthropological Association took up the issue of academic labor rights.

<i>Woman, Culture, and Society</i>

Woman, Culture, and Society, first published in 1974, is a book consisting of 16 papers contributed by female authors and an introduction by the editors Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere. On the heels of the 1960s feminist movement, this book challenged anthropology's status quo of viewing studied cultures from a male perspective while diminishing female perspectives, even considering women as comparatively imperceptible. It is considered to be a pioneering work.

Irma P. McClaurin is an American poet, anthropologist, academic, and leadership consultant. She was the first female president of Shaw University, and is the author or editor of several books on topics including the culture of Belize, black feminism, African-American history, and her own poetry.

Helen M. Icken Safa was an anthropologist, feminist scholar and academic. Safa focused her work on Latin American studies and she served as president of the Latin American Studies Association from 1983 to 1985. She taught anthropology and Latin American studies at Syracuse University, Rutgers University and the University of Florida. She received the Silvert Award, the highest honor given by the Latin American Studies Association.

Elise L. Andaya is a cultural anthropologist who is currently employed as an Associate Professor of Anthropology by the University of Albany which is the state university of New York. Andaya studies Medical anthropology and gender anthropology and focuses on the effects of gender and citizenship on reproduction and access to healthcare in Cuba and the United States. She attended New York University in New York City, New York. She previously was on the Research Development Committee for the American Anthropological Association, and was a member at large for them from 2014–2017.

Founded in 1975, the Association of Black Anthropologists (ABA) is an American organization that brings together Black anthropologists in an effort to better highlight the history of African Americans, especially in regard to exploitation, oppression, and discrimination. It encourages, in particular, the involvement of Black students, including the recruitment of graduates, and establishes exchanges with African anthropologists. It publishes the journal Transforming Anthropology. The ABA seeks to address theories across academic disciplines that do not accurately represent the experience and oppression of communities of color and to aid and strengthen these theories with the inclusion of an African American historical perspective. It is one of the sections of the American Anthropological Association.

Barbara L. Voss is an American historical archaeologist. Her work focuses on cross-cultural encounters, particularly the Spanish colonization of the Americas and Overseas Chinese communities in the 19th century, as well as queer theory in archaeology and gender archaeology. She is an associate professor of anthropology at Stanford University.

The Michelle Rosaldo Book Prize was established in 2015 by the Association for Femininist Anthropology (AFA) in honor of anthropologist Michelle Rosaldo (1944-1981). Rosaldo is recognized for her research on the Ilongot people of the Philippines and for her leading role in the anthropology of gender. The prize is awarded to a first book by an author that makes a significant contribution to feminist anthropology.

Lucinda Ramberg is an American anthropologist whose work focuses on gender, sexuality, religion and health. She was awarded multiple prizes in 2015 for her first book, Given to the Goddess: South Indian Devadasis and the Sexuality of Religion. Ramberg is associate professor in anthropology and director of graduate studies in the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at Cornell University.

Naomi Robin Quinn was a major figure in cognitive anthropology, with contributions to research methods and cultural models, particularly applied to topics such as American models of marriage and relationships and to child-rearing cross-culturally.

Dána-Ain Davis is a professor of urban studies at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY) and the Director of the Center for the Study of Women and Society.

Florence Evelyn Babb is an American anthropologist, author, editor, academic, and engaged scholar. Babb is Anthony Harrington Distinguished Professor in Latin American Studies and Professor of Anthropology Emerita at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Erin L. Durban is a professor of anthropology and critical disability studies at the University of Minnesota. They are the author of The Sexual Politics of Empire: Postcolonial Homophobia in Haiti, winner of the Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Studies and the National Women's Studies/University of Illinois Press First Book Prize. Durban's scholarship contextualizes LGBT rights in Haiti and created a foundation for the subfield of "queer Haitian studies." In anthropology, Durban's work, especially their article "Anthropology and Ableism," addresses issues of ableism and disability accessibility in ethnographic research methods. In addition to their scholarship, Durban has been an activist since the early 2000s and was recognized with the Mario Savio Young Activist Award "presented each year to a young person with a deep commitment to human rights and social justice and a proven ability to transform this commitment into effective action."

References

  1. ↑ "Feminist Anthropology". University of Davis. Social Science. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  2. ↑ Lewin, Ellen (2006). Feminist anthropology: a reader. Malden: Blackwell. ISBN   978-1405101967.
  3. ↑ "AFA history". Association for Feminist Anthropology. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  4. ↑ de Wet, Emily. "Sometimes an Action Is Ripe to Happen". Anthropology News. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  5. ↑ Mitchell, Winifred; Thompson, Julia (2009). "Association for Feminist Anthropology". Anthropology News. 35 (9): 10–12. doi:10.1111/an.1994.35.9.10.2.
  6. 1 2 "About AFA". Association for Feminist Anthropology. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  7. ↑ "Lucinda Ramberg awarded Michelle Z. Rosaldo Book Prize". Cornell University. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  8. ↑ "Sylvia Forman Prize Competition". Anthropology News. 36 (5): 36. 1995. doi:10.1111/an.1995.36.5.36.
  9. 1 2 "Publications". Association for Feminist Anthropology. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
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