This course studies women’s lives and examines how social, cultural, and political constructions of gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, and nation intersect to shape those lives. This particular course is designed to expose students to the breadth of issues and perspectives, as well as the methods and concepts that are encompassed by Women Studies as an interdisciplinary academic discipline. This course is designed to achieve a disciplinary balance with an emphasis on transnational issues relating to women's studies.
Dr. Lin and intercultural community
Dr. Lin Davis-Stephens, Instructor
Email ude.ccybloc|snehpets-sivad.adnil#ude.ccybloc|snehpets-sivad.adnil
About Dr. Lin Davis-Stephens
Preparatory education: Wichita State University, (Master of Arts/Anthropology), Wichita State University, (Bachelor of Anthropology/Spanish, Magna Cum Laude with Honors), Wichita State University, (Degree Candidate/Elementary & Secondary Education); Legal education:Washburn University (Juris Doctor). Certificate: Visiting Scholar Certificate, Kansas State Board of Education.
Community Activities: National Park Service, Kansas State Historical Society, Prairie Museum of Art and History, Thomas County Historical Society, Jennings Heritage Associates, Oral Interviews, Kansas Folklore Society, Service Learning Archival Materials, Kansas Anthropological Association, High Plains Chapter, Special Collections Library.
Fieldwork: Spanish Interviews, Norton Correctional Facility, Restoration/Preservation Projects, Central High Plains, Action Anthropology/Archeology, Western Plains Region.
Selected Works in Media and Print: include Linda Davis-Stephens' Collection, Prairie Museum of Art and History; Summary, Nomination and Comprehensive Survey Reports, National Park Service, Cheyenne Action Archeology Tenth Millennium Series, Local History and Culture Documentaries, Theses, Sustainable Agriculture Policy, Central Plains Region, Mock Farm Mediation.
Positions held: President Hispanic American Law Student Association, Principal, West Plains Academy, Attorney with emphasis in Criminal/Environmental Law, Conflict Resolution, and International Law.
Classes taught: Forensic Anthropology, Criminal Justice Forum, Juvenile Justice, Homeland Security, Loss Prevention and Private Security, Judicial Functions, Corrections, Criminal Procedure, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminology, Great Plains Experience, World Regional Geography, American Frontier Literature, Spanish, Government, World Religions, Anthropology, Women’s Studies, Native American Cultures, Friends University—Conflict Resolution, Business Ethics, Organizational Behavior, Organizational Management & Leadership.
Your posted work here is a personal reflection on one of the select topics from An Introduction to Women's Studies, Gender in a Transnational World and the Atlas.
You have the option to do this instead of a research paper for the course final project.
Include at least two references as web links. These will add to your reporting and demonstrate whether you understand the content of cultural anthropology. This electronic descriptive narrative should be about 1000 words with photos and other graphics. There can be no plagiarism, this must be your own composition—quality work. Your posted work will be public, indefinitely, on the internet.
Post your copy of script here and links.
Next student post here.
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2011 Centennial —International Women's Day
Gary Stevens, AN 177 Research Paper
6 January 2009
Linda Davis-Stephens, Instructor
Female Genital Mutilation
In parts of Africa and the Middle East women are “saved” for their husbands through a procedure called female genital mutilation (FGM) also referred to as female circumcision. Unlike male circumcisions, this procedure is performed for cultural beliefs rather than religious beliefs. Like many other cultures, it is performed because the women are secondary to men. The status of women in a culture is what makes it acceptable for them to be treated in this manner.
According to the World Health Organization these procedures are usually performed on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15, and sometimes on adult women. In Africa about 3 million girls are at risk of having FGM done to them annually. It is estimated that about 92 million girls in Africa have had FGM performed on them. And worldwide this number balloons anywhere from 100 to 140 million. (“WHO” 1)
As opposed to a person’s actual sex, which is determined biologically, gender is culturally constructed in a society. This is what is the basis behind social norms such as FGM, polygyny, polyandry, and sexual division of labor. In these cultures the women have certain rules, guidelines and specific roles in the society, and they are not to deviate from those. One of those rules is that they can only have sex with the man that they will eventually marry.
The word circumcision might bring a vision of this procedure being performed in a sterile environment like a hospital or clinic by a trained medical professional and under a general anesthetic but the cruel reality is that this is often done by a female elder who is deemed a “cutting professional.” The instruments range from non-sterile blunt knives, scalpels or razor blades and performed without anaesthetic. The operating table might be a kitchen table or the kitchen floor. There is not escape from this because the females are usally held down.
FGM does irreparable harm. It can result in death through severe bleeding leading to hemorrhagic shock, neurogenic shock as a result of pain and trauma, and severe, overwhelming infection and septicemia. It is routinely traumatic. Many girls enter a state of shock induced by the severe pain, psychological trauma and exhaustion from screaming. Other harmful effects include: failure to heal; abscess formation; cysts; excessive growth of scar tissue; urinary tract infection; painful sexual intercourse; increased susceptibility to HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases; reproductive tract infection; pelvic inflammatory diseases; infertility; painful menstruation; chronic urinary tract obstruction/ bladder stones; urinary incontinence; obstructed labor; increased risk of bleeding and infection during childbirth. (“UNICEF” 2)
FGM is practiced in certain cultures to ensure that a man knows his wife has only been with him. It is also meant to destroy any sexual sensation for the woman. FGM ranges from circumcision, where the clitoris is removed, to total infibulation, the removal of all external organs and sewing the vagina closed. In some cases sheep intestine is sewn to cover the vagina and only a small opening is left for urination and menstruation. It is widened when the woman is married to have intercourse and when she gives birth.
Although FGM is most common in Muslim countries, FGM prevalence in no way follows the prevalence of Islam. Rather, FGM prevalence seems to follow regional cultures independent on religion. It would seem that this practice isn’t performed in tribes such as the Wodaabe of Niger or the Nyinba of Nepal. The Wodaabe women are allowed to leave their current husband if they feel they have found a better mate, and the new husband is willing to accept her. It is also acceptable for a Wodaabe woman to sleep with two men at the same time. In the Nyinba tribe it is common to practice polyandry. In this case, a woman is married to not only her husband, but also any brothers he may have, and she must sleep with all of them. In the cultures that perform FGM this would not be acceptable because the female would have already been with another man and therefore would be rejected by any other men.
Here in the United States it is hard for us to understand practices such as FGM because the ethnocentric society we live in always compares other societies’ cultures to our own. We would never allow something as horrific as FGM to go on in our society, yet we practice something very similar to it on baby boys all the time. I couldn’t help but wonder what an anthropologist that was practicing participant observation studies on a tribe that performed FGM would do. Would they feel compelled to intervene in some way, or would they be able to keep their beliefs to themselves and stand back and observe?
Certain women in these cultures are beginning to stand up for themselves. One advantage to the ethnocentric society of the United States is that we are willing to allow people of sociocentric societies to find a way out. The women that wish to escape what they feel is a brutal ritual are welcomed into the United States.
In every society women play very distinct roles, as do the men. In the tribes of Africa and the Middle East that perform female genital mutilations the role of the woman is the virgin. FGM is not for us to understand, but we don’t have to accept it. As long as certain countries continue to perform this procedure the United States, ethnocentric or not, will continue to allow women to come here for asylum from their tribes.
