Feminist Activist Ethnography: Counterpoints to Neoliberalism in North America - Paperback

by Mary K. Anglin (Contribution by), Khiara M. Bridges (Contribution by), Elizabeth Chin (Contribution by)

Writing in the wake of neoliberalism, where human rights and social justice have increasingly been subordinated to proliferating "consumer choices" and ideals of market justice, contributors to this collection argue that feminist ethnographers are in a key position to reassert the central feminist connections between theory, methods, and activism. Together, we suggest avenues for incorporating methodological innovations, collaborative analysis, and collective activism in our scholarly projects. What are the possibilities (and challenges) that exist for feminist ethnography 25 years after initial debates emerged in this field about reflexivity, objectivity, reductive individualism, and the social relevance of activist scholarship? How can feminist ethnography intensify efforts towards social justice in the current political and economic climate? This collection continues a crucial dialog about feminist activist ethnography in the 21st century--at the intersection of engaged feminist research and activism in the service of the organizations, people, communities, and feminist issues we study.

Author Biography

Christa Craven is the chair of the Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies program and anassistant professor of anthropology and WGSS at the College of Wooster. She is the author of Pushing for Midwives: Homebirth Mothers and the Reproductive Rights Movement. Craven has also published articles for both scholarly and popular audiences on midwifery and reproductive rights activism in journals and newsletters such as Citizens for Midwifery News, American Anthropologist, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Feminist Studies, and Feminist Formations. She is the former co-chair of the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists (now the Association for Queer Anthropology).