Science, Activism, and Politics of Gender

How did much of the world agree that female genital cutting should be ended? This course explores grassroots and international campaigns in Africa and the West, effects of asylum and criminal laws, and international organizations' attempts to create evidence-based, scientific governance to end cutting. We will focus on ethnographies that problematize these interventions by analyzing their histories, cultural politics, contradictory effects on local communities, and global political ramifications. By examining interventions against cutting, this course offers a methodological and conceptual blueprint for researching local-global production of human rights crises and efforts to resolve them. Enrollment limited to 20. Not open to first year students.