A Feminist Cognitive Anthropology

The Case of Women and Mathematics

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3328009
AutoresCarol C Mukhopadhyay (San Jose State University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2004
Volumen32
Número4
Páginas458-492
Fecha de publicación2004-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEthos (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0091-2131 • E-ISSN: 1548-1352
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/eth.2004.32.4.458
OpenAlexW2072169245
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas102

This article is an exploration of the insights that a marriage between feminist and cognitive anthropology offers for understanding the scientific gender gap. Using comparative ethnographic and questionnaire data from India, I argue that Indian cultural models of family, gender, and schooling interact with macrostructural features of Indian society (educational, socioeconomic, and occupational) to frame academic decisions, producing a gender-stratified scientific community. I then evaluate the applicability of Western theories to India. I suggest American individualistic models that emphasize internal, female mathematic deficiencies and gender-identity conflicts embody American cultural models of gender and schooling not shared by Indian informants. Indian patrifocal family institutions also do not imply essentialist gender concepts. Finally, I argue American theories of gendered science embody long-standing American cultural models that warrant critical scrutiny

Essentialism · Ethnography · Identity (music) · Political science · Scrutiny · Social science · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Animal Behavior and Reproduction · Anthropology · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Gender Studies · Law · Primate Behavior and Ecology