A Feminist Cognitive Anthropology

The Case of Women and Mathematics

Bibliographic Data

ID3328009
AuthorsCarol C Mukhopadhyay (San Jose State University, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume32
Issue4
Pages458-492
Publication date2004-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthos (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-2131 • E-ISSN: 1548-1352
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/eth.2004.32.4.458
OpenAlexW2072169245
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited102

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