ANT207H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: One-Child Policy, Glass Ceiling, Kathoey
Stories of Culture and Place (Kenny + Smillie) Study Guide
CHAPTER 7
1) Explain what is meant by the phrase “we do gender”.
a. Gender Role: describe the seemingly different sets of actions and behaviours associated with
girls and boys, men and women = often seen as binary
b. Learning how to be male and female through socialization
c. These roles are not universal, nor are they biological
i. Biological Determination: direct correlation between cultural characteristics regarding
gender with biological traits, has been largely disproved
2) Summarize Thorne’s research. How did her methods differ from a typical study of children?
What did she discover about how roles are assigned and reinforced in the school environment?
a. Ethnographic fieldwork tested in an elementary school —both interviews and observations
b. Explored gender norms, ways kids learnt to be ‘boys’ and ‘girls’
c. School dynamic very different from neighbourhood (way kids socialize)
d. Behaviour is flexible and changes depending on situation, context and company
i. Ex// Melanie and Jack are best friends from Church, but ignore each other at school so
they won’t get teased
e. Assigned seating (mixed gender) worked cooperatively, choice=girls and boys split up
f. Wrong to separate gender roles as binary — people don't always fit in those two groups
i. When kids don't fit stereotypes, they are seen as both exceptions to the rule and ‘peculiar’
3) Summarize what Pascoe discovered about “Hetero-masculinity” and why she argues homophobia
is not just a matter of sexuality.
a. School enforces a heteronormative system (best of always hetero couples, dances)
b. Homophobic terms (“Fag”) are used to label ‘incompetence’ and emasculate
i. Tied to homosexuality — too feminine = incompetent, emasculate
ii. Ex// turning a wrench the wrong way
c. Signs of weakness and femininity = failure to be masculine
d. Masculine tasks = heterosexual, strength, dressing properly
e. Behaviour outside of established gender norms = bullied
i. Ex//Ricky (wore skirts, mascara, etc.) was bullied, beat up and eventually dropped out of
high school for it
f. Focusing only on sexuality neglects how the construction of masculinity contributes to the belief
that heterosexuality is the norm
4) From a feminist theoretical perspective, why is it important to consider gender alongside other
categories such as class, ethnicity and age?
a. Women’s experiences, positions and beliefs have largely been marginalized however, they are
extremely diverse and affect a woman’s experience of the world
b. Ex// In western society, specific ways to dress. In Thailand, not much size difference, clothing is
minimal and very similar—dress for functionality.
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5) Explain how kinship and family relationships relate to social constructions of gender.
a. Expectations placed on children in regards to gender and how these expectations shift with social
changes will impact the role of women in society.
b. Gender is a product of the interrelated roles, beliefs and behaviours or social organization.
c. Ex// China One Child Policy — women aren’t wanted as much as men, women forced
sterilizations/abortions/adoptions of female babies, women must work twice as hard to prove
worth to father, hard to support financially when taking care of children
6) Compare and contrast the effect of China’s one-child policy on urban and rural families. Outline
the policy’s generational influence on the economic situation of singleton daughters in urban
communities.
a. URBAN:
i. Daughters born in urban families have power to challenge traditional gender roles—they
negotiate gender roles in family to prove their worth to their fathers
ii. Glass ceiling
b. One Child Policy era allows women to work, Grandmother born outside had too many children
and couldn't keep her job
c. Doesn't really discuss rural, other than saying that her urban research can’t be generalized to
cover rural
7) Why is situating the hijras within a historical and religious context important to understanding
their role in Indian society?
a. Hijras: phenotypic men who wear female clothing, renounce sexual desire and practice by
undergoing a sacrificial emasculation (excision of penis and testicles)
b. The existence of the hijras is due to the presence of third gendered deities in Indian myth
i. Ex// Shiva is a male who combines with his female creative part = both genders
ii. Also perform rituals at births and weddings for the deities
c. Spiritually/religiously = Hinduism, eunuchism = Muslim —HISTORICAL
d. Validates ritual place for hijras in society and links their role to mythology
8) What does it mean to say that theory steers perceptions?
a. Ones approaches, methods and theoretical perspectives causes them to ask and answer different
questions regarding what they are studying
i. Ex// Fong used survey data to see how things happened vs. Thorne using participant
observation on the children to see types of norms present
Barrie Thorne: Studied Elementary school (Looked at gender divide/stereotypes)
- Evan wants to play jump-rope with some girls—girls say he is a boy and can’t do it
- Classes when given choice, divide by gender; other class with assigned seating worked together (mixed
gender)
- John accidentally joined the ‘girl’ line and got called out by his classmates
- Melanie and Jack are best friends from Church, but they don’t talk to each other at school to avoid
getting teased
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CJ Pascoe: Studied a High school in California (Studies gender and queer theory)
- School dances showed sexuality: kids singing to Nelly “Hot in Here” … ‘Take off all your clothes’,
singing “ho” in a song, girls dancing on boys = heteronormative
- Ricky who dresses in skirts, wears mascara, had hair-extensions—was bullied and ended up dropping
out of school
- ‘Fag’ used to describe incompetent/emasculate behaviour
Vanessa Fong: China’s One-Child Policy
- Grandmother who had to quit her job to take care of her children
- Daughters of women who gave birth during one child policy — able to work outside of home because
they had fewer child-rearing responsibilities, had to prove their worth though, glass ceiling
Serena Nanda and Gayatri Reddy: Studied the Hijras of India
- Based on religion and mythology
- Shiva: male deity who combines with his shakti (female creative power)
- Provide rituals for weddings and baby showers
- Research among the kathoey of Thailand, xanith of Oman, berdache of Aboriginal North America and
f’afafine of Polynesia illustrates that a third gender is not limited to India
CHAPTER 8
1) Explain how the stories of Pocahontas and Thomas Jefferson illustrate our historical
understanding of race as biological and social concept.
a. Pocahontas married John Rolfe and had children (Red Rolfe’s from Pocahontas vs. White
Rolfe’s from first wife)
b. English colonizing—war with Native Americans (disease from Brits led to Native demise)
c. When determining what was considered ‘mixed’, they determined that you are white if you come
from totally white lineage or if you are white and 1/16th Native American —as far as Pocahontas
goes back
2) What is eugenics? What did Galton mean when he said that “eugenics cooperates with the
workings of Nature by securing that humanity shall be represented by the fittest races”?
a. Eugenics means ‘well-born’, created for the purpose of white supremacy
b. Look at correlation between heredity and racial quality
c. Wanted to get rid of ‘genetically unfit’ (feeble-minded, low class, non-white)
d. Feeble-minded=low IQ tests, phrenology determined black people were feeble-minded because
of their ‘bigger, primitive' skulls
e. If feeble-minded were to breed freely it would lead to degeneration of nation
f. Nature vs. nurture —believed class and race were genetic/nature
3) Outline the Basin stance on the relationship between cultures and race.
a. No relations between race and culture, race is an incoherent concept
b. Humankind can be studied as a whole, regardless of race
c. Ex// also proves skull shape is wrong, it varies depending on environment
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Document Summary
Stories of culture and place (kenny + smillie) study guide. Barrie thorne: studied elementary school (looked at gender divide/stereotypes) Evan wants to play jump-rope with some girls girls say he is a boy and can"t do it. Classes when given choice, divide by gender; other class with assigned seating worked together (mixed gender) John accidentally joined the girl" line and got called out by his classmates. Melanie and jack are best friends from church, but they don"t talk to each other at school to avoid getting teased. Cj pascoe: studied a high school in california (studies gender and queer theory) School dances showed sexuality: kids singing to nelly hot in here take off all your clothes", singing ho in a song, girls dancing on boys = heteronormative. Ricky who dresses in skirts, wears mascara, had hair-extensions was bullied and ended up dropping out of school. Grandmother who had to quit her job to take care of her children.
