CAR Newsletter Fall 2011

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A Transnational Alliance in the Argentine Campaign For Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion
By Lynn M. Morgan and Mónica Tarducci

The movement to legalize abortion in Argentina has been gaining momentum as part of an ongoing social mobilization around human rights. Argentina is internationally known for its human rights achievements, thank in large part to the courageous Madres de la Plaza de Mayo who protested the disappearance of their children during and since the last military dictatorship (1976-1983). The Campaña has adopted the Madres’ trademark handkerchief as its symbol -in green rather than white-to emphasize that “women’s rights are human rights.” Argentina has inspired North American human rights advocates in more ways than one. In 2010, Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize gay an lesbian marriage. Argentine feminists were vocal supporters of marriage equality’ equal marriage advocates are now vocally supporting the legalization of abortion.

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CAR Newsletter Spring 2011

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Mentorship Column:
Sarah Rubin writes from Cape Town

 For me, finding The Spoiler hasn’t just been an obstacle to overcome, but an integral part of my fieldwork process. It helped me to understand, in a surprising way, Xhosa motherhood and emotion through the lens of race and historical oppression, which has been invaluable to my nascent analysis. And learning to shed the parts of my behavior and mindset that are “too white” has helped me to get closer to my research participants in ways that that didn’t seem possible a year ago. My professors were right, you do have to becognizant of your predecessors and clean up their mess before you can do your “good” work, and all you need is a new twist on the basic tenants of ethnographic inquiry—be open, be patient, keep your perspective, let go of your “self,” be culturally relative, remain inquisitive, and don’t be too hard on yourself.

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CAR Newsletter Fall 2010

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Mentorship Column:
Anthropology and Advocacy
By Wendy Chavkin

 Advocacy is a messy undertaking and necessitates collaboration. One has to understand both those likely to support and to oppose your position and appreciate the ways in which potential allies might complement or frustrate some of your approaches. This implies developing an awareness of the varied contributions different actors can make to effective advocacy, while simultaneously refining your vision of the role of the anthropologist/ researcher. 

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CAR Newsletter Spring 2010

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Mentorship Column:
Paying it Forward
By Elly Teman

Paying it forward. Yes, it is the name of a schmaltzy movie with Haley Joel Osment and Helen Hunt, but the concept is one that I have been privileged to learn through the experience of giving birth to my third baby-and longest labor of love, sweat and tears-my book, Birthing a Mother, which is finally being published this month. All I remember from that movie is that it was a tear jerker about a kid who got involved in a kind of pyramid scheme of doing what we Jews call mitzvahs: one person does a good deed for another and that person goes on to do it for someone else rather than paying the other person back. 

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CAR Newsletter Fall 2009

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Mentorship Column:
What I Learned about Writing a Book Manuscript
By Sallie Han

 Each month, one woman’s work (like a book chapter or conference paper) is offered as the “entrée” and a second woman’s work is the “side dish” (like an abstract for a conference). We e-mail our drafts at least two full days in advance, but occasionally we bring copies of “side dishes” to the meeting itself. Having a scheduled meeting provided me with a deadline. Also, it became an obligation to my friends that I did not take lightly. Month by month, I brought my chapters to my writing group in part because I knew that they were expecting them. I could let myself down, but not my Village People.

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CAR Newsletter Spring 2009

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Mentorship Column
By Lauren Fordyce Ph.D.

Recognize that you won’t write every day. Some days it just doesn’t work out. Writing my dissertation in Florida, I got a lot of work done in the summer when I would sit huddled in front the tiny a/c unit and couldn’t even imagine stepping outside. Things were a bit more difficult in the winter on those sunny 70­degree days when all your friends would call after they got out of class to meet for happy hour.

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