Women's Studies Department Faculty

MAXINE WEISGRAU

Term Associate Professor of Anthropology

I am a cultural anthropologist with a geographic specialization in
South Asia. I have conducted fieldwork research in Rajasthan,
India since the late 1980s, studying non-governmental organizations
and rural development programs in villages in and around Udaipur
District. This research resulted in my PhD dissertation and first
book, Interpreting Development: Local Histories, Local Strategies
(Lanham, MD: University Press of America. 1997).


This research focused on local NGOs and their development
strategies, particularly in the area of gender specific programs. I
therefore have focused on the methods, assumptions, and challenges
associated with development strategy focusing on women’s issues and equity in developing countries.


A related project emerged out of my evolving interest in the
anthropology of tourism. In addition to teaching an advanced
course in this subject, I am editing a volume of contributions on
tourism in Rajasthan Tourism and Cultural Politics in India:
Rajasthan, India's "Heritage" State with colleague Dr. Carol Henderson.


I am also completing a manuscript for a forthcoming book,
Experiencing Life and Death Before Birth. to be published by
Waveland Press. This book explores the sociopolitics of the fetus
and prenatal identity in different contemporary cultures,
religions, and states.

Research and Teaching Interests:

Gender and development; reproduction and the fetus cross-culturally;
gender, education and development; feminism and women's movements in
India; civic engagement in theory and practice; political economy
and gendered issues in tourism.

Representative Publications:

Interpreting Development: Local Histories, Local Strategies. Lanham,
MD: University Press of America. 1997.


Beyond the Boundaries of Belief: Readings in the Anthropology of
Religion.. Boulder: Westview 1999. Co-edited with Barnard colleague
Morton Klass.


"Vedic and Hindu Traditions" in Religion and Culture: An
Anthropological Focus. New York: Prentice Hall. 1999.

Forthcoming

Experiencing Life and Death Before Birth. Waveland Press.
Rajasthan, India's "Heritage" State? Oxford University Press-Delhi.

Women's Studies Teaching:

Gender, Politics and Development (undergraduate and graduate)

Cultural Ideologies of the Fetus

Gender, Education, and Development

Theorizing Civic Engagement

Gendered Controversies: Reproduction/Women's Bodies and Cultural
Politics

Activist Interests