Biomedicalizing Gender. The Globalization of Sexual Science and the Redefinition of Gender Roles in Poland

Objective

Since 1989, gender roles have been in a state of continual flux and redefinition in Poland, reflective of ideological battles between the re-emergent Catholic Church, newly proclaimed scientific sex experts, and feminists and LGBT activists. This project is based on ethnographic fieldwork and analyses of written sources, and explores the relationship between scientific knowledge of sexuality and the construction of gender roles and stereotypes in contemporary Poland. I ask how the field of sexual science in particular has developed as a product of transnational flows of scientific knowledge (influence of North American knowledge of sexuality) , and in response to local debates about gender and sexuality. I seek to understand how the proliferation of discourses about sexuality that engage scientific language and ideas shapes gender roles in Poland. I will develop a theoretical framework based in medical anthropology and globalisation studies; study Polish and North American scientific knowledge of sexuality in order to track the sources of the knowledge referred to by my Polish informants; and examine cultural processes associated with the formation of local scientific knowledge of sexuality. The fellowship at Harvard University and the University of Warsaw will expand my field of expertise (medical anthropology, anthropology of globalisation in teaching and research; ethnographic fieldwork techniques and ethics) and facilitate obtaining habilitation (an obligatory next step after PhD in the Polish higher education system, required for conducting and supervising independent research projects and supervising PhD students) by allowing me collect data and develop theoretical framework for the habilitation book. Moreover, the fellowship will help to deepen the collaboration between the two host institutions, and allow the European host to use achievements of Harvard’s Social Anthropology program to extend the scope of its research and teaching.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

• social sciences sociology anthropology social anthropology
• social sciences other social sciences development studies development theories global development studies globalization

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF - Marie Curie Action: "International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development"

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

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MC-IOF - International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF)

Coordinator