Jan Brunson

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Spring 2011

  • Globalization and Identity in the Himalayas (ANTH 204)
  • Medical Anthropology (ANTH 220)
  • Advanced Independent Study and Honors in Anthropology (ANTH 402)
Phone (207) 721-5171
Title Visiting Assistant Professor
Department Sociology And Anthropology
Work Location 310 Adams Hall
E-Mail jbrunson@bowdoin.edu
Jan M. Brunson

Education

Ph.D. in Anthropology, Brown University, 2008
B.A. in Anthropology, Eckerd College, 1999

Research Areas

Fertility and reproduction, new medical technologies and culture, subjectivity of motherhood, globalization and health, agency, gender, family systems, adventure tourism, Nepal

Jan Brunson completed a Ph.D. in anthropology at Brown University and a traineeship at the Population Studies and Training Center in 2008.  Her research analyzes how Nepali Hindu-caste women accommodate and resist the social pressures to reproduce in prescribed ways, providing insight into how global discourses on family planning play out in micro-level processes of social change.  She is currently working on a book manuscript, “Family and fertility in a time of social vertigo in Nepal,” and editing a special issue on ethnographers’ encounters with intimate partner violence. 

In future research, she will continue to evaluate the causes and contexts of maternal morbidity and mortality in Nepal, particularly in terms of the role of suffering in defining womanhood.  Future projects include the subjectivity of motherhood amongst former fighters in the Maoist insurgency in Nepal, and also investigating claims of an “overuse” of cesarean sections in Nepal.  Her long-term research agenda will evolve as new technologies of birth, contraception, and in vitro genetic engineering develop in Nepal.

Publications

Forthcoming  “Nepal.” In The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today’s World. A.M. Zeiss Stange, C.K. Oyster, and J.G. Golson eds. SAGE Reference.

Forthcoming  “Overpopulation.” In The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today’s World. A.M. Zeiss Stange, C.K. Oyster, and J.G. Golson eds. SAGE Reference.

In Press  “Confronting maternal mortality, controlling birth in Nepal: The gendered politics of receiving biomedical care at birth.” Social Science and Medicine.

2010  “Son preference in the context of fertility decline: Limits to new constructions of gender and kinship in Nepal.” Studies in Family Planning 41(2):89-98.

2008  “Women’s autonomy and well-being: A case from Nepal.” Anthropology News 49(2):38-39.

Conference Papers

“Defining motherhood(s) through practice: Strategies, indecision, and non-action in Nepal.” American Anthropological Association. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 2009.

“Negotiating Opportunities of Motherhood.” Society for Medical Anthropology. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, September 2009.

“The gendered politics of receiving biomedical care at birth in Nepal.” Society for Applied Anthropology. Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 2009.

“Confronting maternal mortality, controlling birth in Nepal.” Loss in Childbearing in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.  University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, September 2008.

“The transformative power of impoverished women’s work in Nepal: Challenging caste and gender roles.” American Anthropological Association. Washington, D.C., November 2007.

“Moving away from marital violence: Nepali mothers, social constraints, and critical responses.” American Anthropological Association. San Jose, California, November 2006.

“Reproducing hierarchies: Delineating concepts in social theory using women’s reproductive realities in Nepal.” American Anthropological Association. Washington, D.C., November 2005.

“Social and biological hegemony over women’s bodies in Nepal.” Reproductive Disruptions. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 2005.

“Images and the official discourse on family planning in Nepal.” American Anthropological Association. New Orleans, Louisiana, November 2002.

“Women, identity, and reproduction in Nepal.” American Anthropological Association. Washington, D.C., November 2001.

“Contraceptive choice in a semi-urban town in the Kathmandu Valley: Individuals’ reasons for choosing temporary methods.” Population Association of America. Washington, D.C., March 2001.