The Association for Feminist Anthropology

Feminist anthropology is an integrative approach to anthropology, combining the fields of biology, culture, linguistics and archaeology. The discipline originated in the 1970s and developed from two earlier phases: the anthropology of women and the anthropology of gender.[1] Feminist anthropology was formally recognized as a subdiscipline of anthropology in the late 1970s.[2]

The history of the Association for Feminist Anthropology began in 1988, when a group of American anthropologists met in Phoenix, Arizona with the goal of establishing, "in the beginning, an 'anthropology of women' and later, a feminist and gendered anthropology to the discipline".[3] The organization's founding leaders are: Naomi Quinn, Carole Hill, Sylvia Forman, Rayna Rapp and Louise Lamphere.[4] The group recognized the need for anthropologists who studied subjects of gender and gender equality, to have their own professional space within anthropology. The Association for Feminist Anthropology (AFA) was formally established by unanimous vote in the 1988 meeting,[5] and formally approved as a section of the American Anthropological Association, soon afterward.[6]

The beginning years of the AFA saw the establishment of several areas of interest that continue today. Currently, the major themes that are the focus of working commissions within the organization are: Gender and the Curriculum, Women and Human Rights, and the Commission on Women’s Reproductive Rights and Bodily Autonomy.[6]