University of Bristol Lead: Dr Natasha Carver (School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol) is a socio-legal scholar with a focus on gendered and racialised legal identities. Her book, which analysed upheavals to gender roles and identity following refugee migration, won the prestigious 2022 BSA Philip Abrams Award.
Institutional Partner Lead: Dr Dorothy Takyiakwaa (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana) is a sociologist whose research examines the relationship between socialisation and gender-based violence, power and oppression, socio-cultural and economic issues of women empowerment, and women leadership.
Other particpants:
Dr Hannelore Van Bavel (Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, UoB) is an interdisciplinary researcher with a background in social anthropology and gender and diversity studies. Her research traces the historical production, travel, and contestation of discourses on female genital practices and critically interrogates the transnational campaign against 'female genital mutilation'.
The award will bring together three dynamic early career researchers whose work focuses on decolonising hegemonic gender narratives. The global narrative on Female Genital Mutilation or ‘FGM’ is internationally accepted and promoted by the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, the EU and most supra-national bodies, and has been increasingly inscribed into national legal codes worldwide. However, its origins lie in colonial racist epistemology. Current legislation and policy continue to operate through a colonial lens leading to harmful consequences, including stigmatisation, racial profiling, reducing the cutting age, and discouraging families from seeking healthcare. As part of the recent re-energised decolonial critique of Eurocentric epistemology in socio-legal fields, we will challenge this narrative, expose its history and seek to foreground anti-racist ways of ending harmful cultural practices.
Activities include a three-day writing retreat,a rountable meeting and two events to be given by Dr Takyiakwaa as below:
Please contact Dr Natasha Carver if you would like to find out more about this activity.
News story: BIRCA visiting scholar | School for Policy Studies | University of Bristol
