Feb. 21: 'A Feminist Anthropologist's Adventures in the Andes'

Thursday, February 21, 2019
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Centennial Student Union, Room 254/5

Mankato, Minn. – The Rev. Dr. Winifred L. Mitchell (pictured) will discuss “A Feminist Anthropologist’s Adventures in the Andes” in a presentation that is free and open to the public Thursday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. in Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Centennial Student Union, Room 254/5.

Mitchell’s presentation is part the Minnesota State Mankato Department of Anthropology’s celebration of World Anthropology Day. The department will have free cake and popcorn in its department office (Trafton North, Room 359) Thursday, Feb. 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In a preview of her presentation, Mitchell wrote that her lecture “emphasizes the amazing adventure that a career in Anthropology can be, focusing most on my research in the Andes. It discusses the quest for cross-cultural understanding by means of scientific methods, and Anthropology’s hallmark, cultural relativism—accepting each culture on its own terms. For me, a young feminist doing fieldwork in the Andes, this meant discovering that my carefully crafted hypothesis about gendered power in a peasant society needed much revision in light of fascinating data.”

Mitchell received a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Colorado in 1986, and soon began to work, first part-time and then full time in the Anthropology Department at what is now Minnesota State Mankato. She served in various roles including undergraduate and graduate faculty chair of cultural anthropology, and faculty or chair in the Latin American Studies Program. She took an early retirement in 2004 to pursue another dream, attending seminary and being ordained to the Episcopal Priesthood in 2007. She has done anthropological field work in four countries and lived or traveled in most U.S. states, 19 other countries, and two U.S. territories.

For more information about Anthropology Day, contact Susan Schalge at 507-389-5337 or Rachel Krediet at 507-389-6318 or send an email to anthropology@mnsu.edu.

Anthropology Day is a day for anthropologists around the world to share their excitement about their discipline with the public around them.

The Department of Anthropology is part of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Minnesota State Mankato.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 14,227 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 30 colleges and seven universities.