Anthropological analysis and conceptual synthesis

due: Anthropological analysis and conceptual synthesis This paper will analyze the article Were Some Catholic Saints Transgender? Berkeley Show Raises Eyebrows by Winston, Kimberly. This article summarizes some forms of gender-based harassment on women by their male counterparts in the society. It uses female saints who led lives of chastity but ended up killed by the males since they were seen as a disgrace to their families (Winston, Para 1).
The article also explores the various difficulties the male saints had to go through in order to protect their identity, regardless of the norms of the society. The society could, however, go to an extent of executing them. The society is herein described as one filled with male chauvinism, not ready to tolerate the women’s faith related stands. The saints were very firm on their maintenance of chastity and could even pray to God to make them ugly so that they could protect their chastity. For instance, St. Wilgefortis prayed for ugliness, and she was granted a man’s beard (Winston, Para 4). The male chauvinism however saw her murdered by her father. Others were like St. Lucia whose eyes were torn out for disappointing her family. These examples show that the women believed in their course and bravely stepped out of the societal norms (Winston, Para 6).
From the article, it can be seen certain themes can be drawn. One of the themes is religion in which the saints are firmly rooted. The religion brings about the other theme of power whereby the males are seen to possess in plenty. They, however, misuse their power by killing the faithful females. The theme of male dominance is further shown by the linearity of mobility and recreation in which are based on social hierarchies. This is described in the Ghanam who describes the lives of brother and a sister from a low-income neighborhood in Egypt. The brother is drawn as the one dictating the mobility, suggesting male dominance (Ghannam 790-800).
Summarizing Ghanam’s article, various methods supporting the solving of reconfiguration of inequalities can be explained. Farha Ghannam explains this by using the example of a brother and a sister who come from a low-income neighborhood in Egypt. Throughout the article, Ghanam describes the methods of liminality of mobility which illustrate social hierarchies. The methods include inequalities referring to mobility, class, gender and embodiment.
Works cited
Ghannam, Farha. ” Mobility, liminality, and embodiment in urban Egypt.” American Ethnologist
38. 4 (2011): 790-800.
Winston, Kimberly. ” Were Some Catholic Saints Transgender? Berkeley Show Raises
Eyebrows.” Were Some Catholic Saints Transgender? Berkeley Show Raises Eyebrows. 6 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. .