Abstract:
This Dossier focuses on the ways menstrual cycle rituals and care practices are being adapted with the biomedicalization of reproductive health, urban migration, and State education. We ask how these changes are being experienced by menstruators themselves and how they are being debated in Amerindian communities, shaping the future of menstruation. The Dossier brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous social anthropologists whose works are discussed in relation to the following themes: menstruation and menstrual suppression as a frontier of contestation in contemporary feminism; the power or danger of blood; menstruation as a mediator of relations between humans and ‘others’; and gendered, intergenerational knowledge transmission. We consider the implications of changing menstrual seclusion and containment practices that imply new risks and opportunities for menstruators in Amazonia and elsewhere.
Keywords:
menstruation; indigenous; ecology; knowledge; health