Speakers Bureau Speaker
Ann Hibner Koblitz, Phoenix
Ann Hibner Koblitz is Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University in Tempe. She has published books and articles on Russian women scientists and mathematicians, gender and science theory, historical and cross-cultural comparisons of women in science, and women in Territorial Arizona. Currently, she is working on "Sex and Herbs and Birth Control"-- a study of women's fertility control possibilities in different historical periods and cultures.
Presentations may be made in Spanish.
Local Healers, Proprietary Medicines, and Frontier Docs: Women's Health in Territorial Arizona
When people think of ordinary women's lives in the frontier West, they often assume that their access to health care must have been almost non-existent. Yet indigenous people have lived here for millennia, and developed an effective pharmacopoeia for dealing with many women's ailments. As European colonizers pushed westward, so too did their midwives, doctors, homeopaths, proprietary medicine salespeople, and traditional healers from many nations. This presentation discusses women's ailments and healing alternatives in Territorial Arizona and the Southwest during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the topics addressed are: women's health movements, home remedy books, indigenous herbal remedies, nervous conditions, "womb troubles," childbirth options, frontier doctors, and views on menopause and aging.
Male Bonding Around the Campfire: Constructing Myths of Hohokam Militarism
The Hohokam people of central Arizona and their neighbors have long been of interest to archaeologists of the Southwest, and the prevailing image of them has varied significantly over time. Lately there has been a shift among some scholars toward viewing the Hohokam as constantly embroiled in warfare. This presentation analyzes this trend in archaeological writing in terms of modern American cultures of aggressive masculinity. On the basis of scant evidence, some archaeologists have created a story of war and militarism that harmonizes well with early 21st-century attitudes toward conflict. Explore whether this warlike image has much bearing on the actual lives and pursuits of indigenous populations of the time.
Shady Women and "Respectability" in Territorial Arizona
This presentation looks at prostitution and notions of respectability in Territorial Arizona, and examines how those notions changed over time. Among the topics discussed are stereotypes about prostitutes and prostitution, characteristics of Arizona courtesans, some sensational murders involving "ladies of the evening," associations with other marginalized groups, prostitution and the mining booms, addictions and disease, and fertility control. Explore these fascinating issues through accounts in contemporary newspaper, coroners' reports, census and property records, memoirs, and material culture. Particular attention is paid to the archaeological finds in the Granite Street dig in Prescott (which uncovered old bawdy house artifacts and remnants of the Chinese community circa 1900), and the dilemmas in trying to reconstruct histories of these Territorial prostitutes.
