Scholarship on ‘harmful cultural practices’ seems to have been reluctant to tackle the relationship between gender, religion, and harm. Postcolonial discourses are critical of attempts to reduce and essentialise the values and beliefs of ‘others’ in a way that dehumanizes adherents, cultural values, and worldviews. Approaches and theories from Anthropology, The Study of Religion, and Gender Studies combined, can bring a more nuanced picture of how and why certain practices that may be harmful to women and girls exist, and how they can potentially be challenged.
Harmful Cultural Practices (sometimes referred to as ‘traditional practices’) is a label that has been increasingly applied over the past decades, to refer to certain discriminatory practices against women in, or originating from, the Global South. The application of the concept in academic theory and research, however, has been more hesitant.
As feminist anthropologists, we find it important to think with and against the concept, as to further unpack the interrelations between religion and harmful practices. We intend this panel to invite reflections and discussions from scholars, activists and practitioners who bring regional perspectives on the intersections between religious values and beliefs, cultural practices and gendered norms and identities. A number of papers will be presented from the recently published edited volume Religion and Harmful Practices: Global and Local Responses to Gender Based Violence (Routledge 2022) edited by Brenda Bartelink, Chia Longman, Tamsin Bradley. However, we invite contributions from those who offer new perspectives including, but not limited to, a focus on Asia, Masculinities and Sexualities.
