Evelyn Blackwood

Evelyn Blackwood is a trailblazer in the fields of feminist and queer anthropology. Through decades of ethnographic research and theoretical writing, she has reshaped how scholars understand gender, sexuality, and identity across cultures. Whether examining female masculinity in Indonesia or mapping lesbian communities in the U.S., Blackwood has consistently challenged Western-centric assumptions and amplified marginalized voices.

A professor emerita at Purdue University, Blackwood’s scholarship is distinguished by its sensitivity to cultural nuance, political insight, and personal commitment to justice. Her work intersects anthropology, gender studies, and queer theory-offering a model of engaged, intersectional research that has influenced generations of scholars.

Early Life and Education

Evelyn Blackwood was born and raised in the United States, coming of age during a time of increasing academic and political interest in gender and sexuality. Her early academic pursuits were rooted in psychology-she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The King’s College in New York. However, her interest in understanding human behavior from a broader cultural perspective soon drew her into anthropology.

She pursued her Master’s degree in Anthropology at San Francisco State University, a program known for its activist and interdisciplinary approach. During this period, she began exploring issues related to gender identity, non-normative sexualities, and social inequality-topics that would remain central to her later work.

Blackwood then completed her PhD in Anthropology at Stanford University, one of the most respected programs in the United States. Her dissertation, based on fieldwork in West Sumatra, Indonesia, focused on gender roles and matrilineal kinship-laying the foundation for a scholarly career that would bridge ethnographic depth with feminist and queer theoretical insights.

Academic Career

Blackwood joined the Department of Anthropology at Purdue University in 1994. She would go on to have a long and distinguished academic career there, serving as:

• Assistant Professor (1994–2000)
• Associate Professor (2000–2010)
• Full Professor (2010–2017)
• Professor Emerita (2017–present)

At Purdue, Blackwood played a key role in expanding the curriculum to include courses on feminist theory, queer anthropology, and ethnographic writing. She also served on various university diversity and inclusion committees, advocating for underrepresented groups in academia.

Beyond the university, Blackwood was active in national and international scholarly networks. She served on the editorial boards of journals like GLQ, American Ethnologist, and Gender & Society, and was a member of the Association for Feminist Anthropology and the Society for Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists (SOLGA), now part of the Association for Queer Anthropology.

Her leadership and mentorship were instrumental in shaping the next generation of anthropologists interested in gender and sexuality from an intersectional, global perspective.

Major Theoretical and Ethnographic Work

Evelyn Blackwood’s scholarship sits at the intersection of gender studies, queer theory, and anthropology. Her ethnographic work is grounded in rigorous fieldwork, particularly in West Sumatra, Indonesia, where she explored matrilineal kinship systems and gender variance in Minangkabau communities.

Key Themes in Her Work:

• Female masculinity in non-Western contexts
• Sexual identity and community formation among lesbians in the U.S. and Indonesia
• The cultural construction of gender and kinship
• Critiques of Western-biased sexual identity categories

Notable Publications:

• Webs of Power: Women, Kin, and Community in a Sumatran Village (2000)
  Based on her fieldwork in Indonesia, this book explores how Minangkabau women navigate matrilineal kinship, Islam, and modernity-challenging assumptions about female passivity in Muslim societies.
• Falling into the Lesbi World: Desire and Difference in Indonesia (2010)
  This ethnography offers a rare, deeply personal look into Indonesia’s tomboi-lesbi subculture, documenting how women who desire women create community, navigate stigma, and resist colonial-era moral codes.
• Female Desires: Same-Sex Relations and Transgender Practices Across Cultures (1995, co-edited with Saskia Wieringa)
  One of the earliest and most cited volumes in queer anthropology, this collection features global case studies that disrupt Western-centric models of sexuality and gender.

Her work is noted for de-centering Western frameworks of gender and sexuality, offering a richly textured view of how these categories are lived and negotiated globally.

Influence on Anthropology

Evelyn Blackwood’s influence extends across several domains:

• Queer Anthropology: As one of the early figures in this subfield, she helped establish the Association for Queer Anthropology and edited some of its foundational texts. Her empirical work broadened the scope of queer theory to include non-Western voices and epistemologies.
• Feminist Anthropology: Her critiques of binary gender models and her analysis of matrilineal systems contributed to feminist understandings of agency, structure, and kinship.
• Mentorship and Advocacy: Blackwood mentored many junior scholars, especially queer and feminist researchers. She actively fostered inclusive academic spaces and worked on improving university policies related to diversity, equity, and sexual harassment.

Her voice remains critical in conversations about decolonizing anthropology, urging scholars to remain reflexive, accountable, and locally informed in their research.

Awards and Recognition

Blackwood’s contributions have been recognized by multiple academic institutions and organizations:

• Ruth Benedict Prize (three-time recipient: 1999, 2007, 2011) — awarded by the Association for Queer Anthropology for outstanding scholarship
• Fulbright Senior Scholar Award (2001) — for advanced research in Indonesia
• Martin Duberman Fellowship (2007) — given by CLAGS at CUNY for research in LGBTQ studies
• Title IX Distinguished Service Award (2012, Purdue University) — honoring her efforts in promoting gender equity and academic fairness

Her body of work has become essential reading in courses on sexuality, Southeast Asia, feminist theory, and ethnographic methods.

Conclusion

Evelyn Blackwood stands as one of the most significant voices in contemporary anthropology. Through her ethnographic depth, theoretical clarity, and commitment to inclusion, she has profoundly reshaped how scholars think about gender, sexuality, and kinship-especially beyond Western contexts.

Her fieldwork in Indonesia not only opened up new understandings of female masculinity and queer identity, but also challenged static views of culture and tradition. Her scholarship asks hard questions: How do individuals experience and resist social norms? How do identities form within global and local systems of power? And how can anthropology better reflect the lives of those it studies?

Blackwood’s legacy isn’t confined to the page. Her mentorship, activism, and leadership in academic spaces have created room for diverse voices in anthropology. In a field that continues to wrestle with issues of representation and power, Blackwood’s work serves as both a foundation and a call to action.

Today, her books are widely taught, her theories frequently cited, and her example deeply admired by those working at the intersection of social justice and scholarship.

References

1. Purdue University Faculty Profile
   Detailed information on Blackwood’s tenure at Purdue University, including her roles and contributions to the Department of Anthropology. https://cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/evelyn-blackwood.html
2. Cultural Anthropology – “Tombois in West Sumatra”
   Academic article exploring gender expression and masculinity. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/can.1998.13.4.491
3. ResearchGate – Evelyn Blackwood’s Publications
   Compilation of Blackwood’s research works and publications. https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Evelyn-Blackwood-2021461200