Synthesizing Cultural Competency and Reproductive Justice: A Case Study of Afghan, Refugee Mothers

Authors

  • Roxanna Ray Wake Forest University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15273/jue.v14i2.12256

Abstract

Cultural competency and reproductive justice are two popular frameworks by which medical anthropologists, public health experts, and social justice advocates understand minority women’s health; however, both frameworks present shortcomings which limit holistic visualizations of wellness. I synthesize these frameworks in a case study of Afghan refugee mothers in North Carolina. My exploration of the composite framework uncovers significant factors affecting Afghan refugee mother’s reproductive health, including the persisting effects of gender inequality in Afghanistan. History and health merge as I explore the lasting effects of the Taliban’s gender apartheid on the reproductive health of Afghan women living in America. In Afghanistan, gender apartheid inhibits women from mastering the same abilities as men, namely driving and speaking English. In America, these different abilities precipitate deficits in social and mental health of Afghan women as compared to their husbands. Infrastructure in America reifies these deficits and further hinders the women’s agency. Mapping powerlessness from Afghanistan to America, this framework illuminates the architecture of power that extends across the two countries.

 

Cover image: "The Closing of the Doors," by Leslie Savage.

Downloads

Published

2024-08-21

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2024)

Section

Articles

License

By sending potential submissions to the editors, you grant The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography a royalty-free, perpetual, license to: use, reproduce, store, adapt, translate, and publicly display such submissions for any purpose.  In addition to the grant of the above license, you hereby consent to your name appearing as the contributor of any submission where applicable, and to the disclosure and/or display of such information and any other information which appears in or is associated with a submission. Further, you acknowledge and agree that The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography is not responsible for any loss, damage, or corruption that may occur to your submissions, and acknowledge and agree that any submissions you provide for display on the website will be considered non-confidential. If your manuscript is rejected, the above license is revoked, and your submission (manuscript, name, and associated documentation) will be stored only in the correspondence records of The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography. You may submit your manuscript to other publications, but must withdraw if selected for publication in The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography. Your paper itself is published using a strict Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Unported License that allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can‘t change them in any way or use them commercially. You retain the right to grant other permissions.