Injuries, Impairments and Intersecting Identities

The UH Manoa Anthropology Department Colloquium Series presents UH West Oahu's Dr. Jennifer Byrnes discussing "Injuries, Impairments and Intersecting Identities: The Poor in Buffalo, NY 1851-1913"

According to intersectional identity theory, age, gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity and physical impairment can ‘intersect’ to create unique and dynamic social identities. This theoretical stance is supported by historical and osteological evidence about the former residents of the Erie County Poorhouse, located in Buffalo, New York, which allow us to characterize their lived experiences. Thus, in the eyes of their late-19th to early 20th century, rapidly urbanizing society, although poorhouse “inmates” were generally considered “undeserving poor,” individual identities were construed through the complex interaction of multiple facets of their identities. This talk will discuss analysis of a number of data sets that suggest that the constituent elements of their social identities predisposed individuals to differential risk of sustaining traumatic injuries and associated physical impairments. Physical impairments, in turn, may have variously reinforced or otherwise altered their perceived social identities.

Event Sponsor
Anthropology Department, Mānoa Campus

More Information
(808) 956-8415, anthprog@hawaii.edu

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