Girls' Puberty Ceremonies: A critical appraisal of scholarly work

Abstract

This thesis is the first critical appraisal of two foundational and influential scholarly sources in the study of girls’ coming-of-age ceremonies in the United States: Bruce Lincoln’s Emerging from the Chrysalis: Studies in Rituals of Women’s Initiation; and Carol Markstrom’s Empowerment of North American Indian Girls: Ritual Expressions at Puberty. These two books are the most well-known examples of scholarship in this area of study. Though brief reviews of both works exist, there are no substantial critiques that illuminate what I will argue is both books’ lack of cultural and historical context. Both authors commit major oversights in their analyses that result in mischaracterizations of selected cultural practices of Navajo and Apache communities. In turn, certain of their conclusions misdirect research in puberty studies. My thesis also serves as a critique of broader trends in this scholarship, including deconstruction of what I term “the rhetoric of menstrual shaming” that further hinders discussions about menstruation in scholarly literature.