Hello lovelies!  Well, I cracked.  Despite internal inhibitions and fears of being narcissitic, too personal online, and/or keeping my thoughts mentally attached to the West, I told myself to get over it, stop thinking too much and write. I am an anthropologist, after all, and what do they do better than write!  So this beautiful piece of html code will be my attempt to stay in touch with all the wonderful people on multiple continents that care about me and want to know what I am up to.

For those of you who don’t know, I received a Fulbright (an American research scholarship) to study female beauty and body ideals in the sometimes amazing, sometimes crazy country of Mongolia.  I plan to spend the next year with the women of this country in order to answer the questions, “What does it mean to be a woman and what makes a woman beautiful?”  I hope to create a complex picture of how Mongolian women from all different walks of life feel about their bodies and self-images, as well as how these ideals are changing.  This is my feminist foray through Mongolia… enjoy!