Ellen Gruenbaum

Ellen Gruenbaum is an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and former Chair of the Anthropology Department at Purdue University. Gruenbaum is a culturally-oriented medical anthropologist and her ethnographic research focuses on women’s health issues, gender, human rights, religious practices, and development in Africa and the Middle East. Using a feminist anthropological framework, she conducts research on female genital cutting practices and the change efforts promoting abandonment in Sudan and Sierra Leone, where she also served as a research consultant to UNICEF and CARE. She also investigates cultural contexts affecting breast cancer responses and prevention possibilities in Purdue’s international and cross-disciplinary project entitled, International Breast Cancer and Nutrition, with collaborations in Ghana, Lebanon, and Uruguay.