"Should women propose?"--language, gender, race and kinship

[Nathaniel Dumas]

Dear Colleagues,

I hope all is well. I came across a discussion of this blog article on my Facebook page and wanted to share this with all of you: 

http://blackandmarriedwithkids.com/2011/05/06/should-women-propose/

I think this article would be great for a course week's discussion on the intersections of language, gender, race and kinship. I also found particularly interesting how the article delves into how who asks one question indexes epistemic and affective stances and intentionality pervade this metapragmatic discussion and wanted to see what all of you thought of it as well. Please feel free to share your responses on this on the listserv, especially if you have counter-examples from your own fieldwork where the reverse is expected (i.e., women proposing to men). In fact, I was able to find one cultural context where this was the norm at the following link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/01/world/main2425356.shtml. (Of course it's described in mainstream news format, but it does mention one of our anthropological kin in it.)

Happy discussing!

Sincerely,
Nate Dumas