Patricia Tovar
Professor of Anthropology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Patricia Tovar’s research interests have focused on the study of gender and war, widowhood, forced displacement, violence, sexual and reproductive health, and gender and science. She has written extensively on the consequences of armed conflict in women’s lives, the impact of new reproductive technologies for women, the construction of medical discourses and cosmetic alterations of the female body, and on why women lag far behind men in science and technology. Some of her publications are: The widows of the Armed Conflict in Colombia, and Family, Gender and Anthropology. Her current project focuses on the role of women in the Age of Discovery. It examines the movement of women, their contribution to cultural exchange, the opening of trade routes, the Spanish crown policies about women and the family, sexuality, religion, and human rights issues. She received a Ph.D. in anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center in 1996.