Date of Award
4-1990
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Dr. Erika Loeffler
Second Advisor
Dr. Robert Jack Smith
Third Advisor
Dr. William Garland
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
The purpose of this master's thesis is to describe the structure and workings of a community of women in a major western Michigan metropolitan area, who identify themselves as lesbians, and to describe how this subcommunity relates to the dominant American culture in the area. This study examines the ways in which these lesbians define themselves and their subculture.
To facilitate this research, the researcher participated in the group's meetings, both formal and informal, and spoke with individual members about the history of the group, organizational principles, problems and concerns, formal and Informal rules of conduct, values, and any other topic group members cared to discuss that would contribute to an understanding of what it is like to identify with a female network which exists outside the mainstream of society.
Recommended Citation
Burton, Carol W., "Ethnography of a Lesbian Community in Michigan" (1990). Masters Theses. 1060.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1060