Biography

Dr. Mishtal is an assistant professor who specializes in cultural medical anthropology focusing on reproductive rights and policies in Eastern Europe and the European Union. Dr. Mishtal received her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2006, and she was the recipient of the Charlotte Ellertson Postdoctoral Fellowship at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, from 2006 to 2008. Her theoretical and research interests include gender and politics, democratization, political economy, global women’s health, feminism and women’s movements. Specifically, her research explores the contentious nature of reproductive politics and democratization that emerged since the fall of state socialism in 1989 in Poland. She also examines the reasons behind the rapidly declining fertility in Poland and the ways in which Polish women achieve one of the lowest fertility levels in the world in spite of significant policy restrictions on family planning and sex education.

Dr. Mishtal’s upcoming project will build on her interest in international politics of gender and health. Specifically, this project will analyze the power dynamics between the supranational governance of the EU and the Vatican, and the sovereignty of the newly admitted East European nations regarding reproductive policies.

Dr. Mishtal has also been involved in reproductive health advocacy with non-governmental organizations in the US and in Europe. Her work has been supported by the Fulbright Scholarship, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Devaney Fellowship, and the Ellertson Postdoctoral Fellowship.

She joined UCF faculty fall 2008.