Prof. Dr. Hannelore Van Bavel

Dr. Hannelore Van Bavel is an FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Rhea, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, and member of Jonge Academie. She holds a PhD in Anthropology & Sociology from SOAS University of London, as well as an MA in Gender and Diversity Studies and an MSc in Sociology from Ghent University.

Hannelore's research explores why societies surgically alter genitalia and why some genital modifications are criminalised while others are normalised. She examines what these distinctions reveal about the intersections of gender, culture, race, and power. Empirically, her work focuses on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS), drawing on social anthropology, gender studies, and bioethics. Methodologically, she uses ethnographic and arts-based approaches to centre lived experiences, alongside empirical bioethics to develop normative recommendations grounded in evidence.

Across her research trajectory, Hannelore has examined these questions in both African and European contexts. Her early ethnographic work with Maasai communities in East Africa explored local perspectives on female circumcision and the impacts of anti-FGM/C interventions. Building on this, her PhD analysed how global discourses on FGM/C emerged and became institutionalised in international policy. During her Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action postdoc, she studied women's motivations for undergoing female genital cosmetic surgeries, and the ways in which medics respond to such requests in Belgium and the Netherlands. In her current FWO Senior Postdoc, Hannelore studies female genital cosmetic surgeries in Kenya, where the boundary between genital cosmetic surgery and medicalised FGM/C is increasingly blurred.