Gender in History (eBook)

Updated with new material to reflect the latest developments in the field, Gender in History: Global Perspectives, 2nd Edition, provides a concise overview of the construction of gender in world cultures from the Paleolithic era to modern times.

• Includes examples drawn from the most recent scholarship relating to a diverse range of cultures, from Ancient Mesopotamia to post-Soviet Russia, and from the Igbo of Nigeria, to the Iroquois of north eastern North America.
• Reflects new developments in the field with added coverage of primates, slavery, colonialism, masculinity, and transgender issues
• Features significant discussion of the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, an important trend in the study of world history
• Lays out key theoretical and methodological issues in an introduction that is written in accessible language
• Supplementary material for instructors and students available at www.wiley.com/go/wiesnerhanks

Merry Wiesner-Hanks is a Distinguished Professor of History and the Interim Director of the Center for 21^st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is the co-editor of the Sixteenth Century Journal and the author or editor of twenty books and numerous articles that have appeared in English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Chinese. Her books include The Marvelous Hairy Girls (2009), Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (2008) and, with Teresa Meade, A Companion to Gender History (Blackwell, 2004).

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GENDER IN HISTORY Praise for the first edition: Wiesner-Hanks ... accomplishes a near-impossible feat - a review of what is known about the construction of gender and the character of women s lives in all known cultures over the course of human history . Theoretically sophisticated and doing justice to the historical and cross-cultural record, yet assimilable by students. Choice Gender in History brilliantly explores the influence of gender constructs in political, social, economic, and cultural affairs. The remarkable cultural, geographical, and chronological range of Wiesner-Hanks research is matched only by the sophistication, nuance, and clarity of her analysis. This book offers a rare and valuable global perspective on gender roles in human history. Jerry H. Bentley, University of HawaiiOver the past two decades, considerations of gender have revolutionized the study of history. Yet most books on the subject remain narrowly focused on a specific time period or particular region of the world. Gender in History: Global Perspectives, Second Edition, continues to redress this inequity by providing a concise overview of the construction of gender in many world cultures over a period stretching from the Paleolithic era to modern times.Thoroughly updated to reflect current developments in the field, the new edition features entirely new sections which address primates, slavery, colonialism, masculinity, transgender issues, and other relevant topics. As in the well-received first edition, material is presented thematically to reveal the connections between gender and structures such as the family, economy, law, religion, sexuality, and the state. Wiesner-Hanks also investigates precisely what it meant to be a man or woman throughout history; how these roles were shaped by various institutions; and how they in turn were influenced by gender. The author presents material within each chapter chronologically to highlight the ways in which gender structures have varied over time.The new edition of Gender in History: Global Perspectives offers rich insights into all that is currently known about gender roles throughout world history.A companion website is available at www.wiley.com/go/wiesnerhanks