Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Synopsis
Manifesting Power confronts the relationship between gender and power within prehistoric and historic societies. It addresses the extent to which our reconceptions of the nature of power, and of relations between the sexes, are rooted in our own experience of western society, and argues that both conditions and perceptions may have been quite different among peoples of the past.
This collection includes nine innovative chapters which draw on data from a range of periods and areas. By looking at the evidence for gender distinctions both from archaeological sites and from ethnographic observation, the contributors explore what these distinctions can reveal about power relationships in general. They argue that the evidence often does not point to the existence of hierarchical gender relationships, and explore the forms of power available to women among the Maya and Aztec, and in prehistoric Denmark, Alaska, and the southeastern United States.
Booknews
Essays confront the relationship between gender and power within prehistoric and historic societies, addressing the extent to which our preconceptions of the nature of power, and of relations between the sexes, are rooted in our own experience of Western society, and arguing that both conditions and perceptions have been quite different among people of the past. Chapters draw on data from a range of periods and areas to look at evidence for gender distinctions both from archaeological sites and from ethnographic observation, revealing that evidence frequently does not point to the existence of hierarchical gender relationships. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)