As an early reviewer wrote, “This is one of the clearest, most concise statements on social theory in general, let alone on gender, that I have ever read.” Now updated, Mascia-Lees and Black continue to expertly trace how anthropologists have used different theoretical orientations to examine the nature and determinants of gender roles and gender inequality. From the nineteenth century on, anthropologists have used different theoretical orientations to understand the emotionally charged topic of gender. With an insightful look at evolutionary, materialist, psychological, structuralist, poststructural, sociolinguistic, and self-reflexive approaches, this distinctive module also examines how these approaches best explain gender and sexual oppression in a global world. The authors pack great amounts of valuable information into such a slim volume yet leave readers with digestible material that does more than cover the surface of anthropological perspectives on gender roles and stratification. Readers gain insights and tools to develop their own critical analyses of gender.

In the last three decades, a remarkable degree of progress has occurred in the study of gender within anthropology. Gendered Anthropology offers a thought-provoking, lively examination of current debates focusing on sex and gender, race, ethnicity, politics and economics and provides insights which are still too often lacking in mainstream anthropology. Gendered Anthropology will be of particular value to undergraduates and lecturers in social anthropology and gender studies.

In this new book Henrietta Moore examines the nature and limitations of the theoretical languages used by anthropologists and others to write about sex, gender and sexuality. Moore begins by discussing recent feminist debates on the body and the notion of the non-universal human subject. She then considers why anthropologists have contributed relatively little to these debates, and suggests that this has much to do with the history of anthropological thought with regard to the conceptualization of "persons" and "selves" cross-culturally. Moore develops a specific anthropological approach to feminist post-structuralist and psychoanalytic theory. In subsequent chapters Moore pursues a series of related themes including the links between gender, identity and violence; questions of gender and identity in the context of intra-household resource allocation; the construction of domestic space and its relationship to bodily practices and the internationalization of relations of difference; and the links between the gender of the anthropologist and the writing of anthropology. This volume demonstrates anthropology's contribution to current debates in feminist theory.

In this ambitious new book, Henrietta Moore draws on anthropology, feminism and psychoanalysis to develop an original and provocative theory of gender and of how we become sexed beings. Arguing that the Oedipus complex is no longer the fulcrum of debate between anthropology and psychoanalysis, she demonstrates how recent theorizing on subjectivity, agency and culture has opened up new possibilities for rethinking the relationship between gender, sexuality and symbolism. Using detailed ethnographic material from Africa and Melanesia to explore the strengths and weaknesses of a range of theories in anthropology, feminism and psychoanalysis, Moore advocates an ethics of engagement based on a detailed understanding of the differences and similarities in the ways in which local communities and western scholars have imaginatively deployed the power of sexual difference. She demonstrates the importance of ethnographic listening, of focused attention to people’s imaginations, and of how this illuminates different facets of complex theoretical issues and human conundrums. Written not just for professional scholars and for students but for anyone with a serious interest in how gender and sexuality are conceptualized and experienced, this book is the most powerful and persuasive assessment to date of what anthropology has to contribute to these debates now and in the future.

Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge brings feminist anthropology up to date, highlighting the theoretical sophistication that characterizes recent research. Twelve essays by outstanding scholars, written with the volume's concerns specifically in mind, range across the broadest anthropological terrain, assessing and contributing to feminist work on biological anthropology, primate studies, global economy, new reproductive technologies, ethno-linguistics, race and gender, and more. The editor's introduction not only sets two decades of feminist anthropological work in the multiple contexts of changes in anthropological theory and practice, political and economic developments, and larger intellectual shifts, but also lays out the central insights feminist anthropology has to offer us in the postmodern era. The profound issues raised by the authors resonate with the basic interests of any discipline concerned with gender, that is, all of the social sciences and humanities.

Mascia-Lees combines core components of these perspectives with insightful analyses and ethnographic examples to illusrate kow global events and transformations have molded and continue to skape gender identities, behaviors, and expectations and produce and sustain worldwide inequalities. This exemplary treatment provides a solid background to understand complex issues and to think critically about remedying uneven degrees of privilege and experiences of oppression both within and across nations. --Book Jacket.