Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Webs of Power offers a fresh perspective on women in Southeast Asia. Although the book focuses on one village, it provides vital insights into the gendered processes of post-coloniality. By exploring the contestations and accommodations being made in rural villages by both men and women, Webs of Power reveals the processes at the heart of globalization as well as the complexities of power that circulate between women and men in a rural peasant society.
Synopsis
Webs of Power offers a fresh perspective on women in Southeast Asia. Focusing on one rural Minangkabau village, the book provides vital insights into the gendered processes of post-coloniality. The Minangkabau living in West Sumatra are the largest matrilineal group in the world. They have intrigued generations of scholars because they are matrilineal and Islamic. By exploring the contestations and accommodations women and men make with state and Islamic ideologies, Webs of Power discloses the processes at the heart of globalization as well as the complexities of kinship and power in a rural agricultural community. The book challenges conventional thinking about matriliny, showing the prominence of senior women in all aspects of village life.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 202-214) and index.
Table of Contents
Introduction: matriliny, gender, and power -- Village currents in West Sumatra -- Senior women and their houses -- National discourses and daughters' desires -- Senior women and ceremonial strategies -- Ceremonial practice and the ideology of rank -- Controlling labor, controlling kin: village farm relations -- The politics of power.