Synopses & Reviews
"Considered as a whole, this collection offers a basis for generalisations and specialised inquiry that will support both teaching and further research on the role of women in world history."
Itinerario "The book deserves credit for stimulating such questions, which have broad appeal among scholars of colonialism, including those who do not work on gender. Its broad coverage and accessible language give it access to a wider audience than many academic anthologies, thereby advancing the interests of all those who value the study of colonial history."Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History
Women and the Colonial Gaze is the first collection to present a broad chronological and geographical examination of the ways in which images and stereotypes of women have been used to define relationships between colonial powers and subject peoples.
In essays ranging from ancient Rome to twentieth-century Asia and Africa, the contributions suggest that the use of gender as a tool in the imperialist context is much older and more comprehensive than previously suggested. Contributors look particularly at the ways in which colonizers constructed a national identity by creating a contrast with the colonial "other," in contexts ranging from Christian views of Islam women in medieval Spain to French beliefs about Native American women. They also examine the ways in which images of gender as constructed by colonial powers impacted the lives of native women from colonial-era India to Korea to Swaziland.
Comparative in its approach, the volume will appeal to students and historians of women's studies, colonialism, and the development of national identity.
Synopsis
Women and the Colonial Gaze is the first collection to present a broad chronological and geographical examination of the ways in which colonial powers have represented women in colonized native societies, exploring the ways in which both colonizers and colonized have been affected by these perceptions.
Synopsis
Women and the Colonial Gaze is the first collection to present a broad chronological and geographical examination of the ways in which images and stereotypes of women have been used to define relationships between colonial powers and subject peoples.In essays ranging from ancient Rome to twentieth-century Asia and Africa, the contributions suggest that the use of gender as a tool in the imperialist context is much older and more comprehensive than previously suggested. Contributors look particularly at the ways in which colonizers constructed a national identity by creating a contrast with the colonial "other,"in contexts ranging from Christian views of Islam women in medieval Spain to French beliefs about Native American women. They also examine the ways in which images of gender as constructed by colonial powers impacted the lives of native women from colonial-era India to Korea to Swaziland.Comparative in its approach, the volume will appeal to students and historians of women's studies, colonialism, and the development of national identity.
Synopsis
Build It Now puts forward a clear and innovative vision of a socialist future, and at the same time shows how concrete steps can be taken to make that vision a reality. It shows how the understanding of capitalism can itself become a political act—a defense of the real needs of human beings against the ongoing advance of capitalist profit.
Throughout the book, Lebowitz addresses the concerns of people engaged in struggle to create a better world, but aware that this struggle must be informed by the realities of the twenty-first century. Many chapters of the book began life as addresses to worker organizations in Venezuela, where worker self-management is on the agenda. Written by an eminent academic, this is far more than an academic treatise. The book brings an internationalist outlook and vast knowledge of global trends to bear on concrete efforts to transform contemporary society.
Build It Now is a testament to the ongoing vitality of the Marxist tradition, drawing on its deep resources of analytical insight and moral passion and fusing them into an essential guide to the struggles of our time.
About the Author
Michael Lebowitz is professor emeritus of economics at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, and the author of Beyond Capital: Marxs Political Economy of the Working Class, winner of the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize for 2004, and Build It Now: Socialism for the Twenty-First Century. He is Director, Programme in Transformative Practice and Human Development, Centro Internacional Miranda, in Caracas, Venezuela.