Synopses & Reviews
In the period of decolonization that followed World War II, a number of scholars, mainly Middle Eastern, launched a sustained assault on Orientalism
the theory and practice of representing the "East" in Western thoughtaccusing its practitioners of misrepresentation, prejudice and bias. An intense debate ensued, involving not only Orientalists but historians, sociologists, anthropologists, literary critics, scholars of cultural studies and gender studies as well as the news media. Orientalism: A Reader provides students, scholars and general readers alike with a selection of key readings from this debate, covering a range of areas including myth, imperialism, the cultural perspective, Marxist interpretation and feminist approaches. The aim is to introduce the origins and character of the debate on Orientalism, providing a useful overview of a controversial and problematic concept from a multidisciplinary perspective. Coverage begins with late 19th-century material from thinkers such as Hegel and Marx, and moves through extracts from Nietzsche, Gramsci and Foucault to contemporary work from, Brian Turner, John Mackenzie and Edward Said. As well as a general introduction, each section and extract is introduced and there is a detailed guide to further reading.
Contributors: Anouar Abdel-Malek, Aijaz Ahmad, Sadik Jalal al-'Azm, Fred Dallmayr, Michel Foucault, Francesco Gabrieli, Antonio Gramsci, G.W.F Hegel, Ronald Inden, Richard King, David Kopf, Bernard Lewis, Donald P. Little, L. Lowe, John MacKenzie, Pierre Martino, Karl Marx, Billie Melman, James Mill, B.J. Moore-Gilbert, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sheldon Pollock, Michael Richardson, Edward Said, Stuart Schaar, Raymond Schwab, A.L. Tibawi, Bryan S. Turner and Ernest J. Wilson III.
Synopsis
Women and men migrate across international boundaries at roughly the same rate. Yet most scholarship assumes that international migration results primarily from the labor migration of male workers. When international female migration is acknowledged, the focus is almost exclusively on women in the low-wage labor sector of the global economy.
Gender and Immigration challenges this outlook by examining the diverse and complex ways in which women in a variety of occupational and social categories experience international relocation.
Written by experts and policymakers in the field, the timely essays collected here explore whether international migration provides women with opportunities for liberation from the subordinate gender roles of their countries of origin. Or, do migrant women face both traditional and new forms of subordination and discrimination in their host societies?
Exploring the experiences of a broad range of women, from "unskilled" workers on the U.S.-Mexican border and Filipino mail-order brides to Indian-American motel owners, Asian businesswomen, and Russian immigrants to Israel, Gender and Immigration offers a much-needed corrective to the long-standing invisibility of women in international migration research.
About the Author
Gregory A. Kelson is Executive Director of the Institute for Women and Children's Policy, an international policymaking think-tank in Chicago.
Debra L. DeLaet is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.