Intersexions: Gender/Class/Culture/Ethnicity - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 004442325X ISBN 13: 9780044423256

Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 1991

Synopsis

Do writings about ethnicity, class and gender form a 'holy trinity' or challenge previous unidimensional analyses? Intersexions accepts the triple perspective but goes further. One aim is to understand the processes by which relations of power are maintained, reproduced and resisted. Intersexions also examines modes of representation: within social theory, feminism, development theory and discussions of capitalism and postcolonialism, as well as dominant ideological notions of caste, domesticity and 'success' The writers' approaches are all critical but concerned also with providing alternatives. Comparative and specific analyses are combined, attention is paid to the written and spoken material of the people 'represented' and their own positions as commentators examined. Topics range from discussions of family ideology and paid and domestic work, to analyses of writings by Aboriginals, Vanuatuans and second generation Greek Australians and critiques of the cultural construction of gender and ethnicity in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. Themes recur and overlap. Unitary categories are questioned and the processes by which relations described as 'class' 'ethnic' 'cultural' and 'gender' intersect and interact are demonstrated.

About this title

Synopsis:

"Intersexions" addresses some of the key issues in contemporary society. Do writings about ethnicity, class and gender form a "holy trinity" or challenge previous unidimensional analyses? Current scholarship provides a strong justification to challenge boundaries and to stress inter-relationships rather than divisions between ways of knowing. "Intersexions" accepts the triple perspective but goes further still. One aim is to understand the processes by which relations of power are maintained, reproduced and resisted. "Intersexions" also examines modes of representation: within social theory, feminism, development theory and discussions of capitalism and post-colonialism, as well as dominant ideological notions of caste, domesticity and "success". The writers' approaches in "Intersexions" are all critical but are also concerned with providing alternatives: by combining comparative and specific analyses, paying attention to the written and spoken material by the people "represented" and by examining their own positions as commentators.

Topics range from discussions of family ideology and the inter-relations between paid work and domestic work in Australia, through the writings of Aboriginal and Vanuatuan women and of second-generation Greek Australians, to critiques of development paradigms and the cultural construction of gender and ethnicity in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. Themes recur and overlap, and are discussed from several perspectives, bringing the reader back to the central debates. Unitary categories are questioned and the processes are demonstrated by which relations described as "class", "ethnic", "cultural" and "gender" intersect and interact with each other in complex and specific ways. Gill Bottomley is the author of "After the Odyssey" and co-editor of "The Family in the Modern World". Marie de Lepervanche is the author of "Indians in a White Australia" and co-editor of "Crossing boundaries: Feminisms and the Critique of Knowledges". Gill Bottomley and Marie de Leparvanche also co-edited "The Cultural Construction of Race" and "Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Australia. This book is intended for students and researchers in sociology, anthropology and women's studies.

About the Author:

GILL BOTTOMLEY, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Macquarie University, is the author of After the Odyssey and co-editor of Family in the Modern World. MARIE DE LEPERVANCHE is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Sydney and is the author of Indians in a White Australia and co-editor of Crossing Boundaries: Feminism and the critique of knowledges. JEANNIE MARTIN is Senior Lecturer in Humanities at the University of Technology Sydney. Gill Bottomley and Marie de Lepervanche co-edited The Cultural Construction of Race and Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Australia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 004442325X
• ISBN 13: 9780044423256
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Bottomley Gillian