Matriliny and Modernity: Sexual politics and social change in rural Malaysia (Women in Asia Publication Series) - Softcover

Stivens, Maila

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1863738924 ISBN 13: 9781863738927

Publisher: Routledge, 1996

Synopsis

The modern Malaysian press frequently runs articles on the matrilineal society of Negeri Sembilan under such headings as 'It's a Woman's World' and 'Woman Power'. Matriliny and Modernity explores the situation both past and present of women living in this small state in rapidly modernising Malaysia. Written from a feminist anthropological viewpoint, it considers how far both the colonial and post-colonial remakings of matrilineal cultural practices within modernity have left women with what many western feminists would call a degree of social agency if not autonomy. Maila Stivens looks critically at the appropriateness of such judgements, at the same time reflecting on the ways that western knowldege production and the continuing importance of images of exotic matriarchies in the western imagination have shaped debates about such societies.

As well as appealing to those with an interest in issues of gender-and-development, Asian Studies and women's situation in modernising societies, the book's explanation of the past and present of relatively more egalitarian gender arrangements also contributes to wider debates about causes of sexual inequality and the possibilites for sexual equality.

About this title

About the Author

Maila Stivens studied for her B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology at Sydney University, and for her Ph.D at the London School of Economics. Her main research work has been centred on Malaysia, both on gender and underdevelopment in Negeri Sembilan, and on work and family among the new Malay middle classes in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Seremban. She lectured in Anthropology at University College, London from 1977 to 1987 and in 1988 became Director of Women's Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1863738924
• ISBN 13: 9781863738927
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336