eBook

Weaving the past : a history of Latin America's indigenous women from the prehispanic period to the present

Kellogg, Susan

2005

Overview

Weaving the Past offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary history of Latin America’s indigenous women. While the book concentrates on native women in Mesoamerica and the Andes, it covers indigenous people in other parts of South and Central America, including lowland peoples in and beyond Brazil, and Afro-indigenous peoples, such as the Garifuna, of Central America. Drawing on primary and secondary sources, it argues that change, not continuity, has been the norm for indigenous peoples whose resilience in the face of complex and long-term patterns of cultural change is due in no small part to the roles, actions, and agency of women. The book provides broad coverage of gender roles in native Latin America over many centuries, drawing upon a range of evidence from archaeology, anthropology, religion, and politics. Primary and secondary sources include chronicles, codices, newspaper articles, and monographic work on specific regions. Arguing that Latin America’s indigenous women were the critical force behind the more important events and processes of Latin America’s history, Kellogg interweaves the region’s history of family, sexual, and labor history with the origins of women’s power in prehispanic, colonial, and modern South and Central America. Shying away from interpretations that treat women as house bound and passive, the book instead emphasizes women’s long history of performing labor, being politically active, and contributing to, even supporting, family and community well-being.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press,Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Subject: Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies) / Anthropology / Colonial history / Empowerment / Gender Studies / History / History of Gender and Sexuality / History of the Americas / Indian women / Indian women -- Latin America -- History / Indian women -- Latin America -- Politics and government / Indian women -- Latin America -- Social conditions / Indigenous populations / Latin America / Latin America -- History / Latin America -- Social conditions / Latin American History / Politics and government / Precolonial history / Regional history / Social conditions / Social movements / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Weaving / Women
• ISBN: 0195123816, 0195183282, 9780195183283, 9780195123814