Matriliny and Modernity

Sexual Politics and Social Change in Rural Malaysia

Maila Stivens author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:6th Nov '23

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Matriliny and Modernity cover

Matriliny and Modernity (1996) explores the situation both past and present of women living in the matrilineal society of Negeri Sembilan in a 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 knowledge 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 possibilities for gender equality.

ISBN: 9781032598772

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 775g

330 pages