Women, Culture, and Power in Comparative Perspective

This study of women cross-culturally raises a number of difficult and delicate issues. Do women constitute a legitimate category of analysis? What explains the diversity of women's roles across societies? How do we assess women's status and power? What forces create changes in women's roles? This course attempts to answer these questions and to compare and contrast women's roles in a variety of societies. Analysis will concentrate on three primary domains: family and kinship; symbolic systems; and political economy. Course readings deal primarily with non-Western societies, but not exclusively so. Limited places available for students to satisfy the College writing requirement. 3 hrs. lect./disc.