An Introduction to Women's Studies: Gender in a Transnational World

by Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan

This anthology for first and second year students introduces them to the history of key ideas in the modern period related to sexual difference, gender, race, class, and sexuality. While most introductory Women's Studies textbooks focus on the United States, even if they add multiculturalism to the discussion, this book looks at the history of important differences between women in diverse locations around the world and continually challenges students to think through the issues that are raised. This transnational approach to understanding gender brings Women's Studies into an era of globalization and connects women’s issues in the United States to women’s issues elsewhere. The book shows how colonialism and imperialism, as they spread across the world, shaped ideas about gender as much as other modern phenomena. It addresses issues of power and inequalities and focuses on links and connections rather than commonalties. The readings are truly interdisciplinary, drawing upon scholarly work in many disciplines and interdisciplinary fields as well as non-scholarly sources.

Genres: Feminism, Gender, Womens Studies, Nonfiction, Gender Studies, Womens, Anthologies

600 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2001

About the author

Inderpal Grewal is Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. She is the author of Transnational America: Feminisms, Diasporas, Neoliberalisms and Home and Harem: Nation, Gender, Empire, and the Cultures of Travel, and coeditor of Theorizing NGOs: States, Feminisms, and Neoliberalism, all also published by Duke University Press.

Reviews

[Selena · Rating 3 out of 5]

The articles in this book are so short and so specifically localized it's impossible to get any sense of cohesion with the material. You come out of it saying, 'What did I just learn? How do these topics relate to one another?'

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taught this in an intro to feminism class, and I found the undergrad students really engaged with the selections.

[Mawina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5