Of Property and Propriety: The Role of Gender and Class in Imperialism and Nationalism

by Himani Bannerji (Editor), Shahrzad Mojab (Editor), Judith Whitehead (Editor)

Unique in its approach, this collection of essays examines property relations, moral regulations pertaining to gender, and nationalism in India, Kurdistan, Ireland, and Finland. Structured around six case studies, the contributors combine an analysis of gender with a dialectical examination of class and patriarchy to reveal how these relations have become constructed in recent nationalist movements.

Offering an alternative to post-colonial and post-structuralist formulations of gender and nationalism, the volume highlights the connections and convergences in matters of property, propriety, and gender among ideologically similar nationalist movements, and shows how ideological similarities and differences need to be understood prior to analysing the gender symbolism and patriarchal relations of nationalist histories.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Himani Bannerji is a Bengali–Canadian writer, sociologist, and philosopher from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. She teaches in the Department of Sociology, the Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought, and the Graduate Programme in Women's Studies at York University, Canada. She is also known for her activist work and poetry. She received her B.A. and M.A. in English from Visva-Bharati University and Jadavpur University respectively, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Bannerji works in the areas of Marxist, feminist and anti-racist theory. She is especially focused on reading colonial discourse through Karl Marx's concept of ideology, and putting together a reflexive analysis of gender, race and class. Bannerji also does much lecturing about the Gaze and othering and silencing of women who are marginalized.

Reviews

[Şilan Tank · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most underrated book in "gender and nationalism" literature, likely because the authors approach the topic from a Marxist perspective.