The Secret History of Gender

by Stern, Steve J.

• ISBN13: 9780807846438
• ISBN10: 0807846430
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

In this study of gender relations in late colonial Mexico (ca. 1760-1821), Steve Stern analyzes the historical connections between gender, power, and politics in the lives of peasants, Indians, and other marginalized peoples. Through vignettes of everyday life, he challenges assumptions about gender relations and political culture in a patriarchal society. He also reflects on continuity and change between late colonial times and the present and suggests a paradigm for understanding similar struggles over gender rights in Old Regime societies in Europe and the Americas. Stern pursues three major arguments. First, he demonstrates that non-elite women and men developed contending models of legitimate gender authority and that these differences sparked bitter struggles over gender right and obligation. Second, he reveals connections, in language and social dynamics, between disputes over legitimate authority in domestic and familial matters and disputes in the arenas of community and state power. The result is a fresh interpretation of the gendered dynamics of peasant politics, community, and riot. Third, Stern examines regional and ethnocultural variation and finds that his analysis transcends particular locales and ethnic subgroupings within Mexico. The historical arguments and conceptual sweep of Stern's book will inform not only students of Mexico and Latin America but also students of gender in the West and other world regions.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	ix
PART ONE. THE JOURNEY
An Invitation to Readers	3	(8)
Power, Patriarchy, and the Mexican Poor:L An Inquiry	11	(34)
PART TWO. BEFORE ZAPATA: CULTURE AS ARGUMENT
Counting Surprises: The Art of Cultural Exaggeration	45	(25)
Woman, Man, and Authority: The Contested Boundaries of Gender Right and Obligation	70	(42)
Cultural Legitimacy, Cultural Stigma: An Interpretation of Widows	112	(12)
The Crossfires of Gender and Family, Color and Class: Solidarity, Conflict, and Ambivalence	124	(27)
Battles of Patriarchs: The World of Male Peasant Violence	151	(38)
Gender Culture and Political Culture: Languages of Community, Politics, and Riot	189	(28)
PART THREE. MANY MEXICOS?: CULTURE AS VARIATION
Regionalism and Mexicanidad: Toward a Framework	217	(11)
The Indian South: Gender, Power, and Ethnicity in Oaxaca	228	(24)
The Plebeian Center: Struggling Women and Wayward Patriarchs in Mexico City	252	(33)
The Many Mexicos of Every Mexican Region: Morelos Reconsidered	285	(12)
PART FOUR. REFLECTIONS
Conclusion: Power and Patriarchy in Subaltern Life, Late Colonial Times	297	(23)
Postscript: The Problem of Ghosts	320	(25)
Tables	345	(34)
Appendix: A Note on Quantitative Methods	379	(2)
Notes	381	(58)
Bibliography	439	(28)
Index	467