Why Gender?

World-famous scholars from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds each consider the same question - why is gender so important for understanding the world in which we live?

Jude Browne (Edited by)

9781108970365, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 7 October 2021

320 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.4 cm, 0.61 kg

Why is a focus on gender so important for interpreting the world in which we live? Sixteen world-famous scholars have been brought together to address this question from their respective fields: Political Theory, Philosophy, Medical Anthropology, Law, Geography, Islamic Studies, Cultural Studies, Philosophy of Science, Literature, Psychoanalysis, History of Art, Education and Economics. The resulting volume covers an extraordinary array of contexts, ranging from rethinking trans* bodies, to traumatized tribal communities, to sexualized violence, to assisted reproductive technologies, to the implications of epigenetics for understanding gender, and yet they are all connected by their focus on the importance of gender as a category of analysis. The publication of this volume celebrates the anniversary of the launch of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge, and features contributions from past and future Diane Middlebrook and Carl Djerassi Visiting Professors to the University.

Introduction: Why Gender? Jude Browne
1. Gender in Translation: Beyond Monolingualism Judith Butler
2. Gender and The Queer/Trans* Undercommons Jack Halberstam
3. Gender and the End of Biological Determinism John Dupré
4. Gender, Sexuality, Race and Colonialism Sandra Harding
5. Posthuman Feminism and Gender Methodology Rosi Braidotti
6. Gender, Sperm Troubles and Assisted Reproductive Technologies Marcia C. Inhorn
7. Gender, Capital and Care Nancy Fraser
8. Aspiration Management: Gender, Race, Class and the Child as Waste Cindi Katz
9. Gender, Race and American National Identity: The First Black First Family Patricia Hill Collins
10. Gender and the Collective Bina Agarwal
11. Willfulness, Feminism and the Gendering of Will Sara Ahmed
12. Gender and Emigré Political Thought: Hannah Arendt and Judith Shklar Seyla Benhabib
13. Feminism and the Abomination of Violence: Gender Thought and Unthought Jacqueline Rose
14. Trafficking, Prostitution and Inequality: The Centrality of Gender Catharine MacKinnon
15. Gender, Revenge, Mutation, and War Akbar Ahmed
16. Bed Peace and Gender Abnorms Mignon Nixon.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Sociology [JHB], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ]