Gender, Imperialism And Global Exchanges

In spite of its historic significance, gender considerations were often dismissed in traditional imperial histories. Gender, Imperialism and Global Exchanges presents a collection of readings which address myriad gendered dimensions of empire between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, across a wide range of geographic locales. Featuring contributions from more than a dozen international scholars -- and based on their original research -- chapters revolve around such themes as labour, commodities, fashion, mobility, and activism while exploring the dynamics of empire in destinations ranging from Africa and the Americas to Europe and Asia. Special consideration is given to gender issues arising during periods when upheaval challenged colonial regimes, which often resulted in decolonisation and independence. Chapters also reveal how former colonies transitioned into `nations', along with transnational dynamics that took place among modern states. A common thread woven through each chapter is the matter of precisely who it was that deserved to be treated and recognised as fully human in an era of imperial exchanges and ongoing capitalist globalisation. Innovative and thought-provoking, Gender, Imperialism and Global Exchanges sheds important new light on our understanding of the complex gendered dimensions of the exchanges of people, ideas and cultural practices during the postcolonial era.

Stephan F. Miescher is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Making Men in Ghana (2005) and the co-editor of Modernization as Spectacle in Africa (2014), Africa After Gender? (2007) and Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa (2003). He is also a former co-editor of Ghana Studies and co-director of the University of California Multicampus Research Group in African Studies.
Michele Mitchell is Associate Professor of History at New York University and former North American editor of Gender & History. She is the author of Righteous Propagation: African Americans and the Politics of Racial Destiny after Reconstruction (2004) and co-editor of Dialogues of Dispersal: Gender, Sexuality and African Diasporas (2004).
Naoko Shibusawa is Associate Professor of History and American Studies at Brown University, where she teaches courses on US empire. She is the author of America's Geisha Ally: Reimagining the Japanese Enemy (2006).