Matriarchy, Gender and Power
Interdisciplinary Perspectives
1st Edition
Published on 22. January 2026
272 pages
978-1-040-58427-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book explores the conceptualizations of female power through the notion of matriarchy in a variety of historical, cultural and epistemological contexts.
Matriarchy has been both marginalized, and even derided, as an object of study albeit consistently referred to as a symbol of female power. The lack of serious engagement with matriarchy has stifled critical inquiry into alternative ways of organizing gendered power, and this gap is that this book seeks to address. Re-examining matriarchy from a scientific and interdisciplinary perspective, this book aims to move beyond the simplistic binaries of male vs. female power through diverse enquiries into the concept of matriarchy that conceptualizes power not as domination, but as interconnection, nurturing, and community-oriented leadership. Through this approach, the contributions examine the emancipatory possibilities of matriarchy, while also acknowledging the limitations and challenges that come with it.
An interdisciplinary approach having international scope, this work will appeal to postgraduate students and academic researchers of Sociology, Anthropology, History, Art History, Asian Studies, American Studies, African American and Africana Studies, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, and Law.
Matriarchy has been both marginalized, and even derided, as an object of study albeit consistently referred to as a symbol of female power. The lack of serious engagement with matriarchy has stifled critical inquiry into alternative ways of organizing gendered power, and this gap is that this book seeks to address. Re-examining matriarchy from a scientific and interdisciplinary perspective, this book aims to move beyond the simplistic binaries of male vs. female power through diverse enquiries into the concept of matriarchy that conceptualizes power not as domination, but as interconnection, nurturing, and community-oriented leadership. Through this approach, the contributions examine the emancipatory possibilities of matriarchy, while also acknowledging the limitations and challenges that come with it.
An interdisciplinary approach having international scope, this work will appeal to postgraduate students and academic researchers of Sociology, Anthropology, History, Art History, Asian Studies, American Studies, African American and Africana Studies, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, and Law.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
18 Halftones, black and white; 18 Illustrations, black and white
File size
6,81 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-58427-9 (9781040584279)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 01/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€211.40
Not yet published
Persons
Coralie Raffenne is a Senior lecturer in Law at the Universite Paris Dauphine-PSL, France, and teaches on the legal aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainable development and transition. She holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of Warwick. Her current research explores the application of feminist approaches to environmental law and economics. Recent publications include Cosmopolitics of Care - The State and The Company beyond the Neoliberal Anthropocene (forthcoming monograph) La Souverainete Marchandisee - L'Empire des paradis fiscaux et le pillage environnemental (2012).
Cecile Coquet-Mokoko is a Professor of US cultural history, African American Studies and Gender Studies at Universite Versailles-Saint Quentin, France. She has 30 years of experience of historical and sociological research on race and gender relations in the USA from the 19th century to the present, particularly in the Deep South, and on the legacy of colonialism and slavery in interpersonal relations in France, the UK and the USA. Recent publications in English include Love Under the Skin: Interracial Couples in the American South and France (2020).
Cecile Coquet-Mokoko is a Professor of US cultural history, African American Studies and Gender Studies at Universite Versailles-Saint Quentin, France. She has 30 years of experience of historical and sociological research on race and gender relations in the USA from the 19th century to the present, particularly in the Deep South, and on the legacy of colonialism and slavery in interpersonal relations in France, the UK and the USA. Recent publications in English include Love Under the Skin: Interracial Couples in the American South and France (2020).
Content
Introduction; Part I: Matriarchal traces: Questioning the myth of universal patriarchy; 1. The quest for prehistoric matriarchy: archaeological perspectives; 2. Matriarchy, A Fantasized Model? Considering Indigenous Notions of Kinship, Decision-making, and Personhood Among the Na of China; 3. Insights into the Representations of Matriarchy in the Visual Culture of the Medieval East; Part II: Matriarchal imaginaries of female empowerment; 4. The Concept of Matriarchy in the Writings of Cheikh Anta Diop: Foundations, Topicality, and Influences on Feminist Organizations in Senegal; 5. Clan Mothers: The matriarchal figures of Mona Susan Power's stories; 6. The Myth of Primordial Matriarchy in the Goddess Movement: Between Strategic Mythmaking and the Construction of Artistic Matrilineage; Part III: Matriarchal narratives and ideologies of male domination; 7. Mother Earth and the matriarchal imaginary of environmental law: posthuman advances and biopolitical limits of rights of nature; 8. The myth of matriarchy in the narratives of separated fathers' associations and their influence on the law; 9. Primitive Matriarchy and the maternal self in the Takamure Itsue's Feminist Historiography
