Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change 1700-1835

             Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change 1700-1835
             Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835, is a well-organized and well-supported novel by Theda Perdue. Perdue writes an informative account of the history of Cherokee "social life" and the role of women in Cherokee culture. She walks the reader through changes in trade, war, and general interaction of peoples. Perdue states, "The story of Cherokee women, therefore, is not one of declining status and lost culture, but one of persistence and change, conservatism and adaptation, tragedy and survival. (p195)" Theda Perdue portrays an image of women's cultural persistence throughout the novel.
             The novel is broken in the three main sections, Part 1 – A Woman's World, Part 2 – Contact, and Part 3 – Civilization. In these sections, Theda Perdue shows the outside influences on and changes in Cherokee society and conceptions of gender roles and norms. The first part defines the balance of life and gender in Cherokee culture before European interaction influenced a change. Part two explains how war and trade made an impact on the society and women in general. Finally, the government's attempt to "civilize" the Cherokees is described in part three.
             Theda Perdue arranges the basis for her comparisons in this beginning section of the novel. She provides the reader with abundant examples of the differentiation of tasks between male and female and how gender is constructed within the Cherokee culture. Clan life, reproduction, ceremonies, and other matters are explained in relation to the role of women. Perdue gives extensive background in this section, vital for the rest of the novel, for both the expert and novice on Cherokee history.
             In the second section, Perdue stresses the impact of outside influences, particularly European and American-Europe
             ...

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change 1700-1835. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 08:41, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/4287.html