19/01/2016
A fascinating new book on women's agency in Vietnam, featuring a chapter from Dorisea Senior Research Fellow Kirsten Endres.
Weaving Women’s Spheres in Vietnam offers an in-depth study of the status of women in Vietnamese society through an examination of their roles in the context of family, religious and local community life from anthropological, historical and sociological perspectives. Unlike previous works on gender issues relating to Vietnam which focus on women as passive subjects and are restricted to specific spheres such as family, this book, through a series of case studies and life stories, not only examines the suppressive gender structure of the Vietnamese family, but also demonstrates Vietnamese women's agency in appropriating that structure and creating alternative spheres for women which they have interwoven in between the dominant realms of public and private spheres in the areas of family, religious practice, community organizations, and politics, including their participation in the (re)construction of national identity. Accordingly, this volume is expected to become an important new benchmark relating to gender issues in Asian societies, especially in the context of so-called ‘transitional’ societies, such as China and Vietnam.
Weaving Women's Spheres in Vietnam examines the changing status of womanhood in 'traditional', transitional and contemporary Vietnam from anthropological, historical, and sociological perspectives, focusing particularly on women's active agency in negotiating their own roles in family, religion and…
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