Gender History in a Transnational Perspective

Networks, Biographies, Gender Orders

Oliver Janz, Daniel Schönpflug

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2014
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782382751
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

Recent debates have used the concept of "transnational history" to broaden research on historical subjects that transcend national boundaries and encourage a shift away from official inter-state interactions to institutions, groups, and actors that have been obscured. This approach proves particularly fruitful for the dynamic field of global gender and women's history. By looking at the restless lives and work of women's activists in informal border-crossings, ephemeral NGOs, the lower management of established international organizations, and other global networks, this volume reflects the potential of a new perspective that allows for a more adequate analysis of transnational activities. By pointing out cultural hierarchies, the vicissitudes of translation and re-interpretation, and the ambiguity of intercultural exchange, this volume demonstrates the critical potential of transnational history. It allows us to see the limits of universalist and cosmopolitan claims so dear to many historical actors and historians.

Table of contents

• Gender History in a Transnational Perspective
• Gender History in a Transnational Perspective Networks, Biographies, Gender Orders
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Understanding International Feminismsas ‘Transnational’ – an Anachronism? May Wright Sewall and the Creation of the International Council of Women, 1889–1904 Karen Offen
• Chapter 2 The National Councils of Women in France, Italy and Portugal Comparisons and Entanglements, 1888–1939 Anne Cova
• Chapter 3 A Forgotten Instance of Women’s International Organising The Transnational Feminist Networks of the Women’s Progressive Society (1890) and the International Women’s Union (1893–1898) Julie Carlier
• Chapter 4 A Struggle over Gender, Class and the Vote Unequal International Interactions and the Formation of the ‘Female International’ of Socialist Women (1905–1907) Susan Zimmermann
• Chapter 5 How Did Women Use the Vote? Women and Transnational Politicsin the Twentieth Century Pat Thane
• Chapter 6 A Transnational Career? The Republican and Utopian Politics of Frances Wright (1795–1852) Jane Rendall
• Chapter 7 What is a Transnational Life? Some Thoughts about Marguerite Thibert’s Career and Life (1886–1982) Françoise Thébaud
• Chapter 8 Between Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism Female Opera Singers in Britain and Germany in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century Gunilla Budde
• Chapter 9 Gender, Class, Race and Sexuality A Transnational Approach to Legislation on Venereal Diseases, 1880s–1940s Ida Blom
• Chapter 10 Transgressing the Colour Line Policing Colonial ‘Miscegenation’ Birthe Kundrus
• Chapter 11 Sex Drives, Bride Prices and Divorces Legal Policy Concerning Gender Relations in German Cameroon, 1884–1916 Ulrike Schaper
• Index
• Gender History in a Transnational Perspective