Contested Identities

Gender and Kinship in Modern Greece

Peter Loizos, Evthmios Papataxiarchis, Peter Loizos, Evthymios Papataxiarchis

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780691028590
  9780691094601
• eBook ISBN:
  9781400884384
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

In this collection leading anthropologists provide a comprehensive yet highly nuanced view of what it means to be a Greek man or woman, married or unmarried, functioning within a complex society based on kinship ties. Exploring the ways in which sexual identity is constructed, these authors discuss, for example, how going out for coffee embodies dominant ideas about female sexuality, moral virtue, and autonomy; why men in a Lesbos village maintain elaborate friendships with nonfamily members while the women do not; why young housewives often participate in conflict-resolution rituals; and how the dominant role of mature married householders is challenged by unmarried persons who emphasize spontaneity and personal autonomy. This collection demonstrates that kinship and gender identities in Greece are not unitary and fixed: kinship is organized in several highly specific forms, and gender identities are plural, competing, antagonistic, and are continually being redefined by contexts and social change.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Gender and Kinship in Marriage and Alternative Contexts
• Part I: Gender and Kinship in Married Life
• Part II: Gender and Kinship outside Marriage
• Contributors
• Literature Cited
• Index