Drawing upon the latest research in gender studies; history of religion; feminism; ritual theory; performance; anthropology; archaeology; and art history; Finding Persephone investigates the ways in which the religious lives and ritual practices of women in Greek and Roman antiquity helped shape their social and civic identity. Barred from participating in many public arenas; women asserted their presence by performing rituals at festivals and presiding over rites associated with life passages and healing. The essays in this lively and timely volume reveal the central place of women in the religious and ritual practices of the societies of the ancient Mediterranean. Readers interested in religion; women's studies; and classical antiquity will find a unique exploration of the nature and character of women's autonomy within the religious sphere and a full account of women's agency in the public domain.
#736774 in Books Emma P rez 1999-07-01 1999-09-22Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x .69 x 6.12l; .73 #File Name: 0253212839208 pagesThe Decolonial Imaginary Writing Chicanas into History
Review
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Essential reading for History; American Studies; Women's Studies; Chican@ Studies...By Catriona EsquibelIgnore the reviews below from embittered graduate students from UTEP who still can't get over the way the Perez takes apart the history of Tejas.If you believe in Sam Houston; and Steven Austin; and the Texas Rangers; this book is going to get your goat.If; however; you are interested in how reading Chicanas into history changes our notions of both "history" and "the American West;" then you are in for something good.I particularly value the first chapter; where Perez turns her keen eye to the different modes in which history is written and how they all drop Chicanas out of the picture. She argues that you need to build a new way of writing history: when the historical texts are all racist; sexist; and homophobic (and they are) then how do you build Chicana history from those interstices?2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. This is one of the best books ever!!!By N. RodriguezHere Perez makes an amazing and revolutionary work introducing concepts like Decolonial Imaginary and Third Space. This has become one of my "bibles" for grad school and is definitely to be quoted in my dissertation. We have to reinscribe the history that has ignore our existence for so long; Perez challenges traditional methodologies of academia and opens new spaces to understand that we can't detach corporeality to history.45 of 48 people found the following review helpful. brilliant deconstruction of Chicano historyBy Alexandra Minna Stern; Ph.D. (amstern@umich.edu)Emma Perez has written a risky and provocative book that dazzingly deconstructs the normative categories undergirding Chicana/o and U.S. West history. By theorizing the decolonial imaginary and third space feminism (and drawing eclectically from feminist and critical theory) she creates a new and expansive narrative which allows us to think in original ways about Chicana identity; the U.S.-Mexico borderlands; the cultural and gendering effects of the Mexican Revolution; and the process by which dominant historical forms are canonized. One of the most impressive things about her book is is that she simultaneously does two very different things through a connected yet multifaceted narrative. On the one hand; she posits a category for thinking and acting on new forms of social interaction; in other words; if we examine our lives -- as feminists; historians; gringas; or people or color -- in the context of a decolonial imaginary; some of the recalcitrant and insidious limits and lines of racism; homophobia; and othering dissolve. This is especially highlighted by her inventive reading of the John Sayles's film "Lone Star;" in which the female protaganist (a tejana) says to her anglo boyfriend (and half-brother); "Forget the Alamo." For Perez; this means not that history can be forgetten but that we can relive and reenact historical forms in the name of love and human connection. On the other hand; through a wonderful archival strategy which includes research in the Yucatan; Los Angeles; Houston and other sites; Perez successfuly and eloquently writes the diffcult genre of transnational feminist history. She examines the making; sexing; and naming of Chicana identities while *both* highlighting the importance of the circular migration of women; families; and ideas across borders and emphasizing the centrality of boundaries (through urban segregation or Anglo anti-Mexican sentiment) to the formation of Chicana lives and spaces. This is exemplified by her wonderful reading of the "Letter from Chapultepec" written by a Chicana group in Houston in the 1930s. Overall; I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in feminist studies; Chicana/o history; borderlands history; U.S. Western history; and Mexican history.
