Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica
- List Price: $40.00
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr
- Publish date: 01/01/2001
This landmark book offers the first comprehensive description and analysis of gender and power relations in Mesoamerica from the Formative Period Olmec world (ca. 1500-500 BC) through the Postclassic Maya and Aztec societies of the sixteenth century AD. Using approaches from contemporary gender theory, Rosemary Joyce explores how Mesoamericans created human images to represent idealized notions of what it meant to be male and female and to depict proper gender roles. She then juxtaposes these images with archaeological evidence from burials, house sites, and body ornaments, which reveals that real gender roles were more fluid and variable than the stereotyped images suggest.