The secret history of gender
Subtitle: women, men, and power in late colonial Mexico
By: Steve J. Stern.
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng; spa
Number of pages: 478
Subjects: Sex role -- Mexico -- History; Power (Social sciences) -- Mexico -- History; Rural women -- Mexico -- Social conditions; Peasantry -- Mexico -- History; Mexico -- Social conditions
Description: In this study of gender relations in late colonial Mexico (ca. 1760-1821), Steve Stern analyzes the historical connections between gender, power, and politics in the lives of peasants, Indians, and other marginalized peoples. Through vignettes of everyday life, including the routine conflicts and violence that resulted from cultural arguments over gender right, he challenges assumptions about gender relations and political culture in a patriarchal society.

He also reflects on continuity and change between late colonial times and the present and suggests a paradigm for understanding similar struggles over gender rights in Old Regime societies in Europe and the Americas.

The historical arguments and conceptual sweep of Stern's book will inform not only students of Mexico and Latin America but also students of gender in the West and other world regions. Stern's interpretation both undermines and transcends previous perceptions of a single Latin American gender culture, including the notions of male rage and female complicity.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 439-466) and index.