The importance of being monogamous
Subtitle: marriage and nation building in Western Canada to 1915
By: Sarah Carter.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: West unbound
Publisher: University of Alberta Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Edmonton
Language: eng
Number of pages: 383
ISBN-13: 9780888644909
Subjects: Marriage -- Canada, Western -- History -- 19th century; Monogamous relationships -- Canada, Western -- History -- 19th century; Indian women -- Canada, Western -- History -- 19th century; Mormons -- Canada, Western -- History -- 19th century; Native peoples -- Canada, Western -- History -- 19th century; Mariage -- Canada (Ouest) -- Histoire -- 19e siècle; Monogamie -- Canada (Ouest) -- Histoire -- 19e siècle; Indiennes d'Amérique -- Canada (Ouest) -- Histoire -- 19e siècle; Mormons -- Canada (Ouest) -- Histoire -- 19e siècle; Autochtones -- Canada (Ouest) -- Histoire -- 19e siècle; Canada, Western -- Social conditions -- 19th century; Canada (Ouest) -- Conditions sociales -- 19e siècle
Description: "Sarah Carter provides a detailed analysis of marriage as a diverse social institution in nineteenth-century Western Canada. She charts the ascendancy of Christian, lifelong, heterosexual, monogamous marriage as an instrument to shape and institutionalize the gender order as the foundation of this new region of the nation. It took great effort to impose the monogamous model of marriage on a varied population of Aboriginal people and newcomers such as the Mormons, each with their own definitions of marriage, including polygamy and flexible attitudes toward divorce. The work concludes with an explanation of the negative consequences for women, particularly Aboriginal women, that arose as a result of the imposition of monogamous marriage."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 343-359) and index.