Widows: The Last Feminist Taboo - Couverture rigide

Schipper, Mineke

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1908906693 ISBN 13 : 9781908906694

Editeur : Saqi Books, 2026

Synopsis

In Japanese, the literal translation of a widow – that is, a woman who has outlived her husband — is ‘she who has not died yet.’

For millennia, widows have occupied the margins of society: banished to the wilderness, silenced and shrouded in black or white. Across cultures, laws and customs have maligned them as witches, dependants or objects of pity.

In some traditions, widows are expected to remarry within the husband’s family or, in extreme cases, commit self-immolation – expectations never placed on men. Yet widowhood has also produced unexpected freedoms, among them financial and sexual autonomy – rights denied to married women.

Drawing on sources from ancient Egypt and Greece to Africa, the Americas and beyond, eminent cultural historian Mineke Schipper reveals a global legacy of shame, resilience and defiance. Rich in striking detail, Widows uncovers the last feminist taboo – one that the world would prefer not to talk about.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Mineke Schipper is a cultural historian and writer. She is the author of seven critically acclaimed works including Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet: Women in Proverbs from Around the World and Naked or Covered: A History of Dressing and Undressing Around the World. Her writing has been published in The Times, El Mundo and the Los Angeles Times, among others. Schipper was foreign secretary of Dutch PEN, chair of Index on Censorship Nederland and currently serves as Emeritus Professor of Intercultural Literary Studies at the University of Leiden, with visiting professorships in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso and China. She received a Royal Order of Knighthood for her contribution to social and cultural studies.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

Drawing on sources from Ancient Egypt and Greece to Africa, the Americas and beyond, cultural historian Mineke Schipper explores widowhood as both oppression and liberation. Widows reveals one of feminism’s last great taboos, and the story of women the world has long refused to see.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Saqi Books
• Date d'édition: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1908906693
• ISBN 13: 9781908906694
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 272
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Van Ditmar Boeken, VDB Sales; sales@vanditmar.nl; ; Hondiuslaan 44; Utrecht; 3528 AB; Pays-Bas