A World Full of Women (4th Edition)

This revision of A World Full of Women will appeal to instructors and students in anthropology, or any discipline looking for a global approach to the study of women. “Reading this book is like sitting down for an intellectually stimulating, yet thoroughly comfortable, chat with this author,” according to one reviewer.

Written by an anthropologist who has taught undergraduates for more than 30 years and designed the first official women's studies course in Louisiana, this book has been fueled by the explosion of research on women since the 1970s. A new co-author, Monica Edelstein, brings to the fourth edition a wealth of ethnographic experience and research with peoples of North Africa and the Middle East.

World Full of Women continuesto take an ethnographic, cross-cultural approach, drawing examples from the lives of ordinary women from many cultures around the world.  Taking a female-centered perspective rather than a feminist perspective, the reader delves into the anthropology of women in human cultures. Although women are the primary focus of the book, men's issues are also covered.   Written in an accessible, friendly, and engaging style, this book is fun to teach from and exciting to read. Includes theory, research, and ethnography about women's work in comparative cultures, with specific examples such as weaving (Ch. 1).

The revision expands on the patterning of women's health cross-culturally and covers women's responses to illness, disease, and death in selected cultures (Ch. 8). Material on the differences between men's and women's speech is also incorporated and material from best-selling author Deborah Tannen (Ch. 1) is introduced. Expansive and up-to-date reading lists can be found at the end of each chapter.

Written by an anthropologist who has taught undergraduates for more than 30 years and designed the first official women's studies course in Louisiana, this book has been fueled by the explosion of research on women since the 1970s. A new co-author, Monica Edelstein, brings to the Fourth Edition a wealth of ethnographic experience and research with peoples of North Africa and the Middle East.

Another reviewer describes this text as “one of the few books that analyzes cultures through a gender lens. . .the book tackles and successfully dismisses many cultural-sexist illusions. . . .”

New To This Edition

• The revised Introduction now includes a section entitled, “Speaking of Women” that ties together issues of power and language as the jumping off point for the rest of the text.
• Revised and reorganized, Chapter 1 now focuses more tightly on women and work.
• Revised Chapter 4, now includes analysis and ethnographic examples about comparative childrearing in place of the material on female primatologists, with particular attention to breastfeeding as practiced around the world.
• In revised Chapter 5, the section “Questioning Romance” has been replaced with “Love Marriages and Lavish Weddings.” This new section includes new research on the prevalence of the culture of romance and the increasingly elaborate weddings as global phenomena, as well as other new ethnographic and comparative materials with an emphasis on women's choices, realities, and activities in relationships.
• Chapter 8, “Life's Lesions: Suffering and Healing,” includes a new section, “Paths to Authority,” which incorporates much of Edelstein's own research.

Don’t Miss This Exciting Value-Added Option:

The Fourth Edition is available with an Author’s Choice collection of readings featuring chapter-by-chapter suggestions for incorporating articles from Pearson Education’s Reading Women’s Lives database. Contact your local representative or visit www.ablongman.com for details.