Commentary: A Feminist Framework for Analyzing Complex Gendered Power Dynamics Altering Cultural Landscapes from the Past into the Present

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide new insights by using a feminist framework to analyze gendered power dynamics that were explicitly or implicitly discussed in the previous chapters in this book. Most chapters found some evidence of gender power dynamics, whether discussed under that term, or more frequently using more specific words for particular power dynamics in gender relations, ranging from authority, competition, resistance, struggles, and battles, to influence, negotiations, equality, complementarity, cooperation, interdependence, partnership, or the creation of community. Both historical archaeologists and philosophers have argued that power is expressed through human constructions of “space” (Orser 1988:320; Rabinow 1984:252). Gender power dynamics are fundamental in creating what I call “powered landscapes,” defined as landscapes that express social power dynamics spatially on landscapes, such as gender segregation or integration. This commentary uses a feminist framework of a diversity of interrelated powers to gain new insights about the gender power dynamics that are explicitly or implicitly discussed in each book chapter.