Conceptualizing the History of Women in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East

Abstract

Conceptualizing the History of Women in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East Cheryl Johnson-Odim and Margaret Strobel In this thematic overview* we hope to do, with beneficial results, what historians are loath to do: dispense with chronology and introduce several themes common to the histories of women in the "non-Western" world. A thematic focus will accomplish several purposes. First, we can discuss the significance of phenomena, for example, the existence of female networks and subcultures, so that the authors' references (see Co-Editors' note) to such phenomena are given a broader context than the sometimes-scant evidence allows. Second, we can introduce and synthesize approaches and ideas found in feminist scholarship. Third, because regions often develop distinctive sets of research questions and ignore others, our overview may suggest new areas of exploration. Finally, we can suggest possibilities for comparative investigation. We cannot here do justice to the specificity of the historical tradition in each region; we direct you to the essays that a version of this article introduces (see Co-Editors' note). Our themes highlight the similarities in women's experience across these very diverse regions, but the differences, not dealt with here, are equally crucial. The intellectual justification for addressing these four regions together rests on the assertion that parts of these areas have experienced broadly comparable relationships with Western Europe and the United States in the past five hundred years. It was difficult to decide on a common terminology that allowed us to keep from constantly listing the regions under consideration . "Third World" (despite some controversy) was often appropriate as a geo-political designation, but it left out places such as Japan that are not generally regarded as Third World due to a high degree of industrialization. © 1989 lOURNAL OF WOMEN'S HISTORY, VOL. 1 NO. 1 (SPRING)__________________ * A slightly different version of this article appears as an introduction to a 500-page collection of essays on women in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East, Restoring Women to History, edited by this article's authors and published in October 1988 by the Organization of American Historians under grants from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The essays in the OAH publication were written by Iris Berger and E. Frances White (Africa); Barbara Ramusack and Sharon Sievers (Asia); Marysa Navarro and Virginia Sanchez Korrol (Latin American and the Caribbean); and Guity Nashat and Judith Tucker (the Middle East). This article contains parenthetical page citations referring the reader to these regional essays for documentation. The entire collection may be purchased from the OAH for $18.00 U.S. (international orders add $5.00 U.S.) by writing to 112 North Bryan Street, Bloomington, IN 47408. A review of these essays can be found on pages 115-33. 32 Journal of Women-s History Spring "Non-Western" also seemed appropriate, except that after many centuries of contact, Latin American societies cannot legitimately be regarded as entirely non-Western. Moreover, we prefer to define people and places by a positive, rather than a negative, descriptive term. We ended up employing both terms, despite sometimes imperfect usage, in addition to the cumbersome listing of all four geographic regions. A final word about terminology: we distinguish between "sex" as a set of biological (physiological) differences and "gender" as socially constructed roles that may build upon or ignore biological sex. Hence, in place of the common term "sex roles," in this text, we will instead use "gender roles." The Challenge of Third World Women's History It is important to avoid three common pitfalls: interpreting women as the exotic, women as victims, and women as anomalies. Stereotypes regarding the non-Western world are very prevalent in our society and frequently provide the only knowledge many North Americans have about other cultures. The roles, positions, and statuses of women in non-Western societies are often as central to those stereotypes today as they were when European colonizers first pointed to women's "oppression" in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East as partial justification for their own imperialist designs. "Bride...