Myth and materiality in a woman's world: Shetland 1800-2000

Abrams, L. (2005) Myth and materiality in a woman's world: Shetland 1800-2000. Series: Gender in History. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719065927

Full text not currently available from Enlighten.

Abstract

Shetland has a history unique in Europe, for over the past two centuries it was a place where women dominated the family, economy, and the cultural imagination. Women ran households and crofts without men. They maintained families and communities because men were absent. And they constructed in their minds an identity of themselves as 'liberated' long before organised feminism was invented. And yet, Shetland is a place which was made by the most masculine of societies - those of the Picts, Scots and above all the Vikings - and its contemporary identity still draws on the heroic exploits and sagas of medieval Norsemen. This book examines how against this tradition Shetland became a female place, and offers answers as to how, in this most isolated island community, the inhabitants transgressed and reversed their traditional gender roles. Reconstructing this 'woman's world' from fragments of cultural experience captured in written and oral sources, this book will appeal to scholars in the fields of social and cultural history, social anthropology, gender and women's studies.

Item Type:Books
Status:Published
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Abrams, Professor Lynn
Authors: Abrams, L.
Subjects:H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > History
Publisher:Manchester University Press
ISBN:9780719065927
Related URLs:

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record