The first part of the book examines representations of native women created by colonizing powers, assessing how these constructed images of gender and race were shaped by the ideological needs of the colonizers. The contributors look particularly at the ways in which colonizers constructed a national identity by creating a contrast with the colonial 'other,' in contexts ranging from Christian views of Islam women in medieval Spain to French beliefs about Native American women. Later contributions examine the ways in which images of gender as constructed by colonial powers impacted the lives of native women from colonial era India to Korea to Swaziland