Special consideration in this volume is given to gender issues arising during periods when upheaval challenged colonial regimes, which often resulted in decolonization and independence. Chapters also reveal how former colonies transitioned into ‘nations,’ along with transnational dynamics that took place among modern states. A common thread woven through each article is the matter of precisely who it was that deserved to be treated and recognized as fully human in an era of imperial exchanges and ongoing capitalist globalization. Authors describe hemes as labour, commodities, fashion, mobility, and activism while exploring the dynamics of empire in destinations ranging from Africa and the Americas to Europe and Asia. .Originally published as Gender & History Volume 26 Issue 3
This interdisciplinary collection considers the tensions that have developed between the historical privilege often ascribed to the male and the vulnerabilities to which his body is prone. Using historical and literary approaches, the essays consider the critical ways in which medicine's interactions with literature reveal vital clues about the ways sex, gender, and identity are constructed through treatments of a range of 'pathologies' including deformity, venereal disease, injury, nervousness, and sexual difference. The relationships between male medicine and ideals of potency and masculinity are explored through a range of sources including African American slave fictions, southern gothic, early modern poetry, Victorian literature, and the Modern novel.