The Rise of Conservation in South Africa

The Rise of Conservation in South Africa
Author: William Beinart
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 451
Release: 2008-05-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199541221

A major contribution to the environmental history of settler societies, William Beinart's innovative study analyses the development of conservationalist ideas over the long term in South Africa, examining them as a response to the rapid transformation of natural pastures brought about as the Cape became a major exporter of wool.

Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations

Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations
Author: Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2012-12-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1461448638

In many facets of Western culture, including archaeology, there remains a legacy of perceiving gender divisions as natural, innate, and biological in origin. This belief follows that men are naturally pre-disposed to public, intellectual pursuits, while women are innately designed to care for the home and take care of children. In the interpretation of material culture, accepted notions of gender roles are often applied to new findings: the dichotomy between the domestic sphere of women and the public sphere of men can color interpretations of new materials. In this innovative volume, the contributors focus explicitly on analyzing the materiality of historic changes in the domestic sphere around the world. Combining a global scope with great temporal depth, chapters in the volume explore how gender ideologies, identities, relationships, power dynamics, and practices were materially changed in the past, thus showing how they could be changed in the future.