The following text field will produce suggestions that follow it as you type.

Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Compare Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Matthew H. Sommer

$99.95

This book is a study of polyandry, wife-selling, and a variety of related practices in China during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). By analyzing over 1200 legal cases from local and central court archives, Matthew Sommer explores the functions played by marriage, sex, and reproduction in the survival strategies of the rural poor under conditions of overpopulation, worsening sex ratios, and shrinking farm sizes. Polyandry and wife-selling represented opposite ends of a spectrum of strategies. At one end, polyandry was a means to keep the family together by expanding it. A woman would bring in a second husband in exchange for his help supporting her family. In contrast, wife sale was a means to survive by breaking up a family: a husband would secure an emergency infusion of cash while his wife would escape poverty and secure a fresh start with another man. Even though Qing law prohibited both practices under the rubric "illicit sexual relations," Sommer shows how magistrates charged with propagating and enforcing a fundamentalist Confucian vision of female chastity tried to cope with their social reality in the face of daunting poverty. This contradiction illuminates both the pragmatism of routine adjudication and the increasingly dysfunctional nature of the dynastic state in the face of mounting social crisis. By casting a spotlight on the rural poor and the experiences of both men and women, Sommer provides an alternative to the standard paradigms of women's history that have long dominated scholarship on gender and sexuality in late imperial China. | Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Compare similar products to Matthew H. Sommer

Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Indigo

Current price: $99.95
The Fox Spirit the Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

The Fox Spirit the Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Coles

Current price: $156.00
The Fox Spirit the Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

The Fox Spirit the Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China by Matthew H. Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Indigo

Current price: $156.00
The Fox Spirit the Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China by Matthew H. Sommer, Paperback | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

The Fox Spirit the Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China by Matthew H. Sommer, Paperback | Indigo Chapters

Indigo

Current price: $39.00
The Fox Spirit the Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China by Matthew H. Sommer, Paperback | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

The Fox Spirit the Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China by Matthew H. Sommer, Paperback | Indigo Chapters

Coles

Current price: $39.00
Trust The Plan by Will Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Trust The Plan by Will Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Coles

Current price: $36.99
Trust The Plan by Will Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Trust The Plan by Will Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Indigo

Current price: $36.99
Empresses Art and Agency in Song Dynasty China by Hui-Shu Lee, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Empresses Art and Agency in Song Dynasty China by Hui-Shu Lee, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Indigo

Current price: $88.00
Ming-Dynasty China and the World Along the Silk Road by Wan Ming, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Ming-Dynasty China and the World Along the Silk Road by Wan Ming, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Indigo

Current price: $296.50
Empresses Art and Agency in Song Dynasty China by Hui-Shu Lee, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Empresses Art and Agency in Song Dynasty China by Hui-Shu Lee, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Coles

Current price: $88.00
Ming-Dynasty China and the World Along the Silk Road by Wan Ming, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Ming-Dynasty China and the World Along the Silk Road by Wan Ming, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Coles

Current price: $296.50
Digital Divisions by Matthew H. Rafalow, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Digital Divisions by Matthew H. Rafalow, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Coles

Current price: $119.95
Digital Divisions by Matthew H. Rafalow, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

Digital Divisions by Matthew H. Rafalow, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Indigo

Current price: $119.95
The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances by H Oskar B 1861 Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances by H Oskar B 1861 Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Indigo

Current price: $42.69
The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances by H Oskar B 1861 Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters
Loading Inventory...

The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances by H Oskar B 1861 Sommer, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Coles

Current price: $42.69
Powered by Adeptmind