The Comparative Women's History
Workshop
The Value of Comparison
Colonialism
In "Brave New Worlds: Women's History and Gender
History " Kathleen Brown argues that historians of women can the avoid
the declension narratives and essentialism that characterized early women's
history by using a comparative framework informed by the insights of cultural
history. In discussing gender cross-culturally, she suggests "that we think
of cultures in contact as intersecting along 'gender frontiers'" (313).
During colonial expansion cultural differences such as the sexual division
of labor and sexual practices influenced how groups saw each other and
became sites for fierce contests of power. Colonialism can thus be seen
as not only a system of economic, linguistic, and religious domination
but also a confrontation of different gender systems. By taking into
account gendered patterns of colonial domination, "historians can access
how challenges posed to 'natural' categories shaped colonial encounters"
(318)
whether in America, Africa, Ireland, or other colonial arenas.
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