Reshaping Gender and Class in Rural Spaces: (Gender in a Global/Local World)

Leach and Pini bring together empirical and theoretical studies that consider the intersections of class, gender and rurality. Each chapter engages with current debates on these concepts to explore them in the context of contemporary social and economic transformations in which global processes that reconstitute gender and class interconnect with and take shape in a particular form of locality - the rural. The book is innovative in that it: - responds to calls for more critical work on the rural 'other' - contributes to scholarship on gender and rurality, but does so through the lens of class. This book places the question of gender, rurality and difference at its centre through its focus on class - addresses the urban bias of much class scholarship as well as the lack of gender analysis in much rural and class academic work - focuses on the ways that class mediates the construction and practices of rural men/masculinities and rural women/femininities - challenges prevalent (and divergent) assumptions with chapters utilising contemporary theorisations of class With the empirical strongly grounded in theory, this book will appeal to scholars working in the fields of gender, rurality, identity, and class studies.

Table of Contents:
Reshaping Gender and Class in Rural Spaces

About the Author :
Professor Barbara Pini, Griffith University, Australia and Professor Belinda Leach, University of Guelph, Canada

Review :
'This fascinating book provides rich, insightful and compelling accounts of class and gender in rural contexts. It makes an impressive contribution to the debate on social class theory and globalisation, and is a "must-read" for all those concerned with the ways in which class and gender is experienced in rural lives across the globe.' Diane Reay, University of Cambridge, UK 'Everywhere, academics and policymakers look past class, collapsing it into other markers of identity. But Pini and Leach pull us back to reality, challenging us to take class seriously as an axis of (dis)advantage in relation to the overlooked intersection of gender and rurality. They have brought together a powerful and important collection of essays exploring these intersections in a range of nations, cultures, and situations.' Lisa R. Pruitt, University of California, Davis, USA 'Overall, Reshaping Gender and Class in Rural Spaces offers a holistic picture of the complexities, inequities, and contradictions that characterize contemporary rural work, workers, workplaces, and communities. This in itself makes the text a valuable contribution to anthropological studies of work. However, the volume’s thoughtful insights into understandings of gender and class make its contribution even greater.' Anthropology of Work Review '... Reshaping Gender and Class in Rural Spaces, which explores how regimes of gender and class intersect and unfold in the context of rurality, goes a long way towards reshaping understandings of rural social relations. ... As a whole, the edited collection makes a powerful case for refocusing attention on class in studies of the rural.' Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography