World Full of Women

MARTHA WARD was professor of Anthropology at the University of New Orleans for 42 years. Among other activities, she taught the first course in Women’s Studies and Gender in Louisiana.  She has survived the glass ceiling and academic politics, the Sexual Revolution, two marriages, Hurricane Katrina, and the intensities of motherhood ---among many similar experiences.  She has done fieldwork in and published her work in Micronesia, Tirol in the Austrian-Italian Alps, on the politics of reproduction in the United States, and on health care disparities for poor women.  The most recent project is a radical ethnographic and archival reconstruction of Voodoo in New Orleans, centering on the lives of its two famous practitioners, a mother and her daughter both named Marie Laveau.  Post-retirement she loves on her grandchildren and her looms where she weaves in honor of the work of women through time and space.MONICA EDELSTEIN earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Tulane University in 2001. Her research includes an investigation of spirit possession practices among Ethiopian immigrants in Israel and gendered practices in Judaism. Before earning her Ph.D., she worked as a community organizer and AIDS and reproductive rights activist in Dallas and New Orleans. She has taught anthropology courses on gender, women, Africa, and Native North America for both Tulane and the University of New Orleans and works as an anthropology subject matter expert for Pearson’s textbook publications. She has collaborated on World Full of Women since the 4th edition.  She resides in New Orleans with her husband and two daughters.

• Chapter 1.  “What’s for Dinner Honey?”  Work and GenderChapter 2.  Love and the Work of CultureChapter 3.  Blood and Milk:  Biocultural Markers in the Lives of WomenChapter 4.  Patterns of Partnering from Romance to ResistanceChapter 5.  Everyday Power:  Women’s Agency, Authority, and InfluenceChapter 6.  A Two-Bodied WorldChapter 7.  A Third Sex?Chapter 8.  Life’s LesionsChapter 9.  Who Owns Her Body?Chapter 10.  Invisible Workers

“An accessible, personable, interesting introductory overview to the field of feminist anthropology. The familiar and friendly writing style opens students to thinking about difficult ideas, and challenging ideas, both at the emotional and intellectual levels.”- Diana Fox, Bridgewater State College   “. . . an entry-level, comprehensive text that covers a great number of topics that are of interest to professors and students interested in gender and anthropology. I was impressed by the range of examples and visuals used.”- Sharla Blank, Washburn University  “Thorough, user friendly, accessible”- Sarah Orndorff, George Washington University  “A World Full of Women is a good, graspable, engaging, text for a gender based class.”- Jessica Bodoh-Creed, California State University, Los Angeles