Natalie Zemon Davis’s work has decentered the identities of her subjects as part of seeing their complexity. This essay, inspired by Davis’s rich thought and scholarship, looks at the ways in which the Romantics in the arts decentered their thought and practices away from the West. Their decentering involved serious study of non-Western thought and its incorporation into their art, and the regular use of opium to shape their creative works. One borrowed theme was transcendence to a higher mode of (...) existence, often through sexual union with a woman. So influential did Romantic tropes, themes, and images derived from outside the West become that they persisted in Western culture long after the Romantics themselves had lost interest in the body of non-Western culture from which they drew. Examples include the work of Samuel Coleridge, Walter Scott, Hector Berlioz, the Schlegel brothers, Caroline Günderode, Sidney Owenson, and others. (shrink)

This is an innovative introduction to the issues of contemporary feminism, with a truly global perspective. It analyses the roots, development, and, in some cases, the conclusions of feminisms and how they have interacted.

Jusqu’à une époque récente la recherche occidentale sur l’histoire des femmes s’est presque exclusivement intéressée à l’Europe et aux États-Unis. Ailleurs dans le monde, l’intérêt porté à la condition des femmes était aussi centré sur le niveau local ou national. L’histoire des États-nations a servi de cadre aux innombrables découvertes des chercheurs. Mais aujourd’hui, l’histoire des femmes s’est enrichie d’autres dimensions d’analyse, notamment du concept de genre et d’une ouverture sur le monde. Cette étude trace l’évolution de l’histoire des femmes (...) et du genre dans son rapport avec la New World History. À partir de quelques exemples récents, nous montrons aussi comment l’histoire mondiale réoriente les études dans le domaine de l’histoire des femmes et de du genre. (shrink)