Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835 - Paperback

by Theda Perdue (Author)

"An interesting and effective overview. . . . It is to the author's considerable credit that she is able to re-create the values and behavior of Cherokee women through court records, myths, and observers' accounts. By examining women's roles in farming and community life, Perdue argues that women were coequal contributors to Cherokee culture."--Choice

Theda Perdue examines the roles and responsibilities of Cherokee women during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a time of intense cultural change. While building on the research of earlier historians, she develops a uniquely complex view of the effects of contact on Native gender relations, arguing that Cherokee conceptions of gender persisted long after contact. Maintaining traditional gender roles actually allowed Cherokee women and men to adapt to new circumstances and adopt new industries and practices.

Author Biography

Theda Perdue is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her works include Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society, 1540-1866 and Native Carolinians: The Indians of North Carolina.