Laurel Bossen Bücher

Focusing on the historical evolution of gender roles in rural China, this ethnography examines significant changes from the 1930s to the 1990s, including the end of footbinding and the feminization of agriculture. Through in-depth research in Lu Village, the author challenges traditional narratives of women as mere victims or heroes, highlighting their diverse experiences and agency amidst economic and social transformations. The book draws on both contemporary observations and classic studies, offering a nuanced understanding of gender dynamics shaped by state and market influences.

Gates is a Marxist anthropologist with chutzpah. Best known for her compelling portrayal of contemporary working-class Taiwanese, she considerably broadens and deepens her analysis of China's socioeconomy in this work.-Choice This monumental work...

Footbinding was common in China until the early twentieth century, when most Chinese were family farmers. Why did these families bind young girls' feet? And why did footbinding stop? In this groundbreaking work, Laurel Bossen and Hill Gates upend the popular view of footbinding as a status, or even sexual, symbol by showing that it was an undeniably effective way to get even very young girls to sit still and work with their hands. Interviews with 1,800 elderly women, many with bound feet, reveal the reality of girls' hand labor across the North China Plain, Northwest China, and Southwest China. As binding reshaped their feet, mothers disciplined girls to spin, weave, and do other handwork because many village families depended on selling such goods. When factories eliminated the economic value of handwork, footbinding died out. As the last generation of footbound women passes away, Bound Feet, Young Hands presents a data-driven examination of the social and economic aspects of this misunderstood custom.