Price: $34.95
Page Count: 254
Publication Date: July 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77258-199-7
The main point of this finely-crafted edited volume is that the representations of “wife” – and especially what it entails – are embedded in a web of social relations that are themselves reflective of the dominant power relations of any given society. Having the status of “wife” in both pre-modern and some contemporary social settings, thus, is what gives women a “proper” place in society and, accordingly, it is what all girls “should” strive for. The hegemonic social normativity regarding the role of wife, however, proves inadequate to understand, as some chapters authoritatively show, the specificities of being a wife in homosexual unions, or in marriages where the wife is a transnational worker. Those interested in the intersections of power and gender will benefit enormously from the diversity of cases and social contexts that the book covers.
--Simone Bohn, Associate Professor of Political Science at York University
In varied ways and using a wide range of sources and methodologies, the authors critically explore 'the wife' in contemporary culture. The essays consider the degree to which the expectations and experiences of 'the wife' have changed (or not) over time, and the ways in which modern women are negotiating this construct. Intriguing and important, this collection will appeal to all those interested in contemporary gender relations.
-- Lori Chambers, Lakehead University
In Critical Perspectives on Wives: Roles, Representations, Identities, Work, editors Lynn O’Brien Hallstein and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich take on a much-needed topic: the roles, representations, identities, and work of wives in contemporary societies. Historical, cross-cultural, and marginalized perspectives in the volume provide empirical and comparative evidence about what is new, what is not new, and what remains problematic in cultural representations and lived experiences of wives. Invoking feminist critiques of extant literature, the text challenges readers to consider the context of wife-work, especially its intimate, blurred connection to our constructions of motherhood. At the same time, the volume reconsiders the role of wife, marking it as a potential site for resistance to entrenched gender norms.
-- Michelle Hughes Miller, Associate Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of South Florida
1. Lynn O’Brien Hallstein and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich, “Introduction”
Part l: Wife-Work and Mother-Work Today
2. Natalie McKnight,” No Time Off for Good Behavior: The Persistence of Victorian Expectations of Wives.”
3. Leanne Letourneau, “Invisible Wives: Analyzing the Consequence of ‘Sameness’”
4. Jane Marcellus, “’Office Wife,’ ‘Two-job Wife,’ ‘Work Wife’: The Marriage Metaphor in Popular Culture Representation of Women’s Paid Labour.”
5. Robyn Pepin, “Abused Wives and Divorce Mediation in Ontario: Thunder Bay Mediators’ Perspectives.”
6. Hinda Mandell, “Birthing New Identities through Wifework and Mothering: The Lineage of Family Narrative in Toddlerhood.”
Part ll – The Work of Wives in Different Cultural Contexts
7. Ariadne Gonzalez, “Mujeres Trabajadoras: Examining the Role of Mexican Immigrant and Transnational Wives”
8. Suzanne Kamata, “Behind the Screens: Mary Elkinton Nitobe and Mary Dardis Noguchi.”
9. Ester Botta Sompare, “Becoming a Good wife in a Guinean Pastoral Society.”
Part lll –Resisting and Changing Wives’ Roles and Lives
10. Rebecca Bromwich and Beverley Smith, “Espousing Care: Counting ‘Wife – Work’: Lessons from Canadian Family Law.”
11. Holly Willson Holladay, “What is a Wife? Partnering and Mothering in the ABC Family’s The Fosters.”
12. Jo Scott-Coe, “Kathy Leissner Whitman and the Mad Men Milieu.”
13. Elisavietta Ritchie, “Aspects of Wifehood” (poem)
14. Contributor Biographies
Dr. Lynn O’Brien Hallstein is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at Boston University and the author of White Feminists and Contemporary Maternity: Purging Matrophobia and Bikini-Ready Moms Celebrity Profiles, Motherhood, and the Body.
Dr. Rebecca Bromwich is a lawyer and legal scholar who is the Director of the Graduate Diploma in Conflict Resolution program in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University. She is author and editor of several Demeter Press books.
