Space, Text and Gender

As well as being a major anthropological study of the Marakwet, Space, Text and Gender strikingly illustrates how the idea of a cultural text can aid the analysis of ethnographic material. Dr Moore focuses in particular on the relationship between the organisation of household space and gender relations, and on the ways that relationship is changing as a result of wage labour and education. She does not, refreshingly, treat household space as a direct or distorted reflection of social relations, but combines instead insights of Geertz, Ricoeur and Foucault with material drawn from Marxist and literary-critical approaches to develop a fresh theoretical perspective. This seeks to analyse the organisation of domestic space as a cultural representation linked to the social and economic conditions within which it is produced and maintained. The book provides a striking example of what anthropology has to offer to the study of culture and will attract many with no specialist interest in Africa.