Looks at the Confucian classic Mencius from a feminist perspective and uncovers the "maternal thinking" within the work.
In this innovative work, Joanne D. Birdwhistell presents the first gender analysis of the Mencius, a central text in the Chinese philosophical tradition. Mencian philosophy, particularly its ideas about the processes by which a man could develop into a cultivated gentleman, was important to the political thought of China's long imperial order. Through close textual readings, Birdwhistell offers a new interpretation of core Mencian ideas about the heart and the self-cultivation of the great man. She argues that the concept of masculinity advocated by the Mencius is derived, although without acknowledgment, from maternal practices and thinking-through processes of appropriation, inversion, and transformation. She illustrates that even though maternal practices and thinking are an invisible dimension of Mencian thought, they are constantly present in the text through their transcoding with agricultural practices and thinking.
| ISBN: | 9780791470305 |
| Publication date: | 3rd January 2008 |
| Author: | Joanne D Birdwhistell |
| Publisher: | SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 168 pages |
| Series: | SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture |
| Genres: |
East Asian religions Confucianism East Asian and Indian philosophy |
Looks at the Confucian classic Mencius from a feminist perspective and uncovers the "maternal thinking" within the work.
In this innovative work, Joanne D. Birdwhistell presents the first gender analysis of the Mencius, a central text in the Chinese philosophical tradition. Mencian philosophy, particularly its ideas about the processes by which a man could develop into a cultivated gentleman, was important to the political thought of China's long imperial order. Through close textual readings, Birdwhistell offers a new interpretation of core Mencian ideas about the heart and the self-cultivation of the great man. She argues that the concept of masculinity advocated by the Mencius is derived, although without acknowledgment, from maternal practices and thinking-through processes of appropriation, inversion, and transformation. She illustrates that even though maternal practices and thinking are an invisible dimension of Mencian thought, they are constantly present in the text through their transcoding with agricultural practices and thinking.
Mencius and Masculinities features in the following genres: East Asian religions, Confucianism, East Asian and Indian philosophy
Mencius and Masculinities is available in Paperback, Hardback
Mencius and Masculinities was written by Joanne D Birdwhistell and published by SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press
Mencius and Masculinities has 168 pages
Yes it is part of SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture series