The question this thesis asks is: How have non-Indian conceptions of masculinity and femininity shaped federal Indian policy during the late nineteenth-century? The answer to this question lies, I will argue, in the process of liberal state formation itself; a process which necessarily involves the continued reproduction of gender hierarchies and systems of male power that privilege men and masculinity over women and femininity. This public/private dichotomy, and the system of gender relations it supports, restricts women's social role to within a highly circumscribed private sphere separate and distinct from the public sphere of economy and state occupied by men. Therefore, as a reflection of the overall process of liberal state formation, the process of incorporating Indian peoples into the American social, economic, and political mainstream undertaken during the assimilation and allotment eras, necessarily entailed the reproduction of Euroamerican gender hierarchies within Indian societies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/278587 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Hayes, Howard James |
| Contributors | Williams, Robert A. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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