New Books for Women's History Month
Arts of Global Africa: The Newark Museum Collection
The Newark Museum has been at the forefront of American art museums in its representation of the arts of Africa since 1917. Newark's collection is notable for its embrace of the entire continent and its diaspora as well as for the breadth of artistic representation and inclusion of historic as well as modern and contemporary art. This catalogue is the first devoted to exploring this richly diverse collection, providing a comprehensive overview of African visual culture unmatched by most collection catalogues, ensuring its broad appeal and relevance.
Vamping the Stage is the first book-length study of women, modernity, and popular music in Asia, showcasing cutting-edge research conducted by scholars whose methods and perspectives draw from such diverse fields as anthropology, Asian studies, cultural studies, ethnomusicology, and film studies. Led by an impressive introduction written by Weintraub and Barendregt, fourteen contributors analyze the many ways that women performers supported, challenged, and transgressed representations of existing gendered norms in the entertainment industries of China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Placing women’s voices in social and historical contexts, the essays explore salient discourses, representations, meanings, and politics of “voice” in Asian popular music.
Eighteenth Century Women Artists: Their Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs
Eighteenth-Century Women Artists celebrates the work of women who had the tenacity and skill (and sometimes the necessary dash of luck) to succeed against the odds. Caroline Chapman examines the careers and working lives of celebrated artists like Angelica Kauffman and Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun as well as the equally interesting work of artists who have now mostly been forgotten. In addition to discussing their varied artworks, Chapman considers artists’ studios, the functioning of the print market, how art was sold, the role of patrons, and the rise of the lady amateur. It is enriched by over fifty color images, which offer a rich selection of art from the time.
Mary Shelley and the Rights of the Child: Political Philosophy in "Frankenstein"
In Botting's analysis, Frankenstein emerges as a conceptual resource for exploring the rights of children today, especially those who are disabled, stateless, or genetically modified by medical technologies such as three-parent in vitro fertilization and, perhaps in the near future, gene editing. Mary Shelley and the Rights of the Child concludes that the right to share love and community, especially with parents or fitting substitutes, belongs to all children, regardless of their genesis, membership, or social status.
*Note: Book descriptions came from www.amazon.com under notes from the respective publishers.