Widows in White : : Migration and the Transformation of Rural Women, Sicily, 1880-1928 / / Linda Reeder.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UTP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2015
• VerfasserIn: Reeder, Linda,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2003
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Gender and History
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

The transnational migrations of the early twentieth century had a profound impact on the lives of many people, but none more so than those who were left behind. In this lively interdisciplinary study, Linda Reeder examines the lives of rural Sicilian women and the changes that took place as a result of male migration to the United States.Tracing the changing notions of female and male in rural Sicily, Reeder uses a wide variety of primary sources, including birth and death records, government records, novels, and newspapers, to explore the impact of industrialization on motherhood, family, wage-work, and female civic identity, and show how the processes of migration, globalization, and nation formation are deeply gendered. Grounded in empirical evidence, Reeder uses the methods and theories of social history, women's history, anthropology, and cultural studies in order to understand how migration altered women's identities. The choices these women made regarding family, work, schooling, and material wealth redefined the boundaries of community and nation, and helped them to claim a central place in the rapidly expanding global market.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Tables and Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Women of the South -- Part I: Rural Women and Transnational Migration -- 1. Blood, Honour, and Belonging: The World of Rural Sicilians -- 2. 'Gone to America': Migrating Men and Abandoned Women -- 3. Motherhood, Marriage, and Migration -- 4. Fulfilling the Dream: Houses, Land, and Work -- Part II: Shifting Borders, Shifting Identities -- 5. Sicilian Women and the Italian State -- 6. Beyond Sutera: Sicilian Women Join the Nation -- Conclusion: Gender, Migration, and Globalization -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- Backmatter