Chopsticks Only Work in Pairs: Gender Unity and Gender Equality Among the Lahu of Southwestern China

Shanshan Du

Paper, 256 pages, 15 figs. & 1 chart
ISBN: 978-0-231-11957-3
$31.00 / £18.00

January, 2003
Cloth, 256 pages, 15 figs. & 1 chart
ISBN: 978-0-231-11956-6
$80.00 / £47.00

The ideal of "gender equality" seems forever elusive, always tantalizingly over the horizon. Shanshan Du suggests that by shifting our attention away from the various utopian ideals embedded in mainstream feminism, we may be surprised to learn that gender-egalitarian societies do exist. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book explores the Lahu society in Southwest China where practical gender equality has become the byproduct of a potent ideology of gender unity, vividly expressed by the proverb, "chopsticks only work in pairs."

About the Author

Shanshan Du is assistant professor of anthropology at Tulane University and winner of the Elsie Clews Parsons Prize of the American Ethnological Society and the Sylvia Forman Prize of the Association for Feminist Anthropology.

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