''The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future'' is a 2000 book by Cynthia Eller that seeks to deconstruct the theory of a prehistoric
matriarchy
Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property.
While those definitions apply in general E ...
. This hypothesis, she says, developed in 19th century scholarship and was taken up by 1970s
second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
Wh ...
following
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas ( lt, Marija Gimbutienė, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of " Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis, ...
. Eller, a professor of
religious studies at
Claremont Graduate University
The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna Co ...
, argues in the book that this theory is mistaken and its continued defence is harmful to the feminist agenda.
Thesis
Eller sets out to refute what she describes as feminist matriarchalism as an "ennobling lie".
[Quoting ]Kwame Anthony Appiah
Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is a philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah wa ...
, "The real political question ... as old as political philosophy ... swhen we should endorse the ennobling lie."
She argues that the
feminist archaeology
Feminist archaeology employs a feminist perspective in interpreting past societies. It often focuses on gender, but also considers gender in tandem with other factors, such as sexuality, race, or class. Feminist archaeology has critiqued the u ...
of
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas ( lt, Marija Gimbutienė, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of " Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis, ...
had a large part in constructing a late twentieth-century feminist ''myth of matriarchal prehistory.'' She questions whether Gimbutas's archaeological findings adequately support the claim that these societies were matriarchal or matrifocal. She says that we know of no cultures in which paternity is ignored and that the
sacred
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
status of goddesses does not automatically increase female social status. Eller concludes that inventing prehistoric ages in which women and men lived in harmony and equality "is a burden that feminists need not, and should not bear." In her view, the "matriarchal myth" tarnishes the feminist movement by leaving it open to accusations of "vacuousness and irrelevance that we cannot afford to court."
Criticism
Eller's book has been criticised by feminist historian
Max Dashu
Maxine Hammond Dashu (born 1950), known professionally as Max Dashu, is an American feminist historian, author, and artist. Her areas of expertise include female iconography, mother-right cultures and the origins of patriarchy. She identifies ...
for "mischaracterising" the theories of Gimbutas and other key anthropologists, and for labeling them as "matriarchalist" despite most of these scholars rejecting ideas of
matriarchy
Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property.
While those definitions apply in general E ...
(female rulership) in favour of
matrifocal
A matrifocal family structure is one where mothers head families and fathers play a less important role in the home and in bringing up children.
Definition
The concept of the matrifocal family was introduced to the study of Caribbean societie ...
or
matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
societies. Dashu wrote that Eller "makes no distinction between scholarly studies in a wide range of fields and expressions of the burgeoning Goddess movement, including novels, guided tours, market-driven enterprises.
ller prematurelyconflates all into one monolithic 'myth' devoid of any historical foundation."
Editions
*''The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future'', Beacon Press (2000), .
See also
*
Matriarchal religion
A matriarchal religion is a religion that focuses on a goddess or goddesses. The term is most often used to refer to theories of prehistoric matriarchal religions that were proposed by scholars such as Johann Jakob Bachofen, Jane Ellen Harrison, ...
*
Heide Göttner-Abendroth
Heide Göttner-Abendroth (born February 8, 1941 in Langewiesen, Nazi Germany, Germany) is a German feminist advocating ''matriarchy studies'' (also ''modern matriarchal studies''), focusing on the study of matriarchy, matriarchal or matrilineal soc ...
*''
The Inevitability of Patriarchy
''The Inevitability of Patriarchy: Why the Biological Difference Between Men and Women Always Produces Male Domination'' is a book by Steven Goldberg published by William Morrow and Company in 1973. The theory proposed by Goldberg is that soc ...
''
*
Third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is an iteration of the feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X and early Gen Y generations third-wav ...
*''
When God Was a Woman
''When God Was a Woman'' is the U.S. title of a 1976 book by sculptor and art historian Merlin Stone. It was published earlier in the United Kingdom as ''The Paradise Papers: The Suppression of Women's Rites''. It has been translated into Frenc ...
''
*
Steven Goldberg
References
External links
Official author site- critique by Max Dashu
Early Human Kinship was Matrilineal, by Chris Knight.* Marler, Joan. The Myth of Universal Patriarchy: A Critical Response to Cynthia Eller’s Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory. Feminist Theology, Vol. 14, No. 2, 163-187 (2006)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myth Of Matriarchal Prehistory
Books about feminism
Matriarchy
2000 non-fiction books
Third-wave feminism
Social sciences books