''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 positions of Power (social and political), power and Social privilege, privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. Whil ...
. 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, ending with the feminist sex wars in the early 1980s and being replaced by third-wave feminism in the early 1990s. It occurred ...
following
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas (, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeology, archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old European Culture, Old Europe" and for her Kurgan ...
. Eller, a retired professor of
religious studies
Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...
at
Claremont Graduate University
The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California, United States. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium which includes five undergraduate and two grad ...
, 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 an English-American philosopher and writer who has written about political philosophy, ethics, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah is Prof ...
, "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 ...
of
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas (, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeology, archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old European Culture, Old Europe" and for her Kurgan ...
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 ( ...
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 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 positions of Power (social and political), power and Social privilege, privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. Whil ...
(female rulership) in favour of
matrifocal or
matrilineal
Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...
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
*
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''
*
Third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth-wave feminism, fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second-wave feminism, second wave, Generation X, Gen X ...
*''
When God Was a Woman''
*
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