Marriage, Law and Modernity offers a global perspective on the modern history of marriage. Widespread recent debate has focused on the changing nature of families, characterized by both the rise of unmarried cohabitation and the legalization of same-sex marriage. However, historical understanding of these developments remains limited. How has marriage come to be the target of national legislation? Are recent policies on same-sex marriage part of a broader transformation? And, has marriage come to be similar across the globe despite claims about national, cultural and religious difference? This collection brings together scholars from across the world in order to offer a global perspective on the history of marriage. It unites legal, political and social history, and seeks to draw out commonalities and differences by exploring connections through empire, international law and international migration.

The aim of this book is to present some recent research findings on dif-ferent aspects of multicultural education, thus informing educators of issues, policies and new approaches to multicultural education being used around the world. The chapters that you are about to read document sev-eral important themes in multicultural education. The first chapter by the editors presents an introduction and overview of the field of multicultural education by presenting its goals, historical background, assumptions and conceptual framework so as to set the stage for the chapters to follow. Attempting to cover the many views on different aspects of multicultural education goes beyond the scope of this introductory chapter. However, we have presented the historical origin and some of the recent issues and sug-gestions by prominent scholars including James Bank, Christine Sleeter, Sonia Nieto, Robert Cooper, and Robert Slavin with regards to policies, curriculum contents and teaching approaches in multicultural education.

This fact-filled book on polygamy and plural unions around the world supports an in-depth consideration of policy options for Western countries. Polygamy and plural marriage have become front-and-center issues in Europe, Canada, and the United States, notably on two religious fronts: among some splinter groups of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and in Islam. Polygamy in the Monogamous World: Multicultural Challenges for Western Law and Policy takes both groups into account as it provides a careful examination of legal polygamy in non-Western countries and plural unions in North America. Comparing these similar, but legally distinct forms of union, it offers a fresh perspective on how Western countries should respond to these relationships. Specifically, the book surveys non-Western countries where polygamy is legally practiced, then provides an overview of plural unions in North America. The problems of polygamy and plural unions are examined, including the potential for tne abuse of wives. The responses of Western governments to such relationships are reviewed, and the most effective solutions are identified to ascertain what policies should be adopted going forward.

A study of how the development of representative politics in late-colonial India transformed notions of family, gender and religious community.

The Princess of the Flaming Womb, the Javanese legend that introduces this pioneering study, symbolizes the many ambiguities attached to femaleness in Southeast Asian societies. Yet, despite these ambiguities, the relatively egalitarian nature of male-female relations in Southeast Asia is central to arguments claiming a coherent identity for the region. This challenging work by senior scholar Barbara Watson Andaya considers such contradictions while offering a thought-provoking view of Southeast Asian history that focuses on women's roles and perceptions. Andaya explores the broad themes of the early modern era (1500-1800) - the introduction of new religions, major economic shifts, changing patterns of state control, the impact of elite lifestyles and behaviors - drawing on an extraordinary range of sources and citing numerous examples from Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Philippine, and Malay societies.

In this paper, an attempt is made to examine and compare the legal status of women in the Republic of China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, with special focus on laws which discriminate against women. In view of differences in the cultural background of these four countries - Confucianism in China, Islam in Malaysia, Catholicism and the Spanish influence in the in the Philippines and Buddhism in Thailand - it is likely that laws in these countries also differ. This paper also tries to relate the legal status of women in these countries to other apsect of their status, in particular, the social, economic and political aspects.