Independence in the Albanian mountains means a vow to become a man--independence in America means reclaiming her womanhood.

Based on extensive interviews, this text tells the frank and engrossing stories of these women, setting their lives within the wider context of a country undergoing radical upheaval and social transformation.

Dukes's gripping historical novel tells the tale of a desperate Albanian woman who will do whatever it takes to keep her independence and seize control of her future...even if it means swearing to remain a virgin for her entire life. When eighteen-year-old Eleanora’s father is shot dead on the cobblestone streets of 1910 Albania, Eleanora must abandon her dream of studying art in Italy as she struggles to survive in a remote mountain village with her stepmother Meria. Nearing starvation, Meria secretly sells Eleanora into marriage with the cruel heir of a powerful clan. Intent on keeping her freedom, Eleanora takes an oath to remain a virgin for the rest of her life—a tradition that gives her the right to live as a man: she is now head of her household and can work for a living as well as carry a gun. Eleanora can also participate in the vengeful blood feuds that consume the mountain tribes, but she may not be killed—unless she forsakes her vow, which she has no intention of ever doing. But when an injured stranger stumbles into her life, Eleanora nurses him back to health, saving his life—yet risking her own as she falls in love with him... “It’s hard to believe that the culture Dukes describes was ever real, but the amount of research she put into this book definitely shines through. The story remains fascinating throughout; readers will definitely find it difficult to put this novel down.”—San Francisco Book Review

In northern Albania, in the Accursed Mountains, said to have been created by the devil himself, the tradition of the sworn virgins is still alive. The Kanun, a collection of laws from the Middle Ages, passed on for generations, permits families to replace the male head of the household with a woman. Yet the woman's new status requires her to make an irrevocable vow to preserve her virginity for the rest of her life. They do men's work, and dress and behave like men. The sworn virgins adapt their roles so perfectly that over the years, the woman in them is lost.

Anthropologist Serena Nanda has heralded the importance of understanding human similarities and differences throughout her writing and teaching career. This was especially evidenced in her groundbreaking work, Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations, a masterful, far-reaching examination of the relationships between sex, gender, and sexuality and how they are culturally constructed. Rich ethnographic examples representing nine cultures illuminate the need to analyze sex/gender roles and identities on the basis of broad cultural patterns and distinct cultural features, including social class, ethnicity, age, religion, urban or rural residence, and exposure to Western cultures. The latest edition incorporates new material on hijras in Bangladesh, three gender alternatives in Indonesia, and global changes related to migration, health, and communication. Concept-reinforcing questions have been added to each chapter. Gender Diversity, Second Edition encourages readers to think in new ways about what they consider natural, normal, or morally right. As a concise supplement with multidisciplinary appeal, the enhanced edition is sure to energize the undergraduate classroom.

Revised and Updated with a New Introduction During the 19th century the Balkan countries became the subject of a rather romantic fascination for the public at large. This vision of the area has been created in large measure by the writing of women travelers such as those represented in this volume. The achievements of these women are quite remarkable: in many cases their travels were adventurous, and even dangerous, reaching into parts of the countryside which were remote and hardly known to outsiders. Not only as travelers but also in the fields of medical and military service, scholarship and education, journalism and literature, did these women contribute in very significant ways to the expansion of women's horizons and to the attempt to gain greater freedom for women in society in general. Contents: Editorial Introduction: Black Lambs and Grey Falcons: Outward and Inward Frontiers - Two Victorian Ladies and Bosnian Realities, 1861-1875: G.M. MacKenzie and A.P. Irby - Edith Durham, Traveller and Publicist - Edith Durham as a Collector - Emily Balch: Balkan Traveller, Peace Worker and Nobel Laureate - The Work of British Medical Women in Serbia during and after the First World War - Captain Flora Sandes: A Case Study in the Social Construction of Gender in a Serbian Context - Rose Wilder Lane: 1886-1968 - Rebecca West, Gerda and the Sense of Process - Margaret Masson Hasluck - Louisa Rayner: An Englishwoman's Experiences in Wartime Yugoslavia - Mercia MacDermott: A Woman of the Frontier - An Anthropologist in the Village - Bucks, Brides and Useless Baggage: Women's Quest for a Role in their Balkan Travels - Constructing 'the Balkans' - Women Travellers in the Balkans: A Bibliographical Guide. John B. Allcock is head of the Research Unit in South East European Studies and is based in the Interdisciplinary Human Studies department at the University of Bradford; Antonia Young is a member of the Department for Sociology and Anthropology at Colgate University, New York

Important new findings on sex and gender in the former Soviet Bloc! Sexuality and Gender in Postcommunist Eastern Europe and Russia is a groundbreaking look at the new sexual reality in Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe after the fall of communism. The book presents the kind of candid discussion of sexual identities, sexual politics, and gender arrangements that was often censored and rarely discussed openly before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1987. Authors from a variety of disciplines examine how the changes caused by rapid economic and social transformation have affected human sexuality and if those changes can generate the social tolerance necessary to produce a well-rooted democracy. The first theoretical and empirical body of work to sexuality in (post)transitional countries, Sexuality and Gender in Postcommunist Eastern Europe and Russia examines the effects of the profound social transformation taking place in the former Soviet Union. Through an interdisciplinary perspective, the book addresses vital issues of this transformation, including gender relations, gender roles and sex norms in transition, sexual representations in the media, patterns of adult sexual behavior, gay and lesbian issues, sex trafficking, health risks, and sex education. The book also presents a critical examination of whether the fall of communism has, in fact, induced changes in sexuality and gender relations. Sexuality and Gender in Postcommunist Eastern Europe and Russia examines the changes in sex and gender in countries in transition, including: the negative consequences of Serbia’s “state-directed non-development” during the 1990s the causes and consequences of trafficking in women from the Russian Federation the ongoing debate over human rights for sexual minorities in Romania the effects of two Yugoslavian films released in the 1990s that feature transgender characters sexualities in transition in Croatia problems created by changes in sexual behavior among urban Russian adolescents the social and legal state of lesbians in Slovenia Sexuality and Gender in Postcommunist Eastern Europe and Russia fills in the gap in the current knowledge and understanding of the effects of the profound social changes taking place in Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe. The book is an essential read for academics and researchers working in gender studies, political science, and gay and lesbian studies. Handy tables and figures make the information easy to access and understand.