Political Bodies/Body Politic: The Semiotics of Gender

A consistent and thoroughgoing analysis of gender has arisen in the theoretical locations of feminism, gender studies, and queer theory. Drawing upon some of the theories and coupled with the concepts of myth, symbol and ritual, Political Bodies/Body Politic discursively engages the operation/deployment of gender in a variety of sites including feminist speculative fiction, systems of belief, popular culture, and ancient historical text. Toward understanding the complexity of gender as a concept and social reality, the author engages symbol, myth and ritual to make apparent the levels of human communication that express the social and historical belief system from which each has emerged. Each chapter provides an examination of the deployment of gender in relation to symbol, myth and ritual within a particular social and historical location. Following Bruce Lincolns lead, this text examines their deployment in discourse and its power to effect and affect society. Political Bodies/Body Politic makes an original contribution to the field of religious studies in its gender work, as well as to the field of feminist studies.