Landscape,revolution and property regimes in rural Havana

This article explores landscape as an expression of political change. It focuses on the radical transformations in landholding after 1959 and post-1989. Given that landscape is understood as a socio-cultural and political process rather than – as geographers commonly treat it – a cultural image fixed in place [Hirsch, 1995 Hirsch, Eric. 1995. “Landscape: Between Place and Space”. In The Anthropology of Landscape: Perspectives on Place and Space, Edited by: Hirsch, E. and O'Hanlon, M. Oxford: Clarendon Press.  [Google Scholar], this analysis examines how the political changes in Cuba are made manifest in Havana's rural landscape. It also looks at the ontological relationship to landownership particularly during the Special Period, and focuses on how property is conceptualised by smallholding peasants who belong to agrarian co-operatives.     

Peasants and labourers in Southern Spain,Cuba, and Highland Peru

This paper discusses some of the differences and similarities between a peasantry and an agricultural proletariat and considers the economic relations between peasants or labourers and landowners. The examples are drawn mainly from studies of Southern Spain, Cuba and Peru. The paper de‐emphasises the specificity of ‘peasant society’ as an object of study both from the economic and the socio‐political point of view.     

Enabling Citizenship: Gender,disability and citizenship in Australia

This paper queries the absence of disabled voices in contemporary citizenship literature. It argues that the language and imagery of the citizen is imbued with hegemonic normalcy and as such excludes disability. Feminist perspectives, such as those which argue for a form of maternal citizenship, largely fail to acknowledge disability experiences. Exclusionary practices are charted and links are made between gender, race and disability in this process. A citizenship which acknowledges disability is fundamental to re-imaging local, national and international collectivities.     

Gender, familism and housing: matrimonial property rights in Ireland

This article explores the gender structure of housing rights, and specifically matrimonial property law, in the Republic of Ireland as a basis for examining the means by which women gain access to and control over economic resources, or capital. Taking the Family Home Protection Act (1976) and the ill-fated Matrimonial Home Bill (1993) as examples of legislation to strengthen women's matrimonial property rights, it is argued that these have been formulated using gendered, familist, categories of reform. The State's attempts to strengthen women's entitlements have been mediated by its constitutional commitment to maintain a preference for the marital family as well as its failure to recognise the economic value of women's unpaid domestic work. This article argues that in this context, the Irish State's strategy of gender equality, which is based on the equitable treatment of different household types, is divisive, ineffective. and inequitable.     

Gender,identity and experience: Researching marginalised groups

This article will examine the status of the researcher when conducting research with Gypsy families and Asian women. It will explore how the positioning of the researcher as an outsider and insider can affect the research relationship and can be a useful and privileged position from which to engage in the research process. Gender, identity and experience can create a shared empathy and a shared understanding between the respondent and the researcher in which trust and rapport can encourage respondents to open up and discuss their personal experiences. The article also examines the complexities and tensions associated with how the status and identity of the interviewer can affect the research relationship and how an appreciation of difference is fundamental to this process.     

Special Issue: Gender,Sexuality and Human Rights

This brief article introduces a special issue of Feminist Legal Studies addressing gender, sexuality and human rights, and comprising papers drawn from an E.S.R.C.-funded workshop held at the University of Kent in June 2004 on the theme of “Gender-Auditing the Human Rights Act”. The article begins by situating the themes of the special issue within the broader context of feminist engagement with rights discourse. It goes on to consider the introduction of the Human Rights Act 1998 into the U.K. with a view to assessing its implications in terms of engendering a positive legal and political culture for equality-seeking initiatives. The article concludes with a survey of the contributions to the special issue, highlighting the possibilities for feminist theory and strategy posed by a wider intersectional engagement with rights issues.     

Gender, state, and industrial policy in Japan

This paper argues that state policy for working women, particularly Japan's sex-blind industrial policy has had negative effects on women in both the labor market and the family.