Customer Reviews

Imperial Leather: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't agree with the reviewer for Library Journal because I found McClintock's book thorough and solid. She situates the book in a very clever way in the myriad of "isms" and scholarly debates on post-colonialism. She argues that one cannot talk about colonialism without at the same time investigate how gender,race, sexuality, class etc, has shaped the colonial discourse and discussion.
I would recommend this book to people interested in feminist, gender, postcolonial studies but also to anyone who wants a more indepth and creative analysis of the current debate on postcolonialism and gender.

It's been a while since I read this book (in Fall 2002), but I remember being highly surprised with what it taught about how the contemporary, taken-for-granted ideological practices of cleanliness (daily bathing, soap, house cleaning), etc., came into being during the time period discussed, and how class and race (racism) functioned -- more blatantly then -- to promote certain practices and consumer products to the point that they now are often assumed to be "universal" and go unquestioned in terms of their historical development. Additionally -- and not mentioned in the reviews -- is the discussion of resulting fetishizations, particularly in the accounts of certain historical persons. It's a fascinating read, and includes hard visual evidence of the racist advertising that promoted certain practices and products that have continued from the colonial past to today.

It was one of those books that you want to own and make a part of your library. It talks about the intersection of race, gender, sexualitiy and class in colonies and metropoloes. unlike some of the other books on colonialism, this book analyzes the various discourses that served the purpose of power but without reifying race. It makes you see the exploitation of colonized and their exercising of agency in an extremely unequal relation. it throws light on the gender dynamics in this power play that had been ignored for a long time.

The book was okay not worn out on the outside. But the previous owner had underlined a lot of stuff inside using INK, I thought that was a little inconsiderate. All said, there were no tears or other damages, so it is okay given its price.