Janina Ramirez
Autore di Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It
Sull'Autore
Janina Ramirez is the course director on the Undergraduate Certificate and Diploma in History of Art at Oxford University. She has written and presented numerous BBC history documentaries and is the author of The Private Lives of the Saints (W. H. Alien, 2015).
Fonte dell'immagine: https://www.janinaramirez.co.uk/bio
Serie
Opere di Janina Ramirez
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Nome legale
- Ramirez, Janina Sara Maria
- Altri nomi
- Ramirez, Nina
Maleczek, Janina Sara Maria (birth) - Data di nascita
- 1980-07-07
- Sesso
- female
- Nazionalità
- UK
United Arab Emirates - Nazione (per mappa)
- United Arab Emirates
England, UK - Luogo di nascita
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Luogo di residenza
- Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Buckinghamshire, England, UK - Istruzione
- University of Oxford (St. Anne's College) (B.A.) (English Literature)
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York (M.A.)
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York (Ph.D.) (The symbolism of birds) - Attività lavorative
- cultural historian
broadcaster
author
lecturer - Organizzazioni
- University of York
University of Winchester
University of Warwick
University of Oxford - Agente
- Rosemary Scoular (United Agents)
Utenti
Recensioni
Liste
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 14
- Utenti
- 563
- Popolarità
- #44,421
- Voto
- 3.9
- Recensioni
- 15
- ISBN
- 26
- Lingue
- 6
Femina is not so much a "new" history of medieval women's lives as it is a series of nine biographies of exceptional women who lived in the European Middle Ages. There are much fuller negative reviews on this that I recommend perusing, but broadly speaking, this book offers nothing new to readers familiar with the period. The author's thesis is the laziest of pop-feminist history: "Did you know... Women did stuff back then?" Anyone who seriously believes women did nothing exceptional for a thousand years is so far gone, maybe it's a blessing that this book exists.
Anyway, this book reminded me of everything I hate about the current trend of popular feminist frameworks of texts. Femina reminded me of the let-down that was The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society—A pop-history book promising to elucidate the reader on something much larger, complicated, and nuanced than the author is either able or willing to do. I always find it funny that the authors of books like this remind the reader over and over again how rich the tapestry of time is but cannot seem to go deeper than the surface-level critique their advertising promises. When will they truly take to heart that history cannot be boiled down to pithy feminist takes? When will (usually female) social historians give their readers something to really chew on? Why do I feel like women's-interest history always believe their readers are complete fucking dolts?
To summarize, I don't think it's possible to extract more than Ramírez simple thesis when you look at only nine people, and nine very, very wealthy and powerful people at that. It's interesting, sure, and these women absolutely deserve to be in the casual historical canon as the author argues, but... It is in no way a "new history," you know? That would entail much, much more than Ramírez is willing to put in.
Well... The book obviously strikes a cord though: look at those high reviews! I would only recommend this to people who know close to nothing on this period, and obviously only as a supplement to a more historiographical sound or primary source texts. I'm just annoyed at sexism and its over-production of limp-wristed non-fiction texts.
On to new pop history I will inevitably hate...… (altro)