Modern Matriarchal studies

 
 
In an ideal world this ground-breaking study would already be required reading in most disciplines from women s' and native studies to anthropology and, most importantly, economics, political science, and religious studies. I predict, however, that in this era of urgent survival studies following the moral, financial, ecological, and climate crises, Heide Goettner-Abendroth's vital findings regarding past and present matriarchal gift economies and societies will finally be embraced. The English translation of this part of Dr. Goettner-Abendroth's life work has been long overdue; the work her magnum opus is likely to become a classic among all those scholars who have the courage and ethics needed to resist the ethno- and androcentric legacy of white patriarchal Western science. No paradigm shift parallels that which replaces the master discourses that have wreaked havoc on women, non-human species and other colonized objects of capitalist patriarchy. Goettner-Abendroth brings us the factual knowledge that allows us to adopt a radically alternative worldview, beyond establishment claims that matriarchies are reversals of patriarchies or never existed. This book establishes that academic colonialism not only blocks the truth, academic freedom and sustainability, but must now be stopped in the name of the planet's survival. 
--Kaarina Kailo, Assistant Professor (Docent), Oulu University, Finland, and former Professor of Women's Studies and Director of Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Canada 



Heide Goettner-Abendroth is one of the most insightful and important social thinkers of our time. With this long-awaited translation of her German work on matriarchy, she brings her penetrating understanding and synthetic analysis of mother-centered and mother-origin societies to the entire English-speaking world. There is no more articulate theorist about the true nature of such societies, no more thorough, respectful, and appreciative cataloguer of them. Dispelling stereotypes and misunderstandings about matriarchy, she unveils the riches of an alternative social structure beneficial to humanity that has been with us for millennia and continues to function in many pockets around the globe. Hers is a work of tremendous scholarly activism. By showing us that peaceful ecological living based on mothering values is possible, and that warfare and economic imbalance are not natural and given human conditions, her vision offers great hope for the future. 
--Marguerite Rigoglioso, Dominican University and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, California, and Author of The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece and Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity 


Heide Goettner-Abendroth is one of the very few scholars who has delved into the wider meaning of the word matriarchy as it is meant to be understood and not as a mirror-image of patriarchy. She has been unwavering in her commitment to enquire deeper into the social arrangements of matriarchal societies across the globe. This enquiry is critical in the twenty-first century if we have to reverse the rapid pace at which world economic, political, and financial systems, based largely on the patriarchal model, are collapsing one by one. This scholarship is one of a kind! 
Seeing the world through the eyes of matriarchy requires adjusting the mind's lenses and discarding past prejudices. Goettner-Abendroth has used all the scientific tools for intellectual and social enquiry even as she argues cogently about how matriarchies were relegated to a position of insignificance and how this egalitarian social system needs to reclaim itself from the hands of those who use patriarchy to promote an unsustainable global system. 
--Patricia Mukhim, Journalist and Editor of The Shillong Times, Shillong, India, and Director of the Indigenous Women's Resource Center at Shillong, Meghalaya, India

"Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past Present and Future celebrates women's largely ignored and/or invisible contribution to culture by exploring matriarchal societies that have existed in the past and that continue to exist today in certain parts of the world. Matriarchal societies, primarily shaped by women, have a non violent social order in which all living creatures are respected without the exploitation of humans, animals or nature. They are well-balanced and peaceful societies in which dominationis unknown and all beings are treated equally. This book presents these largely misunderstood societies, both past and present, to the wider public, as alternative social and cultural models that promote trust, mutuality, and abundance for all." "Contrary to common belief, which misunderstands matriarchy as "women's rule," these societies are based on a tradition of gender equality, negotiate their political decisions through consensus, and have intelligent rules to ensure a peaceful life. At the beginning of this new millennium, there is a lively interest in what has become a new social science. Matriarchal studies make visible a form of society, which is peaceful and balanced both in regard to gender and with respect to the generations, and which demonstrates an ecologically appropriate way of dealing with all living beings. The example of matriarchal societies can inspire us to find better social and cultural models for the solution of many contemporary problems."--BOOK JACKET.