One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing... that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of 'the masculine' and 'the feminine'. Best known however, but also most often misinterpreted, is Butler's concept of gender as a reiterated social performance rather than the expression of a prior reality. Thrilling and provocative, few other academic works have roused passions to the same extent.

Since its publication in 1990, Gender Trouble has become one of the key works of contemporary feminist theory, and an essential work for anyone... interested in the study of gender, queer theory, or the politics of sexuality in culture.

From the murder of schoolgirls in a rural Amish community to the widespread rape of women in the Sudan to sexual predators on the Internet, this volume... explores the persistent, pervasive phenomenon of gendered violence in the United States and around the world.In the fully revised second edition of this path-breaking anthology, the editors bring together emerging scholarship from feminist, post-modern, and queer theory with classic articles and central authors in the fields of gender, sexuality and violence. This edition features a new comprehensive introduction, revised section introductions, and eighteen new selections, including original articles on sex trafficking, masculinity and terrorism, and community responses to gender violence. Other topics represented in this volume include sexual harassment and violence in schools and workplaces, child abuse, intimate partner violence, and pornography.Innovative theoretical and empirical articles written by scholars from fields such as law, history, and the social sciences appear alongside solution-focused pieces developed by activists, academics, and poets committed to creating a non-violent world.

Feminist scholars have long contended that war and militarism are fundamentally gendered. Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives provides... empirical evidence, theoretical innovation, and interdisciplinary conversation on the topic, while explicitly—and uniquely—considering the links between gender, war, and militarism. Essentially an interdisciplinary conversation between scholars studying gender in political science, anthropology, and sociology, the essays here all turn their attention to the same questions. How are war and militarism gendered?Seventeen innovative explanations of different intersections of the gendering of global politics and global conflict examine the theoretical relationship between gender, militarization, and security; the deployment of gender and sexuality in times of conflict; sexual violence in war and conflict; post-conflict reconstruction; and gender and militarism in media and literary accounts of war. Together, these essays make a coherent argument that reveals that, although it takes different forms, gendering is a constant feature of 21st-century militarism.

María Elena Martínez's Genealogical Fictions is the first in-depth study of the relationship between the Spanish concept of limpieza de sangre (purity... of blood) and colonial Mexico's sistema de castas, a hierarchical system of social classification based primarily on ancestry. Specifically, it explains how this notion surfaced amid socio-religious tensions in early modern Spain, and was initially used against Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity. It was then transplanted to the Americas, adapted to colonial conditions, and employed to create and reproduce identity categories according to descent. Martínez also examines how the state, church, Inquisition, and other institutions in colonial Mexico used the notion of purity of blood over time, arguing that the concept's enduring religious, genealogical, and gendered meanings and the archival practices it promoted came to shape the region's patriotic and racial ideologies.

María Elena Martínez's Genealogical Fictions is the first in-depth study of the relationship between the Spanish concept of limpieza de sangre (purity... of blood) and colonial Mexico's sistema de castas, a hierarchical system of social classification based primarily on ancestry. Specifically, it explains how this notion surfaced amid socio-religious tensions in early modern Spain, and was initially used against Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity. It was then transplanted to the Americas, adapted to colonial conditions, and employed to create and reproduce identity categories according to descent. Martínez also examines how the state, church, Inquisition, and other institutions in colonial Mexico used the notion of purity of blood over time, arguing that the concept's enduring religious, genealogical, and gendered meanings and the archival practices it promoted came to shape the region's patriotic and racial ideologies.

In the wake of tensions between modern and postmodern sensibilities, what larger directions now emerge in cultural anthropology? In this major work,... Bruce Knauft takes stock of important recent initiatives in cultural and critical theory. By combining critical reviews and ethnographic engagements with fresh readings of major figures and approaches, the work develops a larger vantage point for considering the dispersing influence of practice theories, postmodernism, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, modern/post-positive feminism, and multicultural criticisms.

In Geneologies of Religion, Talal Asad explores how religion as a historical category emerged in the West and has come to be applied as a universal... concept. The idea that religion has undergone a radical change since the Christian Reformation—from totalitarian and socially repressive to private and relatively benign—is a familiar part of the story of secularization. It is often invokved to explain and justify the liberal politics and world view of modernity. And it leads to the view that "politicized religions" threaten both reason and liberty. Asad's essays explore and question all these assumptions. He argues that "religion" is a construction of European modernity, a construction that authorizes—for Westerners and non-Westerners alike—particular forms of "history making."

Who are queers and what do they want? Could it be that we are all queers? Beginning with such questions, William B. Turner's lucid and engaging book... traces the roots of queer theory to the growing awareness that few of us precisely fit standard categories for sexual and gender identity. Turner shows how Michel Foucault's work contributed to feminists' investigations into the ways that power relates to identity. In the last decades of the twentieth century, feminists were the first to challenge the assumption that a claim to universal identity the white male citizen should serve as the foundation of political thought and action. Difference matters.Race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality interact, producing a wide array of identities that resist rigid definition and are mutable. By understanding the notion of transhistorical categories woman, man, homosexual, and so forth feminist and gay male scholars launched queer theoretical work as a new way to think about the politics of gender and sexuality." A Genealogy of Queer Theory" probes the fierce debates among scholars and activists, weighing the charges that queer readings of texts and identity politics do not constitute and might inhibit radical social change. Written by a historian, it considers the implications of queer theory for historical inquiry and the distinction between philosophy and history. As such, the book will interest readers of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender studies, intellectual history, political theory, and the history of gender/sexuality. Author note: William B. Turner is a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the co-chair of the "Lesbian and Gay Coalition for Justice", and the co-editor of the forthcoming book "Creating Change: Public Policy, Civil Rights and Sexuality".

Researching your genealogy online can be a daunting undertaking—but it doesn’t have to be. Genealogy Online For Dummies, 6th Edition takes you... through the basic steps for researching and tracing your family’s lineage in a clear, easy-to-understand manner. Plus, this newest edition offers the latest information on leveraging the potential of social networking sites in order to locate extended family members and uncover additional family history. You’ll discover how to start your investigation, build a Web site for sharing your finds, identify sites that will be of the most use to you, get information from government records, preserve electronic materials, and more. Serves as a helpful starting point for beginning your investigation into your family’s historyWalks you through developing a plan for your research, using online and offline research techniques, and researching ethnic ancestry through international recordsDetails how to create Web sites where family members can make contact or you can share your findingsLooks at how to use social networking sites as a new portal for locating extended family members and acquiring additional family historyExplains how to access domestic records for births, deaths, immigration, and more on both local and state levelsCompanion Web site features a vast collection of genealogical software tools and resourcesGenealogy Online For Dummies, 6th Edition helps you branch out and achieve your genealogical goal!

Known world-wide as the standard introductory text to this important and exciting area, the sixth edition of Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis addresses new... and growing areas of research whilst retaining the philosophy of the previous editions. Assuming the reader has little prior knowledge of the subject, its importance, the principles of the techniques used and their applications are all carefully laid out, with over 250 clearly presented four-colour illustrations.In addition to a number of informative changes to the text throughout the book, the final four chapters have been significantly updated and extended to reflect the striking advances made in recent years in the applications of gene cloning and DNA analysis in biotechnology.Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis remains an essential introductory text to a wide range of biological sciences students; including genetics and genomics, molecular biology, biochemistry, immunology and applied biology. It is also a perfect introductory text for any professional needing to learn the basics of the subject. All libraries in universities where medical, life and biological sciences are studied and taught should have copies available on their shelves."… the book content is elegantly illustrated and well organized in clear-cut chapters and subsections… there is a Further Reading section after each chapter that contains several key references… What is extremely useful, almost every reference is furnished with the short but distinct author's remark."–Journal of Heredity, 2007 (on the previous edition)

Gene Control offers a current description of how gene expression is controlled in eukaryotes, reviewing and summarizing the extensive primary literature... into an easily accessible format.  Gene Control is a comprehensively restructured and expanded edition of Latchman’s Gene Regulation: A Eukaryotic Perspective, Fifth Edition. The first part of the book deals with the fundamental processes of gene control at the levels of chromatin structure, transcription, and post-transcriptional processes. Three pairs of chapters deal with each of these aspects, first describing the basic process itself, followed by the manner in which it is involved in controlling gene expression.  The second part of the book deals with the role of gene control in specific biological processes. Certain chapters deal with the importance of gene control in cellular signaling processes and for normal development of the embryo. Another chapter discusses the key roles played by gene-regulatory processes in the specification of differentiated cell types such as muscle cells and neurons. The final chapters discuss the consequences of errors in gene control; the relationship between gene misregulation and human diseases, especially cancer; and potential therapies designed specifically to target particular levels of gene control. Gene Control will be of value to students in biological sciences, as well as to scientists and clinicians interested in how genes are regulated in health and disease.

Understanding the play between heredity and environment, and relating it to disease causation, is the task of ecogenetics. Gene-Environment... Interactions: Fundamentals of Ecogenetics presents the first comprehensive survey of this discipline, reflecting its relationship with toxicology, epidemiology, pharmacology, public health, and other medical and biological fields.Divided into four sections, the text elucidates key basic and advanced topics:* Section 1 covers fundamentals, including the history of the discipline, a discussion of the molecular laboratory tools currently available to assess genotypes, using such measurements in molecular epidemiology studies, and the statistical issues involved in their analysis.* Section 2 focuses on a number of key genetic polymorphisms relevant for ecogenetics, including enzymes of phase I and phase II metabolism, enzymes involved in DNA repair, as well as receptors and ion channels. This highlights characteristics of selected, widely studied genotypic/phenotypic differences, and allows discussion of how given genetic variations can influence responses to exogenous chemicals.* Section 3 examines gene-environment interactions through a disease-based approach, addressing how genetic polymorphisms can influence susceptibility to various diseases. Chapters cover important disease conditions such as various types of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular disease, chronic pulmonary diseases, infectious diseases, diabetes, and obesity.* The final section discusses the ethical, legal, and social issues that arise when investigating and evaluating genetic polymorphisms in human populations, as well as the impact of ecogenetics on risk assessment, regulatory policies, and medicine and public health.Packed with clear examples illustrating concepts, as well as numerous tables and figures, Gene-Environment Interactions: Fundamentals of Ecogenetics is a unique resource for a wide range of physicians, students, and other specialists.