Gender and material culture history

Gender studies and material culture studies developed largely independently, but have in recent years mutually benefited from the theories and methodologies of the other. This chapter shows the contribution the material culture studies approach has made to gender history. It addresses the intersection of material culture studies and women's history specifically. The chapter considers the consumption of silk garments by women and men in the eighteenth century. Taking a broad view of historiography, it also shows that an interest in what was being consumed also ushered in a renewed interest in how goods were produced. The chapter explains how exploring the history of the production of a certain type of object, such as lace-bark in the Caribbean, is revealing of the ways in which material production of objects could have a profound effect on the identity of a particular group.