Podcast appearances and mentions of Matthew H Sommer

The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2024) is a fascinating study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. This book takes as its core subject matter six court cases from Qing China that involve people who moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth. Focusing on this movement, Matthew H. Sommer looks at the transgender paradigms and literary tropes through which gender-transing was understood, ultimately revealing how acts of gender-crossing and gender boundaries were perceived. This book is an effortless blend of social, legal, and cultural history, and it is filled with captivating legal cases involving forgery and impersonation, fox-spirit mediums, midwives, and those living on the margins of late imperial China. This is definitely a must-read for those interested in Chinese history and gender history, as well as any scholars who need inspiration for what can be done with interesting sources that don't quite fit in existing projects.  To find out more about Matthew Sommer's work, head to his website, or you can listen to his previous appearance on the New Books Network here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2024) is a fascinating study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. This book takes as its core subject matter six court cases from Qing China that involve people who moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth. Focusing on this movement, Matthew H. Sommer looks at the transgender paradigms and literary tropes through which gender-transing was understood, ultimately revealing how acts of gender-crossing and gender boundaries were perceived. This book is an effortless blend of social, legal, and cultural history, and it is filled with captivating legal cases involving forgery and impersonation, fox-spirit mediums, midwives, and those living on the margins of late imperial China. This is definitely a must-read for those interested in Chinese history and gender history, as well as any scholars who need inspiration for what can be done with interesting sources that don't quite fit in existing projects.  To find out more about Matthew Sommer's work, head to his website, or you can listen to his previous appearance on the New Books Network here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2024) is a fascinating study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. This book takes as its core subject matter six court cases from Qing China that involve people who moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth. Focusing on this movement, Matthew H. Sommer looks at the transgender paradigms and literary tropes through which gender-transing was understood, ultimately revealing how acts of gender-crossing and gender boundaries were perceived. This book is an effortless blend of social, legal, and cultural history, and it is filled with captivating legal cases involving forgery and impersonation, fox-spirit mediums, midwives, and those living on the margins of late imperial China. This is definitely a must-read for those interested in Chinese history and gender history, as well as any scholars who need inspiration for what can be done with interesting sources that don't quite fit in existing projects.  To find out more about Matthew Sommer's work, head to his website, or you can listen to his previous appearance on the New Books Network here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2024) is a fascinating study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. This book takes as its core subject matter six court cases from Qing China that involve people who moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth. Focusing on this movement, Matthew H. Sommer looks at the transgender paradigms and literary tropes through which gender-transing was understood, ultimately revealing how acts of gender-crossing and gender boundaries were perceived. This book is an effortless blend of social, legal, and cultural history, and it is filled with captivating legal cases involving forgery and impersonation, fox-spirit mediums, midwives, and those living on the margins of late imperial China. This is definitely a must-read for those interested in Chinese history and gender history, as well as any scholars who need inspiration for what can be done with interesting sources that don't quite fit in existing projects.  To find out more about Matthew Sommer's work, head to his website, or you can listen to his previous appearance on the New Books Network here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2024) is a fascinating study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. This book takes as its core subject matter six court cases from Qing China that involve people who moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth. Focusing on this movement, Matthew H. Sommer looks at the transgender paradigms and literary tropes through which gender-transing was understood, ultimately revealing how acts of gender-crossing and gender boundaries were perceived. This book is an effortless blend of social, legal, and cultural history, and it is filled with captivating legal cases involving forgery and impersonation, fox-spirit mediums, midwives, and those living on the margins of late imperial China. This is definitely a must-read for those interested in Chinese history and gender history, as well as any scholars who need inspiration for what can be done with interesting sources that don't quite fit in existing projects.  To find out more about Matthew Sommer's work, head to his website, or you can listen to his previous appearance on the New Books Network here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2024) is a fascinating study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. This book takes as its core subject matter six court cases from Qing China that involve people who moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth. Focusing on this movement, Matthew H. Sommer looks at the transgender paradigms and literary tropes through which gender-transing was understood, ultimately revealing how acts of gender-crossing and gender boundaries were perceived. This book is an effortless blend of social, legal, and cultural history, and it is filled with captivating legal cases involving forgery and impersonation, fox-spirit mediums, midwives, and those living on the margins of late imperial China. This is definitely a must-read for those interested in Chinese history and gender history, as well as any scholars who need inspiration for what can be done with interesting sources that don't quite fit in existing projects.  To find out more about Matthew Sommer's work, head to his website, or you can listen to his previous appearance on the New Books Network here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/lgbtq-studies

The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2024) is a fascinating study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. This book takes as its core subject matter six court cases from Qing China that involve people who moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth. Focusing on this movement, Matthew H. Sommer looks at the transgender paradigms and literary tropes through which gender-transing was understood, ultimately revealing how acts of gender-crossing and gender boundaries were perceived. This book is an effortless blend of social, legal, and cultural history, and it is filled with captivating legal cases involving forgery and impersonation, fox-spirit mediums, midwives, and those living on the margins of late imperial China. This is definitely a must-read for those interested in Chinese history and gender history, as well as any scholars who need inspiration for what can be done with interesting sources that don't quite fit in existing projects.  To find out more about Matthew Sommer's work, head to his website, or you can listen to his previous appearance on the New Books Network here.

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite,... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite, Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions (University of California Press, 2015) looks carefully at polyandry, wife sale, and a variety of intermediate practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual & reproductive labor to help support her family. In a series of chapters that use fascinating stories and documents to transform how we understand what constitutes Qing law, Sommer’s book compellingly argues for the impossibility of maintaining a clear-cut, binary distinction between sex work and marriage in the Qing. The records on which Sommer bases this magisterial account are full of stories that are themselves worth the price of admission, sensitively rendering the lives of husbands, wives, children, and their communities as they attempted to navigate difficult, complex, and moving circumstances. This is a book that will change not only how we understand marriage, gender, family, and sex in late imperial China, but also how we think about these and related concepts more broadly conceived. Highly recommended! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite, Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions (University of California Press, 2015) looks carefully at polyandry, wife sale, and a variety of intermediate practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual & reproductive labor to help support her family. In a series of chapters that use fascinating stories and documents to transform how we understand what constitutes Qing law, Sommer’s book compellingly argues for the impossibility of maintaining a clear-cut, binary distinction between sex work and marriage in the Qing. The records on which Sommer bases this magisterial account are full of stories that are themselves worth the price of admission, sensitively rendering the lives of husbands, wives, children, and their communities as they attempted to navigate difficult, complex, and moving circumstances. This is a book that will change not only how we understand marriage, gender, family, and sex in late imperial China, but also how we think about these and related concepts more broadly conceived. Highly recommended! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite, Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions (University of California Press, 2015) looks carefully at polyandry, wife sale, and a variety of intermediate practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual & reproductive labor to help support her family. In a series of chapters that use fascinating stories and documents to transform how we understand what constitutes Qing law, Sommer’s book compellingly argues for the impossibility of maintaining a clear-cut, binary distinction between sex work and marriage in the Qing. The records on which Sommer bases this magisterial account are full of stories that are themselves worth the price of admission, sensitively rendering the lives of husbands, wives, children, and their communities as they attempted to navigate difficult, complex, and moving circumstances. This is a book that will change not only how we understand marriage, gender, family, and sex in late imperial China, but also how we think about these and related concepts more broadly conceived. Highly recommended! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite,... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite, Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions (University of California Press, 2015) looks carefully at polyandry, wife sale, and a variety of intermediate practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual & reproductive labor to help support her family. In a series of chapters that use fascinating stories and documents to transform how we understand what constitutes Qing law, Sommer’s book compellingly argues for the impossibility of maintaining a clear-cut, binary distinction between sex work and marriage in the Qing. The records on which Sommer bases this magisterial account are full of stories that are themselves worth the price of admission, sensitively rendering the lives of husbands, wives, children, and their communities as they attempted to navigate difficult, complex, and moving circumstances. This is a book that will change not only how we understand marriage, gender, family, and sex in late imperial China, but also how we think about these and related concepts more broadly conceived. Highly recommended! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite,... Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies