#27, 50 PoC Book Review

[brigdh]

27. Dorothy Ko, Cinderella's Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding

A non-fiction, academic book, but very readable. Ko states that her intention is to present a study of footbinding that does not approach the subject moralistically; she's very good at that. However, she also writes that she wants to give the female perspective on footbinding, and I felt that she mostly failed in that attempt. Nearly every single source is from a male writer. The few female sources don't show up until the last chapter. I also would have liked to see more archaeological sources used, either of the actual preserved shoes, or information from graves, houses, etc. Though being an archaeologist, I may be predisposed to that source.

Anyway. Regardless of my problems with it, I mostly enjoyed this book. Ko does a very good job of showing that there was no such single thing as "footbinding". What the practice entailed, in terms of age begun, physical shaping (or not) of the foot, and the cultural meaning, changed continually across time and space. She also does a great job of showing that ending footbinding was in itself a cultural practice, which meant specific things to specific people. Overall, an interesting book, even if I wished it had used a wider range of sources.

Crossposted to 50books_poc

Comments

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid, we went to the Fairbanks Museum (http://fairbanksmuseum.org/interior.php/pid/11/sid/28) on a school trip, and the upstairs collections had two pairs of Chinese women's shoes.

When we went there two years ago with my then-five-year-old daughter, the shoes would have been too small for her. By quite a bit.

I think there's a lot to say for direct examples and experience.