Women's Wisdom: Suppressed Histories

Max Dashu (suppressedhistories.net); Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Suppressed Histories Archive uncovers the realities of women's lives, internationally and over time.

It asks questions about patriarchy [following the father like patricians rather than plebeians, the people] and slavery, conquest and aboriginality.

It examines mother-right, female spheres of power, indigenous philosophies of spirit -- the historical chemistry of repression -- and, more importantly, women's role in resisting oppression.

A global perspective on women’s history offers fresh and diverse conceptions of women's power, as well as of men and gender borders. It overturns stereotypes of race and class and the structures of domination that enforce them.

It digs under the usual story of lords and rulers, looking for hidden strands, and reweaves knowledge from the divided fields of history, archeology, linguistics, and folk tradition.

Casting a wide net, we look for patterns and gaps and contradictions. Where vested power interests are at stake, these contradictions are trigger points for controversy.

Some of the flashpoints are women's power, neolithic female figurines, gender-egalitarian mother-right cultures, patriarchy, witch-hunts, "heresies" such as goddess veneration and shamanism, and the rise and fall of empires, including the doctrines of supremacy that prop up all systems of domination. Why we need women's history... More