Book Reviews 255

has received significant attention internationally. His-torically, Irish women have generally been essentializedand “othered” as catholic, nationalist, rural, and back-ward—fundamentally, as “late developers.” This imageis, of course, culturally represented in a clause in theIrish Constitution, originally introduced in 1937, whichstill states: “Woman by her life within the home gives tothe State a support without which the common goodcannot be achieved” (article 41.2.3

Bunracht na hEire-ann

[The Constitution of Ireland], 1937). This imagehas been reevaluated in light of the Celtic Tiger phe-nomenon and the changing position of Irish women.O’Connor charts the rapid feminization of the work-force in Ireland in the 1990s, on which the tiger econ-omy has largely depended. Ironically, Irish women arenow viewed in many quarters as “rapid developers.”One would think that before the Celtic Tiger camealong some gaping void had existed in women’s lives inIreland for several decades. This study, therefore, high-lights the need for a more sensitive approach to the pastin understanding the present situation of women inIrish society.

O’Connor takes a wider, more circumspect view ofthe changing position of women in contemporary Irishsociety, and succeeds in systematically addressing arange of interlocking questions, notably in the socialand economic spheres. The issues explored include, theposition of women working full time in the home; theradical transformation in family life and fertility pat-terns; employment; education; and wider cultural rep-resentations of women in Ireland. O’Connor’s analysisof each of these areas and choice of data is sensitive todifference (for instance, the experiences of younger andolder women are demonstrated to be very different,and the dominant social and cultural construction ofheterosexuality is explored). Yet the theoretical frame-work mapped at the outset of the book refers to con-temporary debates about difference in feminist theoryonly in passing. In the main, O’Connor integrates a the-oretical framework drawn from Connell’s conceptual-ization of patriarchal practices and processes. The un-even impact of economic development and achievementsof second-wave feminism are considered, for instance.However, the overarching theoretical framework in thisbook is essentially based on sociostructural concerns—placing it squarely within the dominant theoretical tra-jectory of mainstream Irish sociology. O’Connor is par-ticularly concerned with describing the relationship ofwomen with two of the main institutional structureswhich impinge on their lives—family and paid employ-ment—and with locating these within the structural andideological parameters within which women live andmake their choices (p. 26).

Emphasis on the social and economic dimensions ofwomen’s position is not balanced with a similar analysisof the political dynamics of women’s lives, either in re-lation to establishment politics, civil society, or thewomen’s movement. In the first part of the bookO’Connor does review the literature that deals with thewomen’s movement in Ireland as an agent of change. Inthe current climate of economic prosperity, the media(among others) in Ireland tends to divide women’s po-litical interests by emphasizing a dichotomy betweenthe lives and concerns of women who work in the homeand those who work outside or it, or between “ordi-nary” women and feminist women. The women’s move-

ment in Ireland, of course, has never been comprised ofvery large numbers of women: but neither was it

solely

comprised of professional and urban women. O’Con-nor implies that the women’s movement had a widercultural effect on women’s lives, than seems to be ac-knowledged. However, she argues that perhaps themost striking change has been in the behavior and atti-tudes of “ordinary” women, about whom we know lit-tle. It is this analytic focus that shapes each chapter ofthe book, relegating feminist politics and women’swider involvement in politics and civil society to themargins of the analysis. A fundamental challenge aris-ing from this approach is, therefore, to establish moreconcretely to what effect, if any, did second wave femi-nism mobilize women across civil society?

The level of socio-economic change captured in thisbook does not in any way suggest that structurally Irishsociety has adequately adjusted to the increased in-volvement of women in the public sphere, especially inthe workforce. Women are integral to the growth of theeconomy, but the State has been slow to supportwomen in response. Childcare in Ireland is extremelyexpensive and poorly subsidized by the State. The arrayof information in books like

Emerging Voices

can sus-tain campaigns conducted by women’s organizations(for instance, the National Women’s Council of Irelandcampaign for subsidized and affordable childcare).Equally, the role of the state in reflecting and reinforc-ing the status of women as child bearers, explored inO’Connor’s discussion of state control over women’sbodies, is extremely relevant to debates about women’shealth and reproductive rights in Ireland (particularlyin advance of the possibility of another referendum onabortion).

All in all, this book is an excellent synthesis of exist-ing material and secondary sources on women’s lives.Symbolically, this book places a serious appraisal ofwomen’s lives alongside other major, mainstream textsin Irish sociology that have been published by the Insti-tute of Public Administration. Further inequalitiesemerging across the social structure can be integratedwell into O’Connor’s foundational text, including in-migration and questions relating to race and ethnicityin Irish society. The value of

Emerging Voices

will befurther realized in the amount of original research itwill undoubtedly provoke into a range of unansweredquestions about Irish women’s lives (past and present)and in the generation of a wider range of theoretical po-sitions from within the domain of feminist theory, thanthose concentrated on by O’Connor herself in this text.

Linda ConnollyDepartment of SociologyUniversity College Cork

Cork, Ireland

PII S0277-5395(01)00153-4

G

REAT

N

EED

O

VER

THE

W

ATER

: T

HE

L

ETTERS

OF

T

HERESA

H

UNTINGTON

Z

IEGLER

, M

ISSIONARY

TO

T

URKEY

, 1898–1905.

Edited with an introduction andcommentary by Stina Katchadourian, 375 pages. Gomi-das Institute, Ann Arbor, MI, 1999. US $25.00 paper.

256 Book Reviews

The recently published work

Great Need Over the Wa-ter

by Stina Katchadourian is a compilation of the let-ters of an American missionary Theresa HuntingtonZiegler. Based at the Eastern Turkey mission station ofHarpoot, for 7 years Theresa Huntington worked in thewomen’s division of Euphrates College. In her lettershome to her family and the missionary society she re-counted many of her daily affairs and the friendshipsshe formed with other missionaries. Although Hunting-ton mentions individual Greeks and Armenians she en-counters, one does not get the sense that she formsclose friendships with these individuals.

Katchadourian reproduces the excitement Hunting-ton displays in her letters with selected introductoryhighlights and commentary. Arranged chronologically,the reader feels a part of Huntington’s life as if theywere receiving the letters. Huntington’s homesicknessis quite evident, yet she is comforted by the presence ofher brother who taught at the boy’s department duringher first few years in Harpoot. Soothed by the sur-rounding nature—the endless winter snow, the beautyof the mountains, the garden and visits to the lake inthe summer—the letters bring images of the country-side to life. As the letters become shorter and furtherapart with progressing years, the reader can feel the fa-tigue brought on by the pressures associated with mis-sionary life.

Huntington prefers to focus on the experiences ofother missionaries and their problems rather than herown. Unbeknownst to fellow missionary workers, Hun-tington offers her personal opinions to her family abouteach of the new arrivals in Harpoot. She spends most ofher time socializing with these missionaries. She re-counts the joy and laughter brought on by the celebra-tion of American holidays and eating meals together,which helps to cure the longing for her own family.Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Washington’s birthdaywere festive occasions for the Americans, celebratedwith turkey, mashed potato, a variety of pies and thesinging of Yankee Doodle.

Huntington cannot avoid interaction with local cul-tural traditions as the school observed native holidays.There is frequent mention of “Paree Gentan,” a cele-bration to mark the beginning of Lent, and ArmenianChristmas. Although she attempts to cross culturalboundaries, Huntington could not escape her own roleas a western missionary. She found many local customs“queer.” She describes how women and men were sep-arated in the church and her difficulty in understandingthe idea of mourning death with the visit of a group offriends or relatives.

When she first arrives in Harpoot, Theresa also be-gins in earnest to learn Armenian. Although she lec-tured a couple of times in the language, she never reallyfelt comfortable. It is apparent that desire did not over-weigh the amount of work that needed to be done atthe missionary station. By the end, she had also com-pletely given up on learning Turkish. Yet she is amazedby others who manage to master Armenian, Turkish,and Kurdish.

Detailed descriptions abound of the life of Arme-nian women—the fact that a young woman had to waituntil older siblings were married, the disgrace of not be-ing married at an early age, and how women did not goshopping in Harpoot, rather only foreigners venturedinto the shops in Mezreh. She also observes the ongo-

ing westernization in the provinces, particularly in wed-ding ceremonies and the style of dress.

Sent to Turkey to promote education for women,Huntington describes the characteristics of the femaleteachers, both American and Armenian, and the lessonstaught, with the focus given to teaching cleanliness, hy-giene, and stories of the Bible. She expresses a certainamount of frustration knowing that many of the stu-dents are not Protestant and still adhere to the teachingsof their native church. She mentions textbooks used inher classes, the village school, and the difficulty encoun-tered in getting parents to agree to comb the children’shair. The details of the girls and boys orphanages as wellas the trades learned by the students reflect upon thepoverty and despair of many young children.

Both Katchadourian and Huntington discuss the ef-fects of the Hamidian massacres on the College and theArmenians. Huntington expresses admiration for Eu-phrates College President Dr. Gates in his efforts to re-build the school after the destruction of many buildingsin 1895. She also has a large amount of sympathy forthe Armenians who live in constant fear of the govern-ment, many of whom have a strong desire to go toAmerica. In fact, the missionaries were often discour-aged, knowing that many of the teachers they weretraining would go to the United States, a land perceivedas holding opportunity and freedom. The desire was toescape the stoning of students and the high taxes placedon the Armenians.

As Huntington leaves Turkey in 1905, she looksback on her years there and what she has accomplished.She realizes how much she has truly experienced andlearned.

The letters contained in this volume provide uniqueinsight into everyday missionary life in Turkey.Katchadourian’s distinct ability to weave together thewritings into a thoughtful account will make this workof great interest to those studying the work of the fe-male missionaries in Turkey and the educational insti-tutions westerners established for young women.

Pamela YoungUniversity of Michigan-Ann Arbor

917

William Goodenough HouseMecklenburgh Square

London

WC1N 2AN

, England, UK

PII S0277-5395(01)00155-8

V

IRGINIA

W

OOLF

I

CON

by Brenda R. Silver, 353 pages.University of Chicago Press, 1999. US $19.00 paper.

“Virginia Woolf is everywhere” is the refrain of BrendaR. Silver’s brilliant and historically informed study ofWoolf as image, symbol, and cultural sign. She appearson T-shirts, coffee mugs, art posters, beer advertise-ments, Great Books syllabi, and refrigerator magnets,but her meanings are hotly contested. She signifies theWoman Writer in the 20th Century, High Modernism,Bloomsbury Aestheticism, Feminine Victimhood, Fem-inist Resistance, “Feminazism,” Universal LiteraryGreatness, (Masculine) Mind, and (Feminine) Em-bodiment.