A Machinery of Difference: The Gender Histories of the Hunt—Volume Introduction

The general introduction to this anthology on hunting and gender emphasizes the prevalence of the topic as well as its social and academic relevance. We first outline the topicality of hunting-related depictions of gender in many areas of Euro-American cultures in both the past and present. We then summarize the perspectives that the book opens up among related fields of research, including human-animal studies, gender and queer studies, postcolonialism, and ecocriticism. In addition, we propose three theses that allow us to explore in depth why and how hunting is linked to and lends itself to the creation and perpetuation of difference. These theses, we argue, should shape the understanding of hunting in academic and public discourse in the future.