-
The Gift in the
Heart of Language
The Maternal Source of Meaning
by Genevieve Vaughan
Available in bookstores
and on digital platforms
"A powerful book apt to change our
mindset radically, providing far- reaching
political consequences for our future."
Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth
independent German philosopher and scholar,
founder of the International Academy HAGIA
for modern Matriarchal Studies
(read more)
"For me this is the revolution that
contemporary feminists and
transformative activists urgently need."
(read more)
Dr. Erella Shadmi
Former Head of Women's Studies Program,
Beit Berl Academic College, Israel
“In a world sorely missing mothering, Genevieve Vaughan
nurtures our awareness about the gift-givingness of our
species, of Nature and Being. She reminds us that we
are best constructed by gift giving and gift receiving.
Through her work she shows us how to return to mothering
—to nurturing one another and thereby fulfill our human
potential.”
Darcia Narvaez
Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame and author of
Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution,
Culture and Wisdom
“a critique of political economy in a
Marxian sense, but a critique founded on the
gift economy and in the last analysis on the
maternal gift of language”
Susan Petrilli
Professor of philosophy and theory of languages at the Aldo Moro
University of Bari, Italy
“Vaughan reveals the extent to which theories of the gift and
economics have failed to consider the obvious: maternal
giving…Key to understanding the maternal gift economy
is in how it has been hidden, distorted, and exploited by the
exchange economy and patriarchal capitalism. Our mothers
gave birth to our bodies and lives and gifted us with early and
on-going mother-care (gift-work). This simple fact can be so
amazingly ignored that we miss our physical and
philosophical ‘foundations’.”
Nané Jordan
PhD
Canadian midwifery activist and writer is developing a
cosmology of ‘sacred economy’ rooted in placental morphology and its
dialogue of blood” (Metaformia).
“Although the ideas of “the Gift” and the “Gift Economy”
are discussed and practiced by a wide variety of
people these days—in and out of the
academy—only Genevieve Vaughan has brought to the center of
the discourse the concept of mothering as the original gift and
prototype for all others.”
Vicki Noble
Feminist shamanic healer, author of Shakti Woman: Feeling Our Fire,
Healing Our World (1991), The Double Goddess: Women Sharing Power (2003)
and many other volumes.
“This new book deserves to be required reading in educational
circles, foremost in gender studies, as her theories move
beyond the second and third waves of feminism to create a
wave of its own—beyond performative gender, the misnomer
called “essentialism” and the disastrous impact of postmodern
and neoliberal feminism.”
Kaarina Kailo, ph.D, Asst.professor
Dosentti, kaupunginvaltuutettu Oulu
Vanhatie 35, 90940 JÄÄLI, FINLAND
“Much of the work feminist philosophers have dealt with
is about language focused on sexist terminology and
eventually they have succeeded in changing terms to permit
women’s abilities in all fields to be respected. What Vaughan
deals with is the nature of language itself, asserting that it is
based on gifting/ mothering/ being mothered; that language is
the giving and receiving of verbal gifts in abundance, and
gifting constitutes being human and human relations…This book
can be likened to a treasure island as it offers an endless source,
with its vast collection of literature and references.”
Pilwha Chang
Review in Asian Journal of Women’s Studies 2016, Vol. 22, No. 1
CHANG Pilwha is Professor of Department of Women’s Studies, College of
Social Sciences, Ewha Womans University.
-
The Gift in the
Heart of Language
The Maternal Source of Meaning
by Genevieve Vaughan
Available in bookstores
and on digital platforms
"A powerful book apt to change our
mindset radically, providing far- reaching
political consequences for our future."
Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth
independent German philosopher and scholar,
founder of the International Academy HAGIA
for modern Matriarchal Studies
(read more)
"For me this is the revolution that
contemporary feminists and
transformative activists urgently need."
(read more)
Dr. Erella Shadmi
Former Head of Women's Studies Program,
Beit Berl Academic College, Israel
“In a world sorely missing mothering, Genevieve Vaughan
nurtures our awareness about the gift-givingness of our
species, of Nature and Being. She reminds us that we
are best constructed by gift giving and gift receiving.
Through her work she shows us how to return to mothering
—to nurturing one another and thereby fulfill our human
potential.”
Darcia Narvaez
Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame and author of
Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution,
Culture and Wisdom
“a critique of political economy in a
Marxian sense, but a critique founded on the
gift economy and in the last analysis on the
maternal gift of language”
Susan Petrilli
Professor of philosophy and theory of languages at the Aldo Moro
University of Bari, Italy
“Vaughan reveals the extent to which theories of the gift and
economics have failed to consider the obvious: maternal
giving…Key to understanding the maternal gift economy
is in how it has been hidden, distorted, and exploited by the
exchange economy and patriarchal capitalism. Our mothers
gave birth to our bodies and lives and gifted us with early and
on-going mother-care (gift-work). This simple fact can be so
amazingly ignored that we miss our physical and
philosophical ‘foundations’.”
Nané Jordan
PhD
Canadian midwifery activist and writer is developing a
cosmology of ‘sacred economy’ rooted in placental morphology and its
dialogue of blood” (Metaformia).
“Although the ideas of “the Gift” and the “Gift Economy”
are discussed and practiced by a wide variety of
people these days—in and out of the
academy—only Genevieve Vaughan has brought to the center of
the discourse the concept of mothering as the original gift and
prototype for all others.”
Vicki Noble
Feminist shamanic healer, author of Shakti Woman: Feeling Our Fire,
Healing Our World (1991), The Double Goddess: Women Sharing Power (2003)
and many other volumes.
“This new book deserves to be required reading in educational
circles, foremost in gender studies, as her theories move
beyond the second and third waves of feminism to create a
wave of its own—beyond performative gender, the misnomer
called “essentialism” and the disastrous impact of postmodern
and neoliberal feminism.”
Kaarina Kailo, ph.D, Asst.professor
Dosentti, kaupunginvaltuutettu Oulu
Vanhatie 35, 90940 JÄÄLI, FINLAND
“Much of the work feminist philosophers have dealt with
is about language focused on sexist terminology and
eventually they have succeeded in changing terms to permit
women’s abilities in all fields to be respected. What Vaughan
deals with is the nature of language itself, asserting that it is
based on gifting/ mothering/ being mothered; that language is
the giving and receiving of verbal gifts in abundance, and
gifting constitutes being human and human relations…This book
can be likened to a treasure island as it offers an endless source,
with its vast collection of literature and references.”
Pilwha Chang
Review in Asian Journal of Women’s Studies 2016, Vol. 22, No. 1
CHANG Pilwha is Professor of Department of Women’s Studies, College of
Social Sciences, Ewha Womans University.
