The empirical accounts of familial sisters show that we should not overly mythologize this relationship as an entirely positive one at the same time, women's conscious efforts to work through or accept differences between them may indeed create a relation that is highly supportive. In addition, Mauthner offers food for thought to those working on feminist theory and who use sisterhood as a political metaphor. 'This book will be of interest to those doing research on family relationships, and on relations of power between women.
'Sistering is a fascinating, intricate and intriguing account of a particular set of female relationships that have rarely been studied and articulated in public.a pot pourri of complex and diverse relationships between sisters, their mothers and partners or lovers - fascinating accounts.' - Miriam E David, Gender and Education The latter make utterly addictive reading.' - Lalitte Stolper, Lecturer in English and Cultural Theory, Ecole Superior de Beaux Arts du Mans Sistering balances academic analysis with 'slices of life' from the anonymous interviews.
Melanie Mauthner, whose study of sistering relationships is both scrupulous and passionate, does just that. 'It is not that often that academics uncover a whole new area of research, and more rarely still do they show us it was right under our noses. The narratives of the interviewed pairs of sisters captivate, and they also seduce the reader to personal memories and reflections - to relations with their own sister or, as in my case, to the re-recognition of the sorrow of not having a sister.' - Elina Lahelma, Academy Fellow, University of Helsinki, Finland But it provides a fascinating reading experience for others as well. I warmly recommend this book for students and researchers in the fields of feminist studies, education, sociology and family research.
She discusses, for example, the changes in sistering as women grow older, and pays attention to the different ways that women actively do sistering rather than passively experience it. Using biographies of pairs of adult sisters, she analyses various discourses of sistering. Melanie Mauthner's new book Sistering fills this gap excellently. 'There is not much research on sister relations, in spite of the metaphoric meaning of sisterhood in the feminist movement.
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