I found her suggestion that nation is based on a fraternal community which would not exist except for the silent sacrifice and support of women, interesting. She suggests that in the past. reputed lack of evidence of feminine contribution to history and the fact that history has predominantly been written by male historians, has lead to exclusion of the female experience. Reekie also suggests that the masculinity of nation and national identity can only exist when the feminine experience is omitted.
Reekie states that since the 1970's, feminist historians have found a great deal of evidence of women's contribution to Australian history. The article suggests that the feminist challenges to traditional histories and identities of nation may demand a reappraisal of traditional histories of nation and cause chaos to the imagined fraternal community of nation.
This article, from a feminist perspective, gave me a different lens through which to view and consider the histories of nation and national identity.
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