Modern matriarchy research is once again making accessible this completely different form of society - which is not an inversion of patriarchy. The way in which we conceive of matriarchal societies is being increasingly enriched through comparative cultural analyses. This approach affects and alters every sociocultural area of our knowledge. Modern matriarchal research therefore now constitutes part of basic research. This volume continues comparative cultural analyses of contemporary matriarchal societies. It is particularly concerned with the large-scale forms of matriarchal societies, which disprove the prejudice that they are only small, isolated communities. The new paradigm of modern matriarchal studies is thus becoming increasingly richer in content. This expanded new publication of Volume II is devoted to contemporary matriarchal societies in Africa, India and the Americas. The previously published new edition of Volume I presents contemporary matriarchal societies in East Asia, Indonesia and the Pacific. The newly published Volume III (2019) focuses on the history of matriarchal societies and the emergence of patriarchy in western Asia and Europe.

Dr. Heide Göttner-Abendroth, philosopher and cultural researcher, is a freelance researcher and author. She founded the independent HAGIA International Academy for Modern Matriarchal Studies in 1986 and has since then been its Director.