The Current State of (Mississippian) Women

Though our understanding of the late precontact and early post–European contact Mississippian societies continues to develop, one important point has become clear—during this precontact period, Indigenous women were active, vital members of their societies, shaping (and shaped by) what we have come to call the Mississippian phenomena. This chapter explores the various and multi-faceted nature of what it meant to be a “Mississippian woman” by synthesizing past and present gendered research on Mississippian women. This chapter frames the research presented within this volume as allied with research in Indigenous feminism, which strives to remove Western ideas of gender from the interpretation and understanding of non-Western societies.