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.
