Passage Discussion

[gplaya123]

Can someone help me interpreting p3?

I don't really understand what "recent publications" refers to...

[christine.defenbaugh]

The short answer is that "recent publications" does not refer back to anything previously mentioned in the passage. It refers, simply, to some recent publications that the author is introducing at the top of paragraph 3.

Let's take a step back and see how this fits into the overall passage map.

Paragraph 1: Introduces the "long accepted" theory of the "golden age", its origins (Dexter), and essential elements.

Paragraph 2: Describes how this theory took root among historians, such that even those who rejected the "golden age" specifically continue to accept the idea of a status decline for women.

Paragraph 3: Introduces the "new scholarship" (via "recent publications") that fully reject the golden age theory as simplistic, instead favoring a complex view of women's experiences through three colonial periods.


You can see here that the "recent publications" are simply the tool by which the author first introduces the "new scholarship" or "modern scholarship" (line 48, 54, 60). The author introduces that new scholarship for the purpose of contrasting their view with the earlier acceptance of the "golden age" theory.

Does that help clear things up? Please let me know if you have any additional questions, or anything to add!