By Hand: Writing Hands and Making Genders in German Culture

By Hand investigates the persistent absence of female hands from the story of the human hand. Mediating between mind and body, self and world, the hand has long been invested with the power to classify and organize bodies as human or non-human. This project argues that hands are also central to constructing and upholding a binary understanding of gender, in which the singular hand functions as a material and metaphorical instrument of patriarchy.

Against the dominant narrative, the hands a...