Cynthia Robin is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University.  She undertakes archaeological research at small Maya sites in Belize.  Her research focuses on the everyday lives of ordinary people to illustrate how ordinary people made a difference in their societies and were note the mere pawns of history. Elizabeth M. Brumfiel is Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University and a past president of the American Anthropological Association.  She undertakes archaeological research at the hinterland Aztec site of Xaltocan, Mexico.  Her research focuses on the dynamics of gender, class, and factional politics in ancient Mexico and changes that accompanied Aztec expansion.

• 1. Gender, Households, and Society: An Introduction (Elizabeth M. Brumfiel and Cynthia Robin). 2. Looking Beyond Gender Hierarchy: Rethinking Gender at Teotihuacan, Mexico (Kristin De Lucia).3. Hearths, Grinding Stones, and Households: Rethinking Domestic Economy in the Andes (Robin Coleman Goldstein).4. Breaking Down Binaries: Gender, Art, and Tools in Ancient Costa Rica (Theresa Preston-Werner).5. Situating Power and Locating Knowledge: A Paleoethnobotanical Perspective on Late Classic Maya Gender and Social Relations (Christopher T. Morehart and Christophe G. B. Helmke).6. Changing Responsibilities and Collective Action: Examining Early North African Pastoralism (Alexandra Miller).7. Rethinking Polity Formation: A Gendered Perspective on Formative Period Household Development in the Pacific Coast Region of Guatemala (Ana S. Tejeda).8. She Sells Seashells: Women and Mollusks in Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico (Dawn Pankonien).9. Shaken, Not Stirred: The Revolution in Archaeology (K. Anne Pyburn).List of Contributors.