This book explores the significance of gender in shaping the Portuguese-speaking world from the Middle Ages to the present. Sixteen scholars from disciplines including history, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, literature and cultural studies analyse different configurations and literary representations of women's rights and patriarchal constraints. Unstable constructions of masculinity, femininity, queer, homosexual, bisexual, and transgender identities and behaviours are placed in historical context. The volume pioneers in gendering the Portuguese expansion in Africa, Asia, and the New World and pays particular attention to an inclusive account of indigenous agencies. Contributors are: Darlene Abreu-Ferreira, Vanda Anastacio, Francisco Bethencourt, Dorothee Boulanger, Rosa Maria dos Santos Capelao, Maria Judite Mario Chipenembe, Gily Coene, Philip J. Havik, Ben James, Anna M. Klobucka, Chia Longman, Amelia Polonia, Ana Maria S. A. Rodrigues, Isabel dos Guimaraes Sa, Ana Cristina Santos, and Joao Paulo Silvestre.