Broadly understood, matriculture is a Geertzian cultural framework of symbols and meanings pertaining to women, mothers, and the feminine. This system of symbols (this matriculture) creates a shared 'language,' so to speak, to describe, interpret, and reflect social reality - a model of reality - as well as prescribing and shaping social behaviour - a model for reality. This system/framework is constructed in a wide variety of different ways across diverse cultures, just as, according to Judith Butler, cultural frameworks pertaining to gender and sexualities are distinct across cultures.

In this context, then, the relationship of gender and sexuality with matriculture becomes of primary interest, particularly in cultural contexts where there is both an increasing recognition of gender fluidity, gender crossing, multiple gender identities, and non-binary sexualities and an attempt to repress the same.

Our next issue of Matrix proposes to explore the relationship among these Geertzian cultural systems: matriculture, gender, and sexuality. We are interested in better understanding how gender and sexualities are positioned in the matriculture of a society (any society).