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How can we promote people-centered governance in Africa? Cell phones/ information and communications technology (ICT) are shown to be linked to neoliberal understandings of more democratic governance structures, defined by the Worldwide Governance Indicators as: the rule of law, corruption-control, regulation quality, government effectiveness, political stability/no violence, and voice and accountability. However, these indicators fall short: they do note emphasize gender equity or pro-poor policies. Writing from an African feminist scholar-activist perspective, Assata Zerai emphasizes the voices of women in two ways: (1) she examines how women's access to ICT makes a difference to the success of people-centered governance structures; and (2) she demonstrates how African women's scholarship, too often marginalized, must be used to expand and redefine the goals and indicators of democratice governance in African countries. Challenging the status quo that praises the contributions of cell phones to the diffusion of knowledge and resultant better governance in Africa, this book is an important read for scholars of politics and technology, gender and politics, and African Studies.-- Publisher's description

Institutional constraints hinder the activist scholar who seeks to create alternative models for scholarship and social transformation. In this paper, I discuss results from a survey administered to Africana scholars on the Association of Black Sociologists listserv and other discussion groups servicing progressive scholars and students on the internet. The primary objective of the survey was to elicit comments on ways that Africana scholars balance activism with scholarship. The survey results indicate that there are many levels on which activists scholars can make a contribution to humanity. These include the intellectual labor of articulating our unique perspectives that we promote within our disciplines, our service as consultants to grassroots organizers, and our progressive applied work in our fi eld. Once we embrace the activist-scholar orientation, our struggle is to strike an appropriate balance among the three different types of contribution.

In March 2003, the US government launched a military invasion and occupation of Iraq. This was one more phase of the US National Security Strategy doctrine that promises militarism, war, and disruption in various sovereign states. These wars abroad and the unprecedented powers of government and police agencies in the USA represent powerful intersections of patriarchal authority, racism, militarism, and elitism. Africana communities have a long history of resisting repression both directly and indirectly related to US foreign policy. Social scientists writing from a black feminist perspective have described how such mutually constructing forces of race, class, gender, and nation have influenced the lives of people of color, women, and the poor in American society and have highlighted the historical and sociological importance of resistance by these oppressed groups. Specifically, this paper addresses ways in which a black feminist analysis and praxis offer useful perspectives on activism concerning issues of peace and justice post 9—11—2001.

An examination of the impact of black feminist organizing on the agenda of the June 2003 meeting of the Black Radical Congress (BRC) focuses on four pivotal areas of the black feminist approach: remaining organically tied to communities; internationalism; dynamism in social movements; & integrated analysis. Congress participants included representatives from a wide variety of groups/organizations who addressed issues like how to translate the black community's anti-war sentiment into effective action; ways to link social justice issues to anti-war efforts; & consequences of the US military occupation of Iraq. Local struggles were addressed in relation to humanist struggles in Africa, Palestine, Lebanon, & Iraq. The black feminist emphasis on the need to recognize that organizing must be "dynamic & ever-changing" was evident in the collective, nonhierarchical approach used to organize the meeting. Although there was a call for educational work to show how Bush pro-war policies deepen gender, race, & class inequalities, more political education is necessary to make integrated analysis an important part of organizations like the BRC. 22 References. J. Lindroth

"Presenting a framework that considers the ways that neocolonial relations, gender, class, ethnicity, and other dimensions of oppression intersect to impact upon the experiences and agency of women and children, authors explore the effects of water and sanitation quality and availability on early childhood morbidity in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda."--Publisher's summary