Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis article reflects on contemporary struggles for citizenship rights through an examination of civil society's advocacy for the passage of domestic violence legislation in Ghana. The National Coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation, established in 2003 specifically to push for the passage of the legislation, at various times worked closely with, and at other times independently of, or even in conflict with, the state. These processes and engagements point to the vibrancy of civil society and suggest the need for new analyses of social movements, political power and democracy that are rooted in Africa's contemporary realities.

In the global South there is growing concern about the dynamics of global politics that have the potential to marginalize the diverse voices and perspectives of subaltern communities. Exploring ongoing and new feminist dialogues in the global South, this book examines the ways in which dominant epistemologies are challenged, unique identities formed, and the implications for the global feminist agenda. With chapters addressing feminist issues in Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean, the authors explore how feminist scholars and activists consciously challenge dominant hegemonic discourses and methodologies. The volume raises several critical questions: How do Southern feminist scholars and activists conceptualize and interpret the multiple facets of women's lived experiences in their societies? What factors shape their positionality and identity as feminist scholars and activists? How do Southern feminist discourses offer possibilities of new insights that reflect the multiple and shifting conditions in their societies? What might their perspectives bring to global feminist agendas? This volume offers a space within which feminist voices from multiple locations in and on the global South can find expression in conversations that redefine, reconfigure, and envision knowledge production from their standpoints and in ways that positively impact the lives of women in the global South.

Contents: -- Introduction: Feminist Politics of Knowledge / Signe Arnfred and Akosua Adomako Ampofo -- Chapter 1. One Who has Truth - She has Strength: The Feminist Activist Inside and Outside the Academy in Ghana / Akosua Adomako Ampofo -- Chapter 2. Connections to Research: The Southern African Network of Higher Education Institutions Challenging Sexual Harassment/Sexual Violence / Jane Bennett -- Chapter 3. Reflections of a Feminist Scholar-Activist in Nigeria / Charmaine Pereira -- Chapter 4. Advocacy for Women's Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights in Africa: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea / Adetoun Ilumoka -- Chapter 5. Critical Feminism in Mozambique: Situated in the Context of our Experience as Women, Academics and Activists / Isabel Maria Casimiro and Ximena Andrade -- Chapter 6. Disappearing Dodos?: Reflections on Women and Academic Freedom Based on Experiences in Ghana and the United States / Nancy Lundgren and Mansah Prah -- Chapter 7. Doing Women's Studies: Problems and Prospects for Researchers and Activists in Nigeria / Nkoli N Ezumah -- Chapter 7. Discursive Challenges for African Feminisms / Desiree Lewis -- Contributors -- Index

Abstract
Research on African women and gender studies has grown substantially to a position where African-centered gender theories and praxis contribute to theorizing on global feminist scholarship. Africanist scholars in this field have explored new areas such as transnational and multiracial feminisms, both of which address the complex and interlocking conditions that impact women's lives and produce oppression, opportunity and privilege. In addition, emergent African-centered research on women and gender explores those critical areas of research frequently addressed in the global North which have historically been ignored or marginalized in the African context such as family, work, social and political movements, sexuality, health, technology, migration, and popular culture. This article examines these developments in African gender studies scholarship and highlights the contributions that new research on understudied linguistic populations, masculinity, migration, political development and social movements and the virtual world are making to global feminist discourse.