African Feminism: The Politics of Survival in Sub-Saharan Africa

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 1997

African Feminism

The Politics of Survival in Sub-Saharan Africa

Edited by: Gwendolyn Mikell

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812200775

Overview
Contents

About this book

African feminism, this landmark volume demonstrates, differs radically from the Western forms of feminism with which we have become familiar since the 1960s. African feminists are not, by and large, concerned with issues such as female control over reproduction or variation and choice within human sexuality, nor with debates about essentialism, the female body, or the discourse of patriarchy. The feminism that is slowly emerging in Africa is distinctly heterosexual, pronatal, and concerned with "bread, butter, and power" issues.

Contributors present case studies of ten African states, demonstrating that—as they fight for access to land, for the right to own property, for control of food distribution, for living wages and safe working conditions, for health care, and for election reform—African women are creating a powerful and specifically African feminism.

Author / Editor information

Contributors include Tsehai Berhane-Selassie, Carlene H. Dei, Shawn Riva Donaldson, Ilsa M. Glazer, Enid Gort, Betty J. Harris, Dolores Koenig, Takyiwaa Manuh, Gwendolyn Mikell, Maria Nzomo, Brooke Grundfest Schoepf, D. J. Shehu, and Jeanne Maddox Toungara. Gwendolyn Mikell is Professor of Anthropology at Georgetown University.

Reviews

"This book is the best thing I've seen on the question—not only of 'feminism' in its African articulation but also, more generally, on the question of how feminism emerges and what it means to those who espouse it."—Joan Scott, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Tables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Introduction Gwendolyn Mikell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Legal Interactions in the Domestic Realm
Chapter 1. Changing the Meaning of Marriage: Women and Family Law in Côte d’lvoire Jeanne Maddox Toungara Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Chapter 2. Wives, Children, and Intestate Succession in Ghana Takyiwaa Manuh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
Chapter 3. Pleas for Domestic Relief: Akan Women and Family Courts Gwendolyn Mikell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
Part II. Economic Change, Political Economy, and Women's Lives
Chapter 4. Swazi Women Workers in Cottage Industries and Factories Betty J. Harris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
Chapter 5. Alcohol and Politics in Urban Zambia: The Intersection of Gender and Class lisa M. Glazer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
Chapter 6. Women’s Roles in Settlement and Resettlement in Mali Dolores Koenig Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Chapter 7. Ethiopian Rural Women and the State Tsehai Berhane-Selassie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
Chapter 8. Women and Grassroots Politics in Abidjan, Côte d’lvoire Carlene H. Dei Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Chapter 9. Kenyan Women in Politics and Public Decision Making Maria Nzomo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
Part III. Surviving Crisis in the Community
Chapter 10. “Our Women Keep Our Skies from Falling”: Women's Networks and Survival Imperatives in Tshunyane, South Africa Shawn Riva Donaldson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Chapter 11. Technology and the Fuel Crisis: Adjustment among Women in Northern Nigeria D.J. Shehu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	276
Chapter 12. Swazi Traditional Healers, Role Transformation, and Gender Enid Gort Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
Chapter 13. AIDS, Gender, and Sexuality during Africa's Economic Crisis Brooke Grundfest Schoepf Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	310
Conclusions: Theorizing and Strategizing about African Women and State Crisis Gwendolyn Mikell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	347
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	353

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 392
Illustrations
- Other: 2 illus.
Keywords: Women's Studies; Gender Studies; African-American Studies; African Studies; Gender Studies; Anthropology; Folklore; Linguistics; Human Rights; Law; Middle Eastern Studies; Asian Studies

eBook

Published: August 3, 2010
ISBN: 9780812200775