Person Attributes

Lisa Lindsay’s and Stephan Miescher’s edited collection, Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa (section 7a) addresses the construction of masculinities during the socio-economic and cultural transformations of the colonial and postcolonial periods.

Here I have referred to the work of African liberationists, feminisms in the global South, diasporic feminisms in the global North, Euro-American feminisms, transcontinental organising, the political economy of sexuality, Freud, post-structuralism and queer theory.

Teaching and curricula on gender and women.s studies in Africa have predominantly focused on issues of development and/or policy, as indicated by a recent and ongoing survey carried out by the African Gender Institute. At the same time, scholars, practitioners and policy makers recognise that there is a “gap” between policy and its implementation.

Akayesu Judgement, International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR)
Recognizing that serious violations of humanitarian law were committed in Rwanda, and acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) by resolution 955 of 8 November 1994. The purpose of this measure is to contribute to the process of national reconciliation in Rwanda and to the maintenance of peace in the region. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was established for the prosecution of persons responsible for genocide and…

The following pages can only be described as an attempt on providing a glimpse of an insight into the vastness that is – today - defined as Gender-based Violence (GBV) and its impacts on the African landscape. The sheer size of the terrain reflects the fact that GBV seems to be a rather resilient and destructive, yet largely hidden social activity, that is firmly rooted in the existence and prevalence of patriarchal relationships of power at every level of human interaction within the historically often male-dominated societies around the globe.

It is challenging, in a way, to talk about legal feminism in Africa when the concept of “African feminism” itself is an issue of persistent contestation on the continent.   What I address myself to here are the various ways that feminists around the continent have analysed the law and the ways they have used it to pursue their struggles for gender equality and women’s human rights.   What gains have been made and what are the limitations?