Feminist Knowledge | Bibliography: African Women's Studies II
In recent years, African feminist theorising has concertedly dealt with the numerous challenges posed by gendered identities, relations and processes, rather than with critiquing western feminism. In the eighties, this was a key priority for the first wave of African feminist scholarship. The discursive and political location of African feminisms in relation to hegemonic western traditions during this period generated traditions of angry, polemical and reactive theorising. This tradition of critique and self-identification has increasingly given way to a more pro-active orientation.
Self-reflexivity and clearly-defined diversity among African feminists has accompanied this shift. This diversity embraces the Africa/Diaspora divide, different approaches to self-naming in relation to frameworks like “womanism", “feminism", “Africana womanism" and “motherism", and diverging views on the relations between African and western feminisms. These shifts and patterns are comprehensively charted in Nnaemeka's Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power: From Africa to the Diaspora (1998), a key volume drawing together different reflections in relation to the first conference on Women in Africa and the African Diaspora.
Another important development has been the emphasis among African scholars on theoretical concepts and strategies for developing feminist scholarship both in relation to particular research fields and with reference to specific regions within the continent. Pivotal works here are the collections edited by Imam et al., Engendering African Social Science (1997) and McFadden’s (ed.) Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa (1999).
A recent project focusing on theoretical strategies and tools is Tsikata's Gender Training in Ghana Politics: Issues and Tools (2001), a study aimed at a wide audience ranging from gender trainers to researchers. This work explores concepts, methodological questions and tools appropriate to a particular context. The adaptable uses of a study like this, as well as its specific regional orientation, offer suggestive strategies for publications dealing with other countries and regions in Africa.
Important
shifts have also occurred around the reappraisal of African women's movements.
While much earlier scholarship on women's movements, motivated by the need to
inscribe women's stories in national narratives, tended to celebrate homogenised
views of African women, more recent research deals more analytically and critically
with women's agencies.
Abrahams, Y. 2001. “Learning by Doing: Notes Towards the Practice of Womanist Principles in the ‘New’ South Africa.” Agenda, 50:70-76.
Abrahams, Y. 2001. “We’re Here We’re Here: Speaking African Womanism,” in Duncan, N., Gqola, P., Schefer, T., Mashige, M. and Malinga, F. eds. Discourses on Difference: Discourse on Oppression. Cape Town: Centre For Advanced Southern African Studies.
Agozino, B. 2000. "What Women's Studies Offer Men: Entremesa Discussion." West Africa Review, 2,1 (August 2000). http://www.westafricareview.com/war/vol2.1/agozino.html.
Ajikobi, D. 1999. What Does an African `New Woman' Want? Ikeja, Lagos: Ark Publications.
Akina Mama wa Afrika. 1997. Taking the African Women's Movement into the 21st Century: Report of the First African Women's Leadership Institute. Kampala: Akina Mama wa Afrika.
Akina Mama wa Afrika. 1998. Moving from Accommodation to Transformation: New Horizons for African Women into the 21st Century. Report of the Second African Women's Leadership Institute: Akina Mama wa Afrika.
Amadiume, I. and Abdullahi, A. 2000. The Politics of Memory: Truth, Healing & Social Justice. London: Zed Books.
Amadiume, I. 2000. Daughters of the Goddess, Daughters of Imperialism: African Women Struggle for Culture, Power and Democracy. New York: Zed Books.
Amadiume, I. 2001. "African Women: Voicing Feminisms and Democratic Futures", in Samatar, A. ed. International Feminisms: Divergent Perspectives. Malacaster International, 10, Spring. Malacaster College International Stusdies Programme.
Datta, K., Alexander, E. and Khan, B. 1998. Beyond Inequalities: Women in Botswana. South Africa and Harare: Southern Africa Research and Documentation Centre.
Daymond, M. Ed. 1996. South African Feminisms: Writing, Theory and Criticism, 1990–1994. New York/London: Garland Publishing.
Diouf, A., Kamau, J., Ndayiziga, B. et al. Eds. 1996. African Women's Organizations in Civil Society: Transforming the State and the Economy.
Emang Basadi Women's Association. 1999. (First edition, 1994) The Women's Manifesto: A Summary of Botswana Women's Issues and Demands. Gaborone: Lentswe la Lesedi and the Emang Basadi Women’s Association.
Evers, E. Ed. 1997. Transforming Female Identities: Women's Organizational Forms in West Africa. Rutgers/Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
Ezeigbo, A. 1996. Gender Issues in Nigeria: A Feminine Perspective. Lagos: University of Lagos Press.
Gqola, P. 2001. “Ufanele, Uqavile: Blackwomen, Feminisms and Postcoloniality in Africa.” Agenda, 50:11-22.
Imam, A. 1997. "Engendering African Social Sciences: An Introductory Essay", in Imam, A., Mama, M. and Sow, F. eds. Engendering African Social Sciences. Dakar: Codesria.
Imam, A., Mama, A. and Sow, F. Eds. 1997. Engendering African Social Science. Dakar: CODESRIA.
Johnson-Odim, C. and Mba, N. 1997. For Women and the Nation: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti of Ngeria. University of Illinois Press.
Kamara, S. 2000. “The Journey of a Male Gender Trainer in Northern Ghana” in Tsikata, D. ed. Gender Training in Ghana: Politics Issues and Tools. Accra: Woeli Publishing Services.
Mama, A. 1996. Women's Studies and Studies of Women in Africa During the 1990s. CODESRIA Working Paper Series 5. Dakar: Codesria.
Mama, A. Ed. 1996. Setting an Agenda for Gender and Women's Studies in Nigeria. Report of Workshop held at British Council, Kaduna, 8–12th January.
McFadden, P. ed. 1999. Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa. Harare: Sapes.
McFadden, P. 2000. The State of Feminism in Africa Today. Harare: SARIPS.
Mikell, G. Ed. 1997. African Feminism: The Politics of Survival in Sub-Saharan Africa. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Nnaemeka, O. Ed. 1998. Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power: From Africa to the Diaspora. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Nzegwu, N. 2001. "The Politics of Gender in African Studies in the North", in Veney, C. and Zeleza, P. eds. Women in African Scholarly Publishing. Trenton, NJ/London: Africa World Press/Turnaround.
Ogunyemi, C. 1996. The Wo/Man Palava. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Oyewumi, O. 1997. The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Gender Discourse. University of Minnesota Press.
Oyewumi, O. Ed. 2000. African Women and Feminism: Reflecting on the Politics of Sisterhood. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Oyewumi, O. 2000. "Feminism, Sisterhood and Other Foreign Bodies", Oyewumi, O. ed. African Women and Feminism: Reflecting on the Politics of Sisterhood. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Oyewumi, O. 2000. "White Women's Burden: The African Woman in Western Feminist Scholarship", in Oyewumi, O. ed. African Women and Feminism: Reflecting on the Politics of Sisterhood. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Peterson, S. 2000. The Liberation of Women and the New Woman: Two Documents in the History of Egyptian Feminism. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
Rosander, E. Ed. 1997. Transforming Female Identities: Women's Organizational Forms in West Africa. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute.
Sabbagh, S. Ed. 1996. Arab Women: Between Defiance and Restraint. New York: Olive Branch Press.
Sharpley-Whiting, D. and White, R. 1997. Spoils of War: Women of Color, Culture, and Revolution. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Snyder, M. 2002. “Research on Women 1986-2001: An Overview”, in Tripp, A. and Kwesiga, J. eds. The Women’s Movement in Uganda: History, Challenges and Prospects. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
Soiri, I. 1996. The Radical Motherhood: Namibian Women's Independence Struggle. Helsinki: Institute of Development Studies.
Sow, F. 1997. "The Social Sciences in Africa and Gender Analysis", in Imam, A., Mama, A. and Sow, F. eds. Engendering African Social Sciences. Dakar: Codesria.
Tripp, A. 2000. "Rethinking 'Difference': Comparative Perspectives from Africa." Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 25, 3:649–675.
Tripp, A. 2001. "Women's Movements and Challenges to Neopatrimonial Rule: Preliminary Observations From Africa." Development and Change, 32, 1, January:33–54.
Tripp, A. 2001. "The Politics of Autonomy and Cooptation in Africa: The Case of the Ugandan Women's Movement." Journal of Modern African Studies, 39, 1.
Tsikata, D. 2001. Gender Training in Ghana Politics: Issues and Tools. Accra, Ghana: Woeli Publishing Services.
Wieringa, S. Ed. 1996. Subversive Women: Women's Movements in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. London: Zed Books.