Feminist Knowledge | Identities, Culture & Religion
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Please note that these papers have been obtained from a range of sources and are not peer-reviewed.
Mans is ma soe: Ganging practices in Manenberg, South Africa and the ideologies of masculinity, gender and generational relations
by Elaine Salo
This is a study of young, coloured working class male gang members in Manenberg, a township on the Cape Flats in South Africa. The study shows that gang practices and coloured men's gendered identities cannot be divorced from the historical factors of racial and economic dispossession that the residents of Manenberg experienced in the 1960s. It also indicates that gangs are central to the cultural grammar and reproduction of community and personhood in this marginal population.
An Investigation into the Perceptions of Gender Roles amongst Adolescents in Pinetown, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
by Adhis Chetty
This study was meant to identify the perceptions of gender roles amongst adolescents and in so doing access a useful barometer by which to measure the extent to which adolescents subscribe to rigid patriarchy and sexism, the extent to which adolescents have embraced the non-sexist values of the new constitution and perhaps more importantly, identify what we need to do to create a non-sexist society free of the grip of patriarchy.
Gender & Visuality Conference Proceedings, Cape Town, South Africa,
26 - 29 August 2004 [view proceedings]
This international conference was
hosted by the History Department in collaboration with the Women's and Gender Studies programmme
of the University of the Western Cape. It offered the first phase of a new kind of dialogue which could revolutionise thinking about sources and culture, gender and eurocentrism.
Bodies as religion: immortality for beginners
by Amanda du Preez
Immortality has traditionally been reserved for the gods and goddesses. In the cases where mere mortals have dared to tamper with their own destiny and infringed on the scared grounds of the gods, they were brutally punished, and poor Prometheus is a good example of this. However, on the threshold of the twentieth-first-century, immortality has apparently come to earth and is becoming a customised choice designed to fit your every whim.
Perception of Womanhood in Nigeria and the Challenge
of Development
by Nkoli N. Ezumah
This paper examines the different perceptions of womanhood
in Nigeria with illustrations from the three major ethnic groups, namely the
Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa. The author notes that these perceptions are culturally
constructed and thus are the products of socialisation. An attempt is made to
examine the consequences of such perceptions on the well being of women in the
development process. The examination closes with suggestions on how to address
the challenges confronting women as a result of ways womenhood is perceived
in Nigerian society.
Looking
Back, Moving Forward: an Appraisal of a Black African Feminist
by Mfusi Hoza
The paper presents a critical
evaluation of a selected isiXhosa South African poem originally published in
a vernacular newspaper in 1902. The poem is assumed to have been written by
a woman struggling to rise above the gendered construction of the society of
her time. She does this through satire and realism. Whilst satirising the patriarchal
society's stereotyping of women on the one hand she articulates an alternate
worldview as experienced and aspired to by women on the other. The poem focuses
on the institution of marriage, exposing as myth the belief that the destiny
of women is against all odds in marriage. It will be argued that one hundred
years later in the 21st century, and despite South Africa's progressive developments
and model democratic constitution, the gendered construction of our society
continues to hamper women's development and feed on modern stereotypes. Taking
a cue from the poet, the objective is to contribute to a paradigm shift from
women as victims to women as empowered citizens unequivocally articulating their
worldview.
Efundula
and
History: Female Initiation in Pre-Colonial and Colonial Northern Namibia
by Patricia Hayes
Islamic
Feminism: What's in a Name?
by Margot Badran
African
Women Poets and their Assassins
by Molara Ogundipe
From
Manet to GQ: Gentlemen's Pornography?
By Stella Viljoen
Colonialism,
Disjuncture and Dysfunction: Sarah Bartmann's Resistance
by Yvette Abrahams
Perceptions
of Sexuality and Gender Relations Among the Igbo and Implications for the Reproductive
Health of Men and Women : Selected Findings from Awka and Agulu, Anambra State,
Nigeria
By Nkoli Ezumah
Images
of Women in Amharic Oral Narratives: Construction of Identity and Social Reality,
A Ph.D Proposal
by Mulumebet Zenebe