African Feminism: The Politics of Survival in Sub-Saharan Africa / Edition 1

by Gwendolyn Mikell

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812215809
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	06/01/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

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.

Editorial 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

"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

From the Publisher