In this Book
- Gendering Ethnicity in African Women’s Lives
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
- Series: Women in Africa and the Diaspora
summary
Do African men and women think about and act out their ethnicity in different ways? Most studies of ethnicity in Africa consider men’s experiences, but rarely have scholars examined whether women have the same idea of what it means to be, for example, Igbo or Tswana or Kikuyu. Or, studies have invoked the adage “women have no tribe” to indicate a woman’s loss of ethnicity as she marries into her husband’s community. This volume engages directly the issue of women’s ethnicity and makes stimulating contributions to debates about how and why women’s movements have a unifying role in African political organization and peace movements.
Drawing on extensive field research in many different regions of Africa, the contributors demonstrate in their essays that women do make choices about the forms of ethnicity they embrace, creating alternatives to male-centered definitions—in some cases rejecting a specific ethnic identity in favor of an interethnic alliance, in others reinterpreting the meaning of ethnicity within gendered domains, and in others performing ethnic power in gendered ways. Their analysis helps explain why African women may be more likely to champion interethnic political movements while men often promote an ethnicity based on martial masculinity. Bringing together anthropologists, historians, linguists, and political scientists, Gendering Ethnicity in African Women’s Lives offers a diverse and timely look at a neglected but important topic.
Drawing on extensive field research in many different regions of Africa, the contributors demonstrate in their essays that women do make choices about the forms of ethnicity they embrace, creating alternatives to male-centered definitions—in some cases rejecting a specific ethnic identity in favor of an interethnic alliance, in others reinterpreting the meaning of ethnicity within gendered domains, and in others performing ethnic power in gendered ways. Their analysis helps explain why African women may be more likely to champion interethnic political movements while men often promote an ethnicity based on martial masculinity. Bringing together anthropologists, historians, linguists, and political scientists, Gendering Ethnicity in African Women’s Lives offers a diverse and timely look at a neglected but important topic.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-2
- Part I. Forming Interethnic Alliances
- Part II. Constructing New Forms of Identity
- Part III. Promoting Gendered Domains of Ethnicity
- Part IV. Performing Gendered Ethnic Power
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- pp. 315-322
- Contributors
- pp. 323-326
Additional Information
ISBN
9780299303938
Related ISBN(s)
9780299303945
MARC Record
OCLC
905439217
Pages
348
Launched on MUSE
2015-03-21
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2015