A collection of writings on how the structures of power have exerted systematic governance over women in Africa. It addresses how the rhetorical devices of tradition and modernity have played important roles in the control and appropriation of African women's bodies. The chapters draw on history, literature, political science, journalism, sociology, comparative studies, and women and gender studies to offer multidisciplinary perspectives from which to understand the diversity of women's experiences, gender issues, and sexualities as they intersect with class, race, ethnicity, and nationality. This volume not only shows how the macro-narratives of colonialism and post-colonialism provide frameworks for understanding the micro-narratives of empowerment and disempowerment of women, but also considers resistance strategies women have used to guard against the subjugation of their bodies and sexualities. Themes covered include constructions of African motherhood and womanhood, femininity and health, gender and sexual representations and contestations, and gendered nationalism and culture.
Discussion of the role of technology in feminism both in the past and the present. This collection explores both the advances and setbacks of technology - including breast pump, egg freezing and in vitro fertilization - for women, sexually, biologically, economically and politically. It considers not only whether or not a radical, emancipatory feminism is possible today but what such a feminism might look like.