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.
Taking the intellectual and political legacies of Edward Said as a point of departure and frame of reference, the contributors consider the current condition of humanism and the humanities. Said's definition of the core task of the humanities as the pursuit of democratic criticism remains more urgent than ever, though it needs to be supplemented by gender, environmental, and anti-racist perspectives as well as by detailed analysis of the necro-political governmentality of our time.