Hostname: page-component-6587cd75c8-gglxz Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2025-04-24T02:00:00.183Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Centering Feminists and Feminism in Protests in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2023

Rama Salla Dieng Open the ORCID record for Rama Salla Dieng [Opens in a new window] ,
Toni Haastrup Open the ORCID record for Toni Haastrup [Opens in a new window]  and
Alice J. Kang Open the ORCID record for Alice J. Kang [Opens in a new window]
Rama Salla Dieng*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh, UK
Toni Haastrup
Affiliation:
University of Stirling, UK
Alice J. Kang
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska–Lincoln, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In recent years, struggles for justice, peace, and democracy around the world have been articulated through protests. Whether in Iran, Nigeria, Poland, Senegal, Tunisia, or the United States, this form of political participation challenges the status quo. Rising forms of autocratic rule, democratic backsliding, and right-wing populism underscore the urgency of protesters’ demands. Often overlooked in mainstream accounts, however, is the role of feminists in driving forward liberatory demands for new social contracts (Sen and Durano 2014). One recent example of this is the role that the Feminist Coalition played in the Nigerian #EndSARS protests, mobilizing against years of police brutality and impunity (Nwakanma 2022). Confronted with physical harm and even death, these feminists and their fellow protesters have strategized and theorized a vision for a better world (Nazneen and Okech 2021; Tamale 2020).

Type
Critical Perspective Introduction
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , June 2024 , pp. 474 - 477
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Badri, Balghis, and Tripp, Aili Mari, eds. 2017. Women’s Activism in Africa: Struggles for Rights and Representation. Oxford: Zed Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouilly, Emmanuelle, Rillon, Ophélie, and Cross, Hannah. 2016. “African Women’s Struggles in a Gender Perspective.” Review of African Political Economy 43 (149): 338–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouka, Yolande, and Desroziers, Marie-Eve. 2022. Contestation en Afrique. Montréal: Presses de l’Université de Montréal.Google Scholar
Diabate, Naminata. 2020. Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Dieng, Rama Salla. 2021. Féminismes africains. Paris: Présence africaine.Google Scholar
Hassim, Shireen, and Gouws, Amanda. 1998. “Redefining the Public Space: Women’s Organisations, Gender Consciousness and Civil Society in South Africa.” Politikon 25 (2): 53–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nazneen, Sohela, and Okech, Awino. 2021. “Introduction: Feminist Protests and Politics in a World in Crisis.” Gender & Development 29 (2–3): 231–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nwakanma, Adaugo Pamela. 2022. “From Black Lives Matter to EndSARS: Women’s Socio-political Power and the Transnational Movement for Black Lives.” Perspectives on Politics 20 (4): 1246–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okech, Awino, ed. 2020. Gender, Protests and Political Change in Africa. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, Gita, and Durano, Marina. 2014. The Remaking of Social Contracts: Feminists in a Fierce New World. London: Bloomsbury.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sow, Fatou. 2021. “The Representation of Women and Claims to Citizens’ Rights in Africa: Beyond a Political Debate.” DAWN Discussion Paper 33, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, April. https://dawnnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DAWN-Discussion-Paper_33_The-Representation-of-Women-and-Claims-To-Citizens-Rights-in-Africa_-Beyond-aPolitical-Debate.pdf (accessed January 13, 2023).Google Scholar
Tamale, Sylvia. 2020. Decolonization and Afro-Feminism. Wakefield, Quebec: Daraja Press.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari, Casimiro, Isabel, Kwesiga, Joy, and Mungwa, Alice. 2008. African Women’s Movements: Transforming Political Landscapes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar