The Politics of Identities in Modern Africa Flashcards
How might we define identities?
Identity refers to how people position themselves and are positioned by others;
Identities are shaped by social structures – those beyond our control - and by individual agency – the degree to which we can exert control over who we are (constraints on how we represent ourselves: material, social, physical and the perception of others);
Identities are related to difference – what makes us the same or different from others;
Multiple identities – a person has more than one identity (hydrid).
How are identities conceptualised in Africa?
Primordialist approach: affiliations that are innate and largely fixed, as in tribes - organic, common ancestor, specific geographical area and shared cultural characteristics.
Constructivist approach: identities are socially constructed- ethnic identity- existence of particularistic identities deriving from common linguistic and cultural origins.
When does ethnicity become significant?
Depends on how the state deals with multi-ethnicity e.g. Access to resources and representation in the formal sector.
Ethnicity can be used instrumentally by political elites.
When a group feels threatened: livelihood or lives – fear and hatred arising from a cycle of violence;
Identity can help to prolong wars – group solidarity means that it is cheaper to wage war – providing food and money; Eritreans, Somalis in the diaspora etc.
How is gender significant?
Gender is seen as a process by which individuals who are born into biological categories of male and female become the social categories of men and women through the acquisition of locally- defined attributes of masculinity and femininity (Kabeer, 1991).
Multiple forms of Masculinity: Association of a hegemonic form of masculinity with dominance over women.
Colonial assumptions and the construction of men and women as social categories in colonial Africa.
What did pre-colonial gender relations look like?
Patriarchal – Islamic societies and those with early Christian influences
Matriarchal –prevalent in south-eastern Nigeria, Asante (Ghana), Eastern and Southern Africa
How is masculinity manifested in Africa?
Connell’s (2000) concepts of hegemonic and marginalized masculinity; historical product; therefore dynamic.
Islam and masculinity;
Colonialism and gendered hierarchies in the context of racial hierarchies;
Spread of Euro-American concepts of masculinity;
Hierarchies of masculinities and femininities in the colonial world intersected with racial and ethnic hierarchies.
How did Western social relations spread to African societies?
Patriarchy –manifestation and institutionalization of male dominance over women and children in the family and the extension of male dominance over women in society in general.
Marriage-based institutions.
Household unit: intra-household relations- focus on domesticity – public and private sphere, the ‘nuclear’ family.
How did capitalism impact the gendered division of labour in Africa?
Rural development projects.
Labour migration –effects on gender division of labour.
Intensification of women’s labour – essential in the expansion of commodity production.
Land privatization – undermining of resource base for independent income.
Explain WID?
WID sought to incorporate women in development discourse and focus more on ‘women’s’ issues.
These fit with the modernisation paradigm, emphasised reproductive activities, focused on basic needs and family planning.
X - this discourse constructed women as globally victimised, institutionalised a Western way of viewing the human body.
Explain GAD?
Links production and reproduction – focus on the social construction of gender;
Argues for a transformation of gender roles;
Focus on a range of issues beyond health, education, family planning;
Still about incorporating women into development – now as entrepreneurial neo-liberal subjects.
What is gender mainstreaming?
Gender mainstreaming is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality. Mainstreaming itself is not an end in itself but a strategy, an approach, a means to achieve the goal of gender equality. Mainstreaming involves ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality are central to all activities – policy development, research, advocacy/dialogue, legislation, resource allocation, and planning, implementation and monitoring of all programmes and projects (UN Women)
X - Gender meaning ‘women’; involves inserting gender into policy frameworks, no fundamental question of unequal relations within the wider society.
? Has the feminist agenda been captured by the patriarchy?
How is masculinity incorporated into development discourse?
It is not!
Ignore vulnerability of poor men;
Depict African men as patriarchal - tradition bound.
How is the attention to women in gender affecting men?
Would focusing on men change how we understand social systems?
