Gender, Sexuality, & Society - GSWS/SOAN 175 - Steindorf

This book explores the complexities of gender in postcolonial Ghana. "Weaving together personal interactions with sasso, participant observation, autoethnography, archival sources, essays from African and African-diasporic literature, and critical analyses of documentaries such as the BBC's The World's Worst Place to Be Gay, Amphibious Subjects is an ethnographic meditation on how Africa is configured as the "heart of homophobic darkness" in transnational LGBT+ human rights imaginaries."

"In Sexual Diversity in Africa, contributors critically engage with current debates about sexuality and gender identity, as well as with contentious issues relating to methodology, epistemology, ethics, and pedagogy. They present a tapestry of issues that testify to the complex nature of sexuality, sexual practices, and gender performance in Africa."

"In this volume we attempt to call into question the content of gender equality as simple parity and in doing so we reflect upon the following questions: What are the challenges of providing access to good quality education for girls in both countries? Is there a dichotomy between the schools/classrooms on the one hand and the community on the other in terms of gender equality/equity? To what extent is gender equality/equity imposed upon schools and communities and does it take into account the cultural practices in traditional communities?"

An examination of the ways in which gender intersects with informal and formal education in England, Germany, Indonesia, South Africa, USA and the Netherlands. The book looks at various issues including: citizenship; authority; colonialism and education; and the construction of national identities.

"While in 1996, South Africa became the first country in the world that explicitly incorporated lesbian and gay rights within a Bill of Rights, much of the country has continued to see homosexuality as un-African. Henriette Gunkel examines how colonialism and apartheid have historically shaped constructions of gender and sexuality and how these concepts have not only been re-introduced and shaped by understandings of homosexuality as un-African but also by the post-apartheid constitution and continued discourse within the nation."

"Using history, literature, participant observation, and interviews, Carolyn Martin Shaw surveys Zimbabwean feminisms from the colonial era to today. She examines how actions as clearly disparate as baking scones for self-protection, carrying guns in the liberation, and feeling morally superior to men represent sources of female empowerment. She also presents the ways women across Zimbabwean society--rural and urban, professional and domestic--accommodated or confronted post-independence setbacks. Finally, Shaw offers perspectives on the ways contemporary Zimbabwean women depart from the prevailing view that feminism is a Western imposition having little to do with African women."

"The first section of the book deals with general aspects of same-sex rights and policies in the Americas; including public opinion regarding same-sex marriage, diffusion of policy innovations for same-sex couples, judicialization of LGBT rights, and the role of the left in support of same-sex rights in Latin America. The second section examines country-cases regarding same-sex policies in Latin America and includes separate chapters on Central America, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Uruguay."

"Africa After Gender? looks at Africa now that gender has come into play to consider how the continent, its people, and the term itself have changed. Leading Africanist historians, anthropologists, literary critics, and political scientists move past simple dichotomies, entrenched debates, and polarizing identity politics to present an evolving discourse of gender."