Call for Papers for a Special Edition of African Studies

Feminism and Contemporary Culture in South Africa

Post-apartheid South Africa is marked by its rapidly shifting cultural
geographies where the position of women illuminates critical issues about how
the political and social structure negotiates its contradictions and safe
spaces. The idea of being simultaneously seen and unseen, included and
excluded, is familiar to studies on race and gender. While South Africa has
the largest percentage of women in parliament in the world, it also has the
highest levels of rape. How do we make sense of these contradictory
indicators? The TRC brought issues surrounding women’s abuse into the open but
the transcripts of its closed sessions on women’s abuse were inadvertently
posted onto the internet, exposing victims to public scrutiny and assessment.
Previously, sexual assault was used by apartheid forces as a means of
subjugation. Gender abuse within liberation movements also occurred with these
narratives only emerging more recently. How has South Africa synthesized these
experiences? Historically, huge differences have shaped the lives of South
African women from different racial backgrounds. How has this shifted in post-
Apartheid South Africa? What are the issues surrounding gender in South Africa
in different sectors? With the Zuma trial pushing issues of women’s rights
into the national spotlight, how women’s issues are recast and appropriated
are important indicators of where discourse resides in the present. In a
period where Feminism has become decidedly unfashionable in popular culture,
what tools do we have to examine women in South African culture? Have feminist
issues disappeared along with the popularity of the ideology? What position do
women occupy in South African culture today?
Issues surrounding voice, victimhood, agency, subjectivity, power, gaze,
silences, knowledge and nation have often been recast in African Feminist
theory and need further exploration in South African today. Works dealing with
the ambiguities and complexities of gender in South African culture are sought
for a special edition of the interdisciplinary journal African Studies. Topics
might include, but are not limited to:

- The relationship between race, class, gender and/or sexuality in
contemporary South African culture.
- Representations of women or gender relations in South African
literature.
- Reconsidering Feminist theory in a post-Apartheid context.
- Gender, health issues and the state.
- The media and gender representations.
- Women and structural violence.
- Gender dynamics and popular culture.
- Historical contradictions and present manifestations.
- Reading the silences or gaps in discourse around women.
- The relationship between nationalism and gender politics.

Articles addressing any aspect of South African culture and women to be sent
to Ronit Frenkel by 15 September 2006 – [email][email protected] (MS word
format).
10 000 word maximum length.

For further formatting requirements please go to:
www:tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/castauth.asp