Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa
Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa is a study of development in the former French colonies of West Africa. It takes as its starting point the international community's reporting on human and social development and gender in the developing areas which began systematically in 1990 and which has provided a framework for policy-making in this field. International reports suggest that the francophone African countries have been experiencing low levels of social development throughout the past two decades. These levels fall dramatically when the factor of gender is introduced to the point where statistically-speaking francophone African women have had less access to social development than any other population in the world.

This study analyzes current thinking on the challenges facing gender and development in Africa, before moving on to examine the historical factors marking the gender and development profile of the francophone West African region. Through an analysis of gender politics in the region from pre-colonial to postcolonial times, the book examines the gradual incursion of exogenous gender policies into the region throughout the 20th century. The discussion concludes by arguing that despite the tendency of the international community, and their colonial administrative forebears, to pursue 'one-size-fits-all' solutions to what they identified as the main development challenges of the day, the impact of standardized solutions remains subject to the unique historical and cultural context in which they are implemented. Adapting formula-driven policies to unique cultural contexts constitutes a major challenge for gender and development politics in the second decade of the new century.

Meanwhile, the book coincides with the introduction of a new international development agenda in Africa articulated around issues of security and globalization. While civil unrest continues to destabilize vast regions of the continent making the prospe
1111808490
Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa
Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa is a study of development in the former French colonies of West Africa. It takes as its starting point the international community's reporting on human and social development and gender in the developing areas which began systematically in 1990 and which has provided a framework for policy-making in this field. International reports suggest that the francophone African countries have been experiencing low levels of social development throughout the past two decades. These levels fall dramatically when the factor of gender is introduced to the point where statistically-speaking francophone African women have had less access to social development than any other population in the world.

This study analyzes current thinking on the challenges facing gender and development in Africa, before moving on to examine the historical factors marking the gender and development profile of the francophone West African region. Through an analysis of gender politics in the region from pre-colonial to postcolonial times, the book examines the gradual incursion of exogenous gender policies into the region throughout the 20th century. The discussion concludes by arguing that despite the tendency of the international community, and their colonial administrative forebears, to pursue 'one-size-fits-all' solutions to what they identified as the main development challenges of the day, the impact of standardized solutions remains subject to the unique historical and cultural context in which they are implemented. Adapting formula-driven policies to unique cultural contexts constitutes a major challenge for gender and development politics in the second decade of the new century.

Meanwhile, the book coincides with the introduction of a new international development agenda in Africa articulated around issues of security and globalization. While civil unrest continues to destabilize vast regions of the continent making the prospe
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Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa

Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa

by Claire H. Griffiths
Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa

Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa

by Claire H. Griffiths

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Overview

Globalizing the Postcolony: Contesting Discourses of Gender and Development in Francophone Africa is a study of development in the former French colonies of West Africa. It takes as its starting point the international community's reporting on human and social development and gender in the developing areas which began systematically in 1990 and which has provided a framework for policy-making in this field. International reports suggest that the francophone African countries have been experiencing low levels of social development throughout the past two decades. These levels fall dramatically when the factor of gender is introduced to the point where statistically-speaking francophone African women have had less access to social development than any other population in the world.

This study analyzes current thinking on the challenges facing gender and development in Africa, before moving on to examine the historical factors marking the gender and development profile of the francophone West African region. Through an analysis of gender politics in the region from pre-colonial to postcolonial times, the book examines the gradual incursion of exogenous gender policies into the region throughout the 20th century. The discussion concludes by arguing that despite the tendency of the international community, and their colonial administrative forebears, to pursue 'one-size-fits-all' solutions to what they identified as the main development challenges of the day, the impact of standardized solutions remains subject to the unique historical and cultural context in which they are implemented. Adapting formula-driven policies to unique cultural contexts constitutes a major challenge for gender and development politics in the second decade of the new century.

Meanwhile, the book coincides with the introduction of a new international development agenda in Africa articulated around issues of security and globalization. While civil unrest continues to destabilize vast regions of the continent making the prospe

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780739143841
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date: 12/18/2010
Series: After the Empire: The Francophone World and Postcolonial France
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 340
File size: 654 KB

About the Author

Claire H. Griffiths is professor of French and Francophone studies at the University of Chester, UK, and former senior research fellow in the WISE Institute at the University of Hull.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Part One: Is There a Gender and Development Crisis in Francophone Africa?
Chapter 2 Chapter One: Gender and Development in Francophone Africa: The Making of a Crisis
Chapter 3 Chapter Two: Science, Statistics,&Stories: In Search of Methodology
Part 4 Part Two: When Gender and Development Went Global
Chapter 5 Chapter Three: The Origins of a Global Discourse, 1945 to1990
Chapter 6 Chapter Four: 'Good Governance' for Development, 1990-2000
Chapter 7 Chapter Five: The Millennium Summit and Beyond: Writing Women out of Development?
Part 8 Part Three: From the Global to the Postcolony: Data Profiling in Gabon and Senegal
Chapter 9 Chapter Six: Mapping Gender and Development: The Tools of the Trade
Chapter 10 Chapter Seven: Senegal: A Monitoring Model for Francophone Africa?
Chapter 11 Chapter Eight: Gabon: At the Limits of the Data Profile
Chapter 12 Chapter Nine: Measuring Gender and Development: Challenges for Francophone Africa
Part 13 Part Four: In Search of Context and Culture 1: Historicizing Gender
Chapter 14 Chapter Ten: Sex and Status in Pre-colonial Africa
Chapter 15 Chapter Eleven: Engendering the Colony: France in Africa
Part 16 Part Five: In Search of Context and Culture : Locating Gender
Chapter 17 Chapter Twelve: Speaking the Language of Gender and Development in Senegal
Chapter 18 Chapter Thirteen: International Agencies and the Agenda for Change in Senegal
Chapter 19 Chapter Fourteen: Theorizing Gender and Development in the Academy
Chapter 20 Chapter Fifteen: Voicing Dissent and Contesting Change in Civil Society
Part 21 Part Six: Writing Gender and Development: Culture, Context, and Change in Francophone Africa
Chapter 22 Chapter Sixteen: The Literary Politics of Gender and Development
Chapter 23 Chapter Seventeen: Writing Gender and Development: the Birth of a Literary Voice
Chapter 24 Chapter Eighteen: Modernization and Marginalization in the Francophone African Feminist Novel
Part 25 Conclusions
Chapter 26 Chapter Nineteen: Harnessing Culture for Gender and Development
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