What Women Do in Wartime: Gender and Conflict in Africa / Edition 1

by Meredeth Turshen, Clotilde Twagiramariya

Overview

This is the first book to describe and analyze the experience of women in African civil wars. A mixture of reportage, testimony and scholarship, the book includes contributions from women in Chad, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa and Sudan. The political context of these conflicts is outlined in an introduction to each chapter. The book profiles women's responses to war, as combatants as well as victims, and describes the groups women organize in the aftermath.

Examining rape and other forms of gendered political violence in African civil wars, this extraordinary volume is also about women taking action for change. It is set to become required reading for students and academics of women's, peace and African studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781856495387
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/01/1998
Series:	What Women Do in War Time Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

Meredeth Turshen teaches Gender and Development and Third World Social Policy at the Edward J Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University.

Clotilde Twagiramariya works at the Center for Women's Global Leadership and in the Department of Urban Studies and Community Health, both at Rutgers.
Meredeth Turshen teaches Gender and Development and Third World Social Policy at the Edward J Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University.

Clotilde Twagiramariya works at the Center for Women's Global Leadership and in the Department of Urban Studies and Community Health, both at Rutgers.

Table of Contents

Map
• What Women Do in War Time--Meredeth Turshen
• South African Women Demand the Truth--Beth Goldblatt and Sheila Meintjes
• Women and Violence in KwaZulu/Natal--Ashnie Padarath
• Mozambican Women Experiencing Violence--Alcinda Antonio de Abreu
• Attack with a Friendly Weapon--Asma Abdel Halim
• ‘Favors’ to Give and ‘Consenting’ Victims: The Sexual Politics of Survival in Rwanda--Clotilde Twagiramariya and Meredeth Turshen
• Women Denounce their Treatment in Chad--Women’s Commission of the Human Rights League of Chad, and the Editors
• Hundreds of Victims Silently Grieving--Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) and the Editors
• We Left Our Shoes Behind--Teckla Shikola
• The Militarization of Africa--Daniel Volman
• Bibliography
• Index

Editorial Reviews

This remarkable book should be compulsory reading for anyone wanting to understand more about conflict and its impact on women and society as a whole. Comprehensive, readable and well referenced.” —Health and Policy Planning

“Describes and analyses the experience of women in African civil wars. The images which emerge are both powerful and disturbing. The book serves as an insistent testimony of the personal suffering, tragedy and degradation of warfare.” —International Affairs

“The testimony provided in this book is vitally important. Turshen and Twagiramariya are to be commended for forcing the unthinkable into our awareness.” —Review of African Political Economy

“An important and exciting contribution to the writing of women's narratives of war. It drives home the need to bring women into the decision-making process, be it for war-waging or sustainable peace-making.” —Seminar

From the Publisher

From survivors of genocide and sexual violence to a Namibian guerilla fighter for SWAPO, women affected by recent African civil wars give testimony here for the first time. Among the 11 contributors making a case for a gendered approach to justice, are the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia and The Women's Commission of the Human Rights League of Chad. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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