Feminist Africa Issue 2 (2003) – Changing Cultures

In the wake of the volume of post-colonial and feminist writing demonstrating that culture and subjectivity are socially constructed, it may seem passé to insist that culture and identity
are political. But the inscription of gender in contemporary African cultural processes and social identification requires ongoing reflection - both in terms of subjects that have long
been proscribed, and in terms of the depth of our critical vision. While "changing cultures" embraces a range of inquiry, the emphasis on sexuality, cultural production, and discursive
constructions of gendered identities in this issue addresses some key and neglected concerns. Explorations of sexuality break some especially heavily veiled silences.

Contents

Editorial

Editorial
- by Desiree Lewis

Feature Articles

Beyond Determinism: The Phenomenology of African Female Existence
- by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf

Representing Culture and Identity: African Women Writers and National Cultures
- by Nana Wilson-Tagoe

Standpoint

Sexual Pleasure as Feminist Choice
- by Patricia McFadden

"Where Angels Fear to Tread?" Some Thoughts on Patricia McFadden's "Sexual Pleasure as Feminist Choice"
- by Charmaine Pereira

Out of the Closet: Unveiling Sexuality Discourses in Uganda
- by Sylvia Tamale

The Women's Movement and Lesbian and Gay Struggles in South Africa
- by Mary Hames

Sex Work and the Politics of Researching Gender and Culture
- by Richard Ssewakiryanga

Profiles

FEMRITE and the Politics of Literature in Uganda
- by Goretti Kyomuhendo

AMANITARE and African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- by Jessica Horn

In Conversation

Barbara Boswell from the Feminist Africa editorial team speaks to Ghanaian-British film-maker, journalist and fiction writer, Yaba Badoe

Feminist Africa speaks about writing and reading as political engagement to Elinor Sisulu, Zimbabwean feminist writer whose biography, Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime, was published in December 2003.

Reviews

Review of Margaret Daymond, Dorothy Driver, Sheila Meintjes, Leloba Molema, Chiedza Musengezi, Margie Orford, and Nobantu Rasebotsa, eds. Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region. New York: The Feminist Press, 2003.
- by Priya Narismulu

War Victims and Survivors: The Expanding Vision of Yvonne Vera
- by Eva Hunter

Review of Kum-Kum Bhavnani, John Foran and Priya Kurian, eds. Feminist Futures: Re-imagining Women, Culture and Development. London and New York: Zed Books, 2003.
- by Nobantu Rasebotsa