Description
Book SynopsisIn demonstrating how women's activism is evolving with and shaping democratization across the region, Democracy and the Rise of Women's Movements in Sub-Saharan Africa reveals how women's social movements are challenging the barriers created by colonization and dictatorships in Africa and beyond.
Trade ReviewA groundbreaking chronicle... Highly recommended for both public and college library collections. Midwest Book Review 2008 Fallon's work presents an insightful distillation of a large and important set of events and issues. I am impressed with the stages she proposes as critical turning points in the evolution of the women's movement in Sub-Saharan Africa and specific evidence she provides to describe those periods and their transitions. Contemporary Sociology All scholars of social movements and comparative politics, and in particular by specialists in African studies and gender and politics, should read Fallon's book. It is a model of the power of a well-grounded case study that pushes scholarship toward broader implications. International Studies Review Fallon makes an important contribution to understanding democratization and the experiences of sub-Saharan African women's movements. This work will undoubtedly spur discussion among scholars of women and democratization, and future comparative studies of women's mobilization in sub-Saharan Africa will build on this solid foundation. -- Julie Kaye Canadian Journal of Sociology 2009 Democracy and the Rise of Women's Movements in Sub-Saharan Africa deepens our understanding of the African women's activism that coincided with democratization across the continent in the 1990s and 2000s. -- Gretchen Bauer African Studies Review 2009 An important contribution to the literature [that] should be included in college and university libraries. Choice 2009 An engaging and thought-provoking read and a welcome contribution to our thinking about women's emerging political roles and opportunities. -- Andrea Brown Journal of Modern African Studies 2010
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
List of Acronyms
1. Reclaiming Power
2. Queenmothers, Colonization, and the Struggle for Legitimacy
3. Democracy in Perspective
4. The Iron Fist
5. Capturing Democracy
6. Big Men, Small Girls, and the Politics of Power
7. Women on the Move
Appendix A: Methods
Appendix B: Survey Data
Notes
References
Index
