Papers by Judith Van Allen
Canadian Journal of African Studies, 1972
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In the conventional wisdom, Western influence has "emancipated" African women - through... more In the conventional wisdom, Western influence has "emancipated" African women - through the weakening of kinship bonds and the provision of "free choice" in Christian monogamous marriage, the suppression of "barbarous" practices, the opening of schools, the introduction of modern medicine and hygiene, and, sometimes, of female suffrage. But Westernization is not an unmixed blessing. The experience of Igbo women under British colonialism shows that Western influence can sometimes weaken or destroy women's traditional autonomy and power without providing modern forms of autonomy or power in exchange. Igbo women had a significant role in traditional political life. As individuals, they participated in village meetings with men. But their real political power was based on the solidarity of women, as expressed in their own political institutions - their "meetings" (mikiri or mitiri), their market networks, their kinship groups, and their right ...
Journal of West African History, 2017
Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
An academic directory and search engine.
African American Studies Center, 2011
American Political Science Review, 1984
African Studies Review, 2018
The African Studies Review (ASR) is the flagship scholarly journal of the African Studies Associa... more The African Studies Review (ASR) is the flagship scholarly journal of the African Studies Association (USA). The ASR publishes the highest quality African studies scholarship in all academic disciplines. The ASR's rigorous interdisciplinary peer review seeks to contribute to the development of scholarly conversations of interest to the diverse audience of the Association's membership and to the growth of African studies in North America, on the African continent, and in a global comparative context.
African Studies Review, 2016
African Studies Review , Volume 59, Number 1 (April 2016), pp. 123– 125 Judith Van Allen is a sen... more African Studies Review , Volume 59, Number 1 (April 2016), pp. 123– 125 Judith Van Allen is a senior fellow at the Institute for African Development, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University, and a longtime scholar-activist. She helped initiate African women’s studies in North America with “Sitting on a Man” in the 1972 Canadian Journal of African Studies special issue on women. After living in Botswana in 1987–1988, doing ANC support work and research on the women’s movement in that country, she shifted her focus to southern Africa. Her current work analyzes the problematics of using rights claims for confronting gender violence and creating gender justice within the neoliberal political economies of Botswana and South Africa. She is on the editorial boards of the ASR and Stichproben , and is currently writing a textbook for Rowman and Littlefield, tentatively titled “African Women, Power, and Politics.” E-mail: jv43@cornell.edu Kathleen Sheldon is an inde...
African American Studies Center, 2011
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Papers by Judith Van Allen