Producing Inclusive Feminist Knowledge: Positionalities and Discourses in the Global South(31 Advances in Gender Research)

In the global South there is growing concern about the dynamics of global politics that have the potential to marginalize the diverse voices and perspectives of subaltern communities. Exploring ongoing and new feminist dialogues in the global South, this book examines the ways in which dominant epistemologies are challenged, unique identities formed, and the implications for the global feminist agenda.  With chapters addressing feminist issues in Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean, the authors explore how feminist scholars and activists consciously challenge dominant hegemonic discourses and methodologies. The volume raises several critical questions: How do Southern feminist scholars and activists conceptualize and interpret the multiple facets of women’s lived experiences in their societies? What factors shape their positionality and identity as feminist scholars and activists? How do Southern feminist discourses offer possibilities of new insights that reflect the multiple and shifting conditions in their societies? What might their perspectives bring to global feminist agendas?  This volume offers a space within which feminist voices from multiple locations in and on the global South can find expression in conversations that redefine, reconfigure, and envision knowledge production from their standpoints and in ways that positively impact the lives of women in the global South.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Positioning Feminist Voices in the Global South; Josephine Beoku-Betts, and Akosua Adomako Ampofo Part 1: Perspectives on Feminisms and Knowledge Production   Chapter 1: Knowledge Hierarchies and Feminist Dilemmas: Contexts, Assemblages, Voices, and Silences; Bandana Purkayastha  Chapter 2: African Feminist and Gender Scholarship: Contemporary Standpoints and Sites of Activism; Josephine Beoku-Betts  Chapter 3: Dalit and Autonomous Feminisms in India; Manisha Desai   Chapter 4: What Does Feminism Mean to You? Are you a Feminist? Brazilian Activists’ Definitions and Praxis of Emancipatory Intersectional Feminism; Solange Simões  Chapter 5: Recent Changes in Indigenous Feminist Agenda in Latin America; Marlise Matos, and Avelin Buniacá Kambiwá  Part 2: Young Feminists and Digital Approaches to Scholarship and Activism  Chapter 6: Beh Tou Cheh? (What’s It to You?): Feminist Challenges in Iranian Social Media; Kristin Soraya Batmanghelichi  Chapter 7: Digital Activism Ghanaian Feminist Style; Akosua K. Darkwah  Chapter 8: Are We There Yet? Contemporary Struggles for Gender Justice and the Legacy of Caribbean Feminisms; Sue Anne Barratt  Part 3: Feminist Knowledge Production in Applied Contexts  Chapter 9: “I Can Weep but not Wail”: Contemporary Young African Masculinities; Akosua Adomako Ampofo, and Akosua Ilse-Asamoabea Ampofo   Chapter 10: Working Toward Global Feminist Knowledges and Practices; Marcia Texler Segal   Chapter 11: Exploring the Quagmire of Violence Against Women: Feminist Scholarship and Activism in Southern Africa; Mary Johnson Osirim

About the Author :
Akosua Adomako Ampofo is Professor of African and Gender Studies at the University of Ghana, West Africa. Her research interests include African knowledge systems, identity politics, gender, masculinities, and popular culture.  Josephine Beoku-Betts is Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Sociology, Florida Atlantic University, USA. Her research focuses on women’s political activism in post-conflict Sierra Leone and African women in academic scientific careers.