Review of Oyèrónké Oyewùmí, ed.: African Gender Studies: A Reader.

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the interview: 

With the performative turn's emphasis on the discursive construction of gender categories, a growing awareness has emerged within the interdisciplinary field of gender studies that "insistence on coherence and unity of the category [woman, SA] refuse[s] the multiplicity of cultural, social and political intersections in which the concrete array of 'women' are constructed" (Butler 1990: 14). Hence, the project of countering the internal structure of white hegemony in the field of gender studies - although well under way for considerable time - has gained added momentum and amplified scope. One of its latest additions is Oyèrónké Oyewùmí's anthology African Gender Studies. A Reader (2005). Bringing together a wide range of voices and disciplinary perspectives of African scholars, the collection interrogates some well-established concepts and ideas of (Western) gender studies so as to "correct the longstanding problem of Western dominance in the interpretation of African realities" (xiv) and to re-define "gender" as an analytical tool applicable to African contexts.