Political Science/Women’s Studies in South Africa
Britton, Hannah, Jennifer Fish and Sheila Meintjes. Women’s Activism in South
Africa: Working Across the Divide, University of KwaZuhu-Natal Press, South
Africa. 2009.
A comprehensive collection of women’s experiences within civil society since the 1994
transition. The book captures South African women’s stories of collective activism and
social change at a crucial point in the future of democracy in South Africa. Pulling
together the voices of both activists and scholars, South Africa’s path to democracy and
the assurance of gender rights emerge as a complex journey of both successes and
challenges.
Clowes, Lindsey and Patricia van der Spuy, “Internationalizing South African Women’s
History”, University of Western Cape, South Africa. A collaborative work in
progress.
Extant research into how women effectively maneuver in the public sphere is limited at
best. Stories and histories of civil and social movements focus on the achievements of
men with women, if mentioned at all, playing an ancillary role. It is a story told by men
about men. It is “his”story. The work done by Clowes and van der Spuy uncovers the
participation of South African women in the public sphere. It provides a contemporary
account of the struggle of white, Indian, Black and colored women for social, economic
and political equality. What makes the research unique is the effort to place their
struggle in an international context with a comparative analysis.
Erlank, Natasha and Lindsay Clowes, “Writing and Teaching Gendered History in Africa
in the 21st Century”, South African Historical Journal, Vol. 50, p. 231-236. Sabinet
Online Publisher, 2004.
This is a case study of how the University of Western Cape institutionalized an
undergraduate curriculum that tackles issues of gender equality. Out of the study comes
best practices that offer insight and strategies to WKU on developing a campus culture of
social justice.
Ramphile, Mamphela, Across Boundaries: The Journey of a South African Woman
Leader, The Feminist Press, City University of New York, New York, 1999.
Perhaps the must read book to gain not only an intellectual understanding of apartheid
but to also feel the emotional impact, is Across Boundaries, an autobiography about the
system of apartheid that constrained and shaped Black women activist. This is the
inspiring story of the global Black Consciousness movement that linked the personal to
the political. Similar to the Cheryl Walker book discussed above, Mamphela Ramphele’s
life teaches us that race, sex and class are linked. But with her story we feel the
constraints in our soul. Ramphele, born poor, Black and female in apartheid, went on to
become one of the most distinguished women in the African diaspora. She was an
activist, physician, teacher, university administrator, confidant to Steven Bilko and a
mother of two sons. Her determination to gain acceptance from her Black brothers in the
movement as well as from whites, her struggle to maintain dignity in a world that
devalued both Black people and women is a familiar and moving story shared by Black
women throughout the African diaspora.
Thompson, Lisa and Chris Tapscott, Citizenship and Social Movements: Perspectives
from the Global South, Zed Books Publishers, London, March 2010.
Chris Tapscott, Director of the University of Western Cape School of Government, and
his co-author Lisa Thompson compare the social movements of Europe to the collective
actions of citizens in the Global South. This work provides readers with an introduction
to grass roots mobilization in Europe and makes clear the need for different theories,
concepts and terminology to fully explain and understand the people’s movement in
South Africa.
Walker, Cheryl, Women and Resistance in South Africa, David Phillip Publishers, 208,
Werdmuller Centre, Claremont, 7735 South Africa, 1991.
An examination of women’s involvement in the political struggles of 20th century South
Africa. For those unfamiliar with the triple whammy that constrains women of color, this
book, banned in South Africa when originally published in 1982, provides a frank and
rigorous intersection of the interaction of class, race and gender.