2- Gender from an African Perspective

Abstract

African Gender Studies: A Reader
by Oyeronke Oyewumi, ed.
Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, xiv + 433 pp.
$26.95, ISBN 1-4039-6283-9 (pbk) and $85.00, 1-4039-6282-0 (cased)

Edited by Oyeronke Oyewumi, African Gender Studies: A Reader features twenty-two classic and newlyminted multidisciplinary essays that explore the epistemological and ideological challenges of theorizing gender in reference to Africa. The first section, cleverly titled: “Transcending the Body of Knowledge”, seeks to redress the undue emphasis on the corporal in interpretations of gender. The opening chapter is taken from Oyewumi’s provocative book: The Invention of Women, the main argument of which is also the premise of this edited volume: that theorizing about gender is essentially an epistemological undertaking. Oyewumi aims to disturb the situation where research on gender in Africa takes its cues from the West in terms of theoretical concerns, concepts, problematics and methodology. Specifically, the chapter debunks the myth that “biology is destiny” (p. 3). Akyeampong and Obeng follow this up appropriately with a discussion of the metaphysical dimensions of gender, demonstrating how gender can take on different properties in the alchemy of power