Synopses & Reviews
The transition to democracy in South Africa was one of the defining events in twentieth-century political history. The South African women’s movement is one of the most celebrated on the African continent. Shireen Hassim examines interactions between the two as she explores the gendered nature of liberation and regime change. Her work reveals how women’s political organizations both shaped and were shaped by the broader democratic movement. Alternately asserting their political independence and giving precedence to the democratic movement as a whole, women activists proved flexible and remarkably successful in influencing policy. At the same time, their feminism was profoundly shaped by the context of democratic and nationalist ideologies. In reading the last twenty-five years of South African history through a feminist framework, Hassim offers fresh insights into the interactions between civil society, political parties, and the state.
Hassim boldly confronts sensitive issues such as the tensions between autonomy and political dependency in feminists’ engagement with the African National Congress (ANC) and other democratic movements, and black-white relations within women’s organizations. She offers a historically informed discussion of the challenges facing feminist activists during a time of nationalist struggle and democratization.
Winner, Victoria Schuck Award for best book on women and politics, American Political Science Association
“An exceptional study, based on extensive research. . . . Highly recommended.”—Choice
“A rich history of women’s organizations in South African . . . . [Hassim] had observed at first hand, and often participated in, much of what she described. She had access to the informants and private archives that so enliven the narrative and enrich the analysis. She provides a finely balanced assessment.”—Gretchen Bauer, African Studies Review
Review
Essential reading for all those interested in the theory and practice of social and political transformation.”Amina Mama, University of Cape Town
Review
An indispensable text for students and researchers across a variety of fields, including politics, gender studies and development.”Maxine Molyneux, Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London
Review
One of South Africa’s leading feminist scholars sheds new light on democratization and broader feminist political dilemmas; it is a tour-de-force.”Gay Seidman, University of WisconsinMadison
Synopsis
The transition to democracy in South Africa was one of the defining events in twentieth-century political history. The South African women's movement is one of the most celebrated on the African continent. Shireen Hassim examines interactions between the two as she explores the gendered nature of liberation and regime change. Her work reveals how women's political organizations both shaped and were shaped by the broader democratic movement. Alternately asserting their political independence and giving precedence to the democratic movement as a whole, women activists proved flexible and remarkably successful in influencing policy. At the same time, their feminism was profoundly shaped by the context of democratic and nationalist ideologies. In reading the last twenty-five years of South African history through a feminist framework, Hassim offers fresh insights into the interactions between civil society, political parties, and the state.
Hassim boldly confronts sensitive issues such as the tensions between autonomy and political dependency in feminists' engagement with the African National Congress (ANC) and other democratic movements, and black-white relations within women's organizations. She offers a historically informed discussion of the challenges facing feminist activists during a time of nationalist struggle and democratization.
Winner, Victoria Schuck Award for best book on women and politics, American Political Science Association
An exceptional study, based on extensive research. . . . Highly recommended.--Choice
A rich history of women's organizations in South African . . . . Hassim] had observed at first hand, and often participated in, much of what she described. She had access to the informants and private archives that so enliven the narrative and enrich the analysis. She provides a finely balanced assessment.--Gretchen Bauer, African Studies Review
Synopsis
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Alison Des Forges recounts the ambitions, strategies, and intrigues of an African royal court under Yuhi Musinga, the Rwandan ruler from 1896 to 1931. Drawing on oral histories and extensive archival research, Des Forges reveals how divisions among different groups in Rwanda shaped their responses to colonial governments, missionaries, and traders. Des Forges’s vividly narrated history, meticulously edited and introduced by David Newbury, provides a deep context for understanding the Rwandan civil war a century later. \\\\n
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Synopsis
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Alison Liebhafsky Des Forges (1942–2009) was a Yale-trained historian, a leading activist with Human Rights Watch, and the author of Leave None to Tell the Story. David Newbury is the Gwendolen Carter Professor of African Studies at Smith College and author of Kings and Clans: A Social History of the Lake Kivu Rift Valley. \\\\n
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Synopsis
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A Rwandan proverb says “Defeat is the only bad news.” For Rwandans living under colonial rule, winning called not only for armed confrontation, but also for a battle of wits—and not only with foreigners, but also with each other. In Defeat Is the Only Bad News Alison Des Forges recounts the ambitions, strategies, and intrigues of an African royal court under Yuhi Musinga, the Rwandan ruler from 1896 to 1931. These were turbulent years for Rwanda, when first Germany and then Belgium pursued an aggressive plan of colonization there. At the time of the Europeans’ arrival, Rwanda was also engaged in a succession dispute after the death of one of its most famous kings. Against this backdrop, the Rwandan court became the stage for a drama of Shakespearean proportions, filled with deceit, shrewd calculation, ruthless betrayal, and sometimes murder. Historians who study European expansion typically focus on interactions between colonizers and colonized; they rarely attend to relations among the different factions inhabiting occupied lands. Des Forges, drawing on oral histories and extensive archival research, reveals how divisions among different groups in Rwanda shaped their responses to colonial governments, missionaries, and traders. Rwandans, she shows, used European resources to extend their power, even as they sought to preserve the autonomy of the royal court. Europeans, for their part, seized on internal divisions to advance their own goals. Des Forges’s vividly narrated history, meticulously edited and introduced by David Newbury, provides a deep context for understanding the Rwandan civil war a century later. \''
About the Author
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“A brilliant, lively, and daring interpretation of Musinga’s governance of Rwanda under foreign control. Documenting the colonial situation that gave rise to a precarious future, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the tragedy of Rwanda’s recent history.”—Jan Vansina, author of Oral Tradition as History and Antecedents to Modern Rwanda
“This carefully researched, highly readable, and detailed exploration of a critical period in Rwanda’s history stands as a major contribution to our understanding of court politics before and after the advent of colonial rule. There is nothing in print in French or in English comparable to this painstaking investigation.”—René Lemarchand, University of Florida \\\'\''
Table of Contents
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List of Illustrations
Foreword by Roger V. Des Forges
Editor\\\\\\\'s Preface
Author\\\\\\\'s Preface
Author\\\\\\\'s Acknowledgments
Editor\\\\\\\'s Note
Editor\\\\\\\'s Introduction: Situating the Rwandan Court at the Time of Musinga\\\\\\\'s Accession to Power
Glossary of Rwandan Terms
1. A Tumultuous Transition: The Accession of Musinga
2. The Catholic Church, the German Administration, and the Nyiginya Court
3. The Missionaries, the Court, and the Local Community, 1904–1910
4. Musinga\\\\\\\'s Coming of Age, 1905–1913
5. Extending Court Power, 1905–1913: The Conquest of the Northern Regions
6. New Europeans, New Court Tactics, 1913–1919: The Arrival of the Belgians
7. Alliances That Bind—and Divide: Belgian Rule and the Court, 1919–1922
8. Divide and Rule, 1922–1925: Emerging Factions at the Court
9. The Rationalization of Power, 1925–1931: The Deposition of Musinga
Editor\\\\\\\'s Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index \\\\n
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