Kristin Figg

WS 202
Reflection 8-10-15
The chapter Nego-Feminism: Theorizing, Practicing, and
Pruning Africas Way begins by discussing the current trend in the
field of womens studies which is to identify as a poststructuralist.
Obioma Nnaemeka says that this is extremely limiting and tends to
take away from the humanism of the field and focuses too much on
things like trends and not enough on things like culture. She argues
that numbers and statistics which are often discussed amongst
poststructuralists do not give a good insight into daily realities,
especially for African women. This is why she has coined the tern
nego-feminism which has a double meaning. On the one hand it
means negotiating feminism and simultaneously means no ego
feminism. Another limitation of the poststructuralist feminism
approach is that the focus is often determined by Northern Feminists
and Southern feminists rarely receive the credit or the rights to their
intellectual property. The people holding the pocket book also hold
most of the strings in the case of feminist research, especially in Africa.
This is why we see issues like FGC getting so much attention even
though this is such a minute detail of a womans life and there has only
seemed to been a discussion on the act, rather than the culture.
Nnaemeka discusses how in the United States, more women are raped

than in Africa but this is labeled as violence against women rather

than a cultural issue and this attitude is reflected in a great amount of
research. At the end of the chapter, the author states her belief that
the African model of womens studies is much more inclusive and has a
focus on theory, practice, and policy which is why US universities
should change womens studies to gender studies.
I really thought a lot of Nnaemekas points were very accurate
and the chapter was insightful to read. I have yet to take a research
class regarding womens studies but based on her interpretation of it, it
seems that it can be greatly improved. This is because culture is
influences someones actions so greatly. I thought her point about how
the US calls acts like rape violence against women and fails to admit
a cultural discrepancy. I can also see this pattern in cases of racial
violence, particularly white on black violence as well as mass violence
in general. Everyone on the media talks about how a shooter is
deranged or even unwell but fails to discuss why people to evoke
this kind of violence are often young, white men. We have a culture
where these men feel entitled to certain privileges and act violently
when they do not get their way but we only discuss the crimes on a
case-by-case basis. This is not just missing from the media, but also
the classroom. While I think it is important to specifically address
womens issues in womens studies classes, I can see why there is a

need to involve men in the conversations and the consequences they

face regarding this culture.