Religion

Citation:

Harris, Melanie L. 2016. “Ecowomanism: An Introduction.” Worldviews 20 (1): 5–14.

Author: Melanie L. Harris

Abstract:

This essay provides a definition and theoretical frame for ecowomanism. The approach to environmental justice centers the perspectives of women of African descent and reflects upon these women's activist methods, religious practices, and theories on how to engage earth justice. As a part of the womanist tradition, methodologically ecowomanism features race, class, gender intersectional analysis to examine environmental injustice around the planet. Thus, it builds upon an environmental justice paradigm that also links social justice to environmental justice. Ecowomanism highlights the necessity for race-class-gender intersectional analysis when examining the logic of domination, and unjust public policies that result in environmental health disparities that historically disadvantage communities of color. As an aspect of third wave womanist religious thought, ecowomanism is also shaped by religious worldviews reflective of African cosmologies and uphold a moral imperative for earth justice. Noting the significance of African and Native American cosmologies that link divine, human and nature realms into an interconnected web of life, ecowomanism takes into account the religious practices and spiritual beliefs that are important tenets and points of inspiration for ecowomanist activism. 

Keywords: ecowomanism, gender analysis, environment, social justice, African women

Topics: Class, Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Health, Race, Religion Regions: Africa, Americas, North America

Year: 2016

Citation:

Fakier, Khayaat, Diana Mulinari, and Nora Räthzel, eds. 2020. Marxist-Feminist Theories and Struggles Today: Essential Writings on Intersectionality, Labour and Ecofeminism. London: Zed Books.

Authors: Khayaat Fakier , Diana Mulinari, Nora Räthzel

Annotation:

Summary:

This vital new collection presents new Marxist-Feminist analyses of Capitalism as a gendered, racialized social formation that shapes and is shaped by specific nature-labour relationships. Leaving behind former overtly structuralist thinking, Marxist-Feminist Theories and Struggles Today interweaves strands of ecofeminism and intersectional analyses to develop an understanding of the relations of production and the production of nature through the interdependencies of gender, class, race and colonial relations. With contributions and analyses from scholars and theorists in both the global North and South, this volume offers a truly international lens that reveals the the vitality of contemporary global Marxist-Feminist thinking, as well as its continued relevance to feminist struggles across the globe (Summary from Zed Books).

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Khayaat Fakier, Diana Mulinari, Nora Räthzel

Part I – Conceptualising

1. Standpoint Theory
Cynthia Cockburn

2. Outside in the Funding Machine
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

3. Contradictions in Marxist Feminism
Frigga Haug

4. Ecofeminism as (Marxist) Sociology
Ariel Salleh

5. The ‘Flat Ontology’ of Neoliberal Feminism
Jennifer Cotter

6. The Byzantine Eunuch: Pre-capitalist Gender Category, ‘Tributary’ Modal Contradiction, and a Test for Materialist Feminism
Jules Gleeson

7. Reading Marx against the Grain: Rethinking the Exploitation of Care Work Beyond Profit-Seeking
Tine Haubner

Part II – Production

8. Marx and Social Reproduction Theory: Three Different Historical Strands
Ankica Čakardić

9. The Best Thing I Have Done Is to Give Birth; The Second Is to Strike
Paula Mulinari

10. Women in Small Scale Fishing in South Africa: An Ecofeminist Engagement with the ‘Blue Economy’
Natasha Solari and Khayaat Fakier

11. The ‘Crisis of Care’ and the Neoliberal Restructuring of the Public Sector – a Feminist Polanyian Analysis
Rebecca Selberg

12. Gender Regimes and Women’s Labour: Volvo Factories in Sweden, Mexico, and South Africa
Nora Räthzel, Diana Mulinari, Aina Tollefsen

Part III – Religions and Politics

13. Religious Resistance: A Flower on the Chain or a Tunnel towards Liberation?
Gabriele Dietrich

14. A Marxist-Feminist Perspective: From Former Yugoslavia to Turbo Fascism to Neoliberal Postmodern Fascist Europe
Marina Gržinić

15. Feminism, Antisemitism and the Question of Palestine/Israel
Nira Yuval Davis

Part IV – Solidarities

16. Women in Brazilian's Trade Union Movement
Patricia Vieira Trópia

17. Argentinean Feminist Movements: Debates from Praxis
Ana Isabel González Montes

18. Marxist Feminism for a Global Women’s Movement against Capitalism
Ligaya Lindio McGovern

19. Marxist/Socialist Feminist Theory and Practice in the USA Today
Nancy Holmstrom 

20. Solidarity in Troubled Times: Social Movements in the Face of Climate Change
Kathryn Russell

Topics: Class, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Economies, Care Economies, Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Intersectionality, Race, Religion Regions: Africa, MENA, Southern Africa, Americas, North America, South America, Europe, Balkans, Nordic states Countries: Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Mexico, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories, South Africa, Sweden, United States of America

Year: 2020

Citation:

Adams, Carol J. 1993. Ecofeminism and the Sacred. New York: Continuum. 

Author: Carol J. Adams

Annotation:

Summary:

This collection explores a wide variety of religious stances concerning how women affect and can be affected by ecology and spirituality. Through Ecofeminism and the Sacred (1994), Adams provides a valuable collection of works from key thinkers in an eclectic but important field (Summary from Science and Theology News).

Table of Contents:

1. Ecofeminism: Symbolic and Social Connections of the Oppression of Women and the Domination of Nature
Rosemary Radford Ruether

2. Sin, Nature, and Black Women's Bodies
Delores S. Williams

3. Talk about the Weather: the Greening of Eschatology
Catherine Keller

4. Tacting with Compassion: Buddhism, Feminism, and the Environmental Crisis
Stephanie Kaza

5. Feminist Judaism and Repair of the World
Judith Plaskow

6. An Earthly Theological Agenda
Sallie McFague

7. Ganga: Purity, Pollution, and Hinduism
Lina Gupta

8. A Feminist Philosophical Perspective on Ecofeminist Spiritualities
Karen J. Warren

9. Ecofeminist Consciousness and the Transforming Power of Symbols
L. Teal Willoughby

10. The Good Mother: From Gaia to Gilead
Ellen Cronan Rose

11. For all Those Who Were Indian in a Former Life
Andy Smith

12. Toward an Ecofeminist Ethic of Shamanism and the Sacred
Gloria Feman Orenstein

13. Ecology is a Sistah's Issue Too: the Politics of Emergent Afrocentric Ecowomanism
Shamara Shantu Riley

14. Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral: the Sacred Connection
Carol Lee Sanchez

15. Nuclear Power and the Sacred: or Why a Beautiful Woman is Like a Nuclear Power Plant
Jane Caputi

16. New Moon Over Roxbury: Reflections on Urban Life and the Land
Rebecca Johnson

17. Earthbody and Personal Body as Sacred
Charlene Spretnak

18. Natural Resources: a Conversation Between Byllye Avery and Mary E. Hunt

19. Taking Life or "Taking on Life"?: Table Talk and Animals
Carol J. Adams and Marjorie Procter-Smith

20. Ecofeminist Education: Adolescence, Activism, and Spirituality
Zoe Weil

Topics: Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Women, Religion

Year: 1993

Citation:

Godfrey, Phoebe C. 2008. “Ecofeminist Cosmology in Practice: Genesis Farm and the Embodiment of Sustainable Solutions.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 19 (2): 96–114.

Author: Phoebe C. Godfrey

Annotation:

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Religion Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2008

Citation:

Tamale, Sylvia. 2020. Decolonization and Afro-Feminism. Ottawa: Daraja Press.

Author: Sylvia Tamale

Annotation:

Summary:
Why do so many Africans believe they cannot break the “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” cycle?  Six decades after colonial flags were lowered and African countries gained formal independence, the continent struggles to free itself from the deep legacies of colonialism, imperialism and patriarchy.  Many intellectuals, politicians, feminists and other activists, eager to contribute to Africa’s liberation, have frustratingly, felt like they took the wrong path.  Analyzed through the eyes of Afro-feminism, this book revisits some of the fundamental preconditions needed for radical transformation.

The main focus of Decolonization and Afro-feminism is unlearning imperial power relations by relearning to “shake off” the colonial filters through which we view the world, including the instruments of law, education, religion, family and sexuality.  It re-envisions Pan-Africanism as a more inclusive decolonizing/decolonial movement that embraces Afro-feminist politics.  It also challenges the traditional human rights paradigm and its concomitant idea of “gender equality,” flagging instead, the African philosophy of Ubuntu as a serious alternative for reinvigorating African notions of social justice. (Summary from original source)

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. The Basics of Decolonization and Decolonial Futures

2. Feminists and the Struggle for Africa’s Decolonial Reconstruction

3. Challenging the Coloniality of Sex, Gender and Sexuality

4. Legal Pluralism and Decolonial Feminismn

5. Repositioning the Dominant Discourses on Rights and Social Justice

6. Rethinking the African Academy

7. Decolonizing Family Law: The Case of Uganda

8. Towards Feminist Pan-Africanism and Pan-African Feminism

Epilogue: Decolonizing Africa in the Age of Big Data

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Education, Feminisms, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Religion, Sexuality Regions: Africa

Year: 2020

Citation:

Kvakhadze, Aleksandre. 2020. “Gender and Jihad: Women from the Caucasus in the Syrian Conflict.” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2): 69-79.

Author: Aleksandre Kvakhadze

Abstract:

According to media reports, hundreds of women from the North Caucasian republics, Georgia and Azerbaijan have migrated to jihadi-controlled territories. This article has a threefold aim: to discuss the motivational features of female volunteers from the Caucasus region, to describe their functional role, and to explain their limited involvement in the hostilities. The findings indicate that the motivation for most women volunteers from the Caucasus has involved family relationships; further, rather than participating in combat, they have served in various supportive positions.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Conflict, Gender, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Religion, Terrorism Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, Europe, South Caucasus Countries: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Syria

Year: 2020

Citation:

Hiner, Hillary, and María José Azócar. 2015. “Irreconcilable Differences: Political Culture and Gender Violence during the Chilean Transition to Democracy.” Latin American Perspectives 42 (3): 52-72.

Authors: Hillary Hiner, María José Azócar

Abstract:

Keywords: gender violence, reconciliation, justice, memory, Chile

Topics: Domestic Violence, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Justice, TRCs, Nationalism, Religion, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Chile

Year: 2015

Citation:

Manyonganise, Molly. 2017. "Invisibilising the Victimised: Churches in Manicaland and Women’s Experiences of Political Violence in National Healing and Reconciliation in Zimbabwe." Journal for the Study of Religion 30 (1): 110-36.

Author: Molly Manyonganise

Abstract:

Zimbabwe’s political history from 2000 to the present epoch has been characterized by violence. This violence reached its peak in 2008 when ZANU PF was defeated at the polls by the opposition party, MDC-T. The violence resulted in hundreds of people losing their lives while many more were maimed, displaced and/or sexually abused. In this context of political violence, various church groups emerged as the church in Zimbabwe broke its culture of silence and sought to condemn the deployment of divisive politics and the use of political violence as a means to political gain. One such group that emerged in 2000 is a forum of churches in the province of Manicaland called Churches in Manicaland (CiM). From the onset, CiM sought to bring healing to victims of political violence as well as reconciliation of communities in Manicaland through a number of activities. The 2008 political violence resulted in the signing of the Global Political Agreement in which the issue of national healing and reconciliation became officialised and critical national institutions (the church included) were implored to play their roles meaningfully. However, scholars on national healing and reconciliation have noted how gender is often not part of reconstruction processes in post-conflict nations. What this paper seeks to do is to evaluate CiM’s approach to gender in its participation in the national healing and reconciliation process in Zimbabwe, both at an unofficial level from 2000 and at the official level from 2008. Drawing on original empirical research (focus groups and interviews), the paper shows how CiM has adopted a general approach to the national healing and reconciliation process, which has made women’s experiences of political violence invisible. It is envisaged that this is one way of informing the church to bring to the ‘centre’ women’s experiences of political violence.

Keywords: women, womanist perspective, Churches in Manicaland, invisible, political violence, national healing, reconciliation, Churches in Manicaland

Topics: Gender, Women, Justice, TRCs, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Religion, Sexual Violence, Violence Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zimbabwe

Year: 2017

Citation:

Saeed, Muna. 2019. "Gender, Islam and International Frameworks in Yemen." Al-Raida Journal 43 (1): 83-92.

Author: Muna Saeed

Abstract:

This paper is intended to explore the intersection of Islam and international frameworks that aim to work on gender development projects in the context of contemporary Yemen. It will examine the opportunities and limitations that may arise when choosing to follow faith-based approaches in order to advocate for women’s human rights and ensure the safety and security of Yemeni women. In particular, I will try to investigate how aligning and contextualizing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) (UNSCR1325) with Islam is advantageous, or necessary for women’s development in the context of Yemen. To support my research question with concrete examples, I will focus on the discourse of child marriage––a persistent practice in Yemen.

Topics: Development, Gender, Women, Religion, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Yemen

Year: 2019

Relevant Links: Open Access Policy for this article available here

Citation:

Wood, Reed M., and Jakana L. Thomas. 2017. “Women on the Frontline: Rebel Group Ideology and Women’s Participation in Violent Rebellion.” Journal of Peace Research 54 (1): 31–46.

Authors: Reed M. Wood, Jakana L. Thomas

Abstract:

Despite the frequent participation of women in armed groups, few studies have sought to explain the variation in their roles across different rebellions. Herein, we investigate this variation. We argue that the political ideology a group adopts plays a central role in determining the extent of women’s participation, particularly their deployment in combat roles. Specifically, we link variations in women’s roles in armed groups to differences in beliefs about gender hierarchies and gender-based divisions of labor inherent in the specific ideologies the groups adopt. We evaluate hypotheses drawn from these arguments using a novel cross-sectional dataset on female combatants in a global sample of rebel organizations active between 1979 and 2009. We find that the presence of a Marxist-oriented ‘leftist’ ideology increases the prevalence of female fighters while Islamist ideologies exert the opposite effect. However, we find little evidence that nationalism exerts an independent influence on women’s combat roles. We also note a general inverse relationship between group religiosity and the prevalence of female fighters. Our analysis demonstrates that political ideology plays a central role in determining whether and to what extent resistance movements incorporate female fighters into their armed wings.

Keywords: female combatants, rebel ideology, rebellion

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Rights, Religion

Year: 2017