Fish and Feminists

Summary Despite apparent acceptance of gender analysis within development organizations, this is still only rarely translated into gender?sensitive practice. The language of gender and development is adopted, but is accompanied by a subtle shift into ‘projects for women’. The article considers the problem through a case study of a programme in one international development organization – the FAO. The programme promotes small scale fish farming in southern Africa, and gender issues have gained a high profile in its stated aims. The case study traces the articulation of gender issues from headquarters to a pilot project in Luapula Province, Zambia. RESUME La pisciculture au féminin En dépit de l'acceptation apparemment répandue de l'analyse du genre dans les organisations développementales, il est rare que cette analyse soit consacrée dans des pratiques qui respectent le genre. S'il est vrai que le langage du genre et du développement est adopté, l'on constate d'un autre côté un décalage subtil vers les “projets pour femmes”. Le présent article s'adresse à ce problème par le biais d'une étude de cas basée sur un programme mené par une organisation internationale de développement – la FAO. Le programme concerné organise des projets de pisciculture de petite envergure en Afrique australe, et les questions du genre occupent une place d'importance dans ses objectifs déclarés. L'étude de cas trace l'articulation des questions du genre à partir du siège et jusqu'à un projet pilote organisé dans la province de Luapula en Zambie. RESUMEN ‘Fish and feminists’ A pesar de la aparente aceptación del análisis de género dentro de las organizaciones de desarrollo, esta aceptación rara vez se traduce en prácticas sensibles a la cuestión. Se adopta el lenguaje de género y desarrollo, pero al mismo tiempo se produce un sutil cambio de dirección hacia proyectos para la mujer. Este artículo considera el problema a través del estudio de un programa de una organización internacional de desarrollo – la FAO. Este programa promueve piscifactorías en pequeña escala en Africa del Sur, y los tópicos de género han ganado mucha importancia ensus objetivos establecidos. El estudio de este caso analiza paso a paso la articulación de las cuestiones de género desde las oficinas centrales hasta un proyecto piloto en la provincia de Luapula, en Zambia

Navigating ‘taxation’ on the Congo River: the interplay of legitimation and ‘officialisation’

Based on comprehensive research among boat operators and navy personnel working on the Congo River (DRC), this article explores how assessments of ‘taxation’ are shaped by the interplay of legitimation and ‘officialisation’. As such, it draws upon and contributes to scholarly debates on taxpayers’ attitudes towards taxation. While boat operators resent having to pay a plethora of authorities, including the navy, along the Congo River, the article demonstrates how they locate these ‘taxes’ on a spectrum from more to less legitimate. These assessments are shaped by various factors: authorities’ legitimacy as ‘measured’ by their official mandate and importance; public and non-official service provision; and the deployment of symbols of ‘stateness’. In interaction, these factors legitimise and ‘officialise’ ‘taxes’ by the navy that are prohibited in legislation. These findings caution against the a priori use of the labels ‘official’ and ‘non-official’, emphasising the need to better grasp these notions’ emic understandings

Flagships and tumbleweed: A history of the politics of gender justice work in Oxfam GB 1986–2015

This article contributes to scholarship on the political nature of feminists’ work in international development NGOs. The case study of Oxfam GB (OGB) is contemporary history, based on compiling a brief history of gender justice work between 1986 and 2014 and 18 months of part-time participant-observation fieldwork during 2014–15. I describe funding pressures and imperatives, contestations of meaning and power struggles within OGB and argue that gender justice becomes entangled in both internal and the external politics of international development. This is part of a wider research programme about how ideas on gender equality norms travel between and around development organizations, so I finally draw conclusions about how norms are contested and embodied. The shapeshifting political nature of feminist work challenges prevailing theories about how norms and ideas travel and take hold within organizations

Brokering justice: global indigenous rights and struggles over hydropower in Nepal

This article explores the dynamics of brokerage at the intersection between the justice conceptions enshrined in global norms and the notions of justice asserted in specific socio-environmental struggles. Using the case of a small hydropower project in Nepal, we trace the attempts of an indigenous activist to enrol villagers in his campaign against the background of villagers’ everyday negotiations with the hydropower company. The study shows how global norms, such as indigenous peoples’ rights, may fail to gain traction on the ground or even become sources of injustice in particular contexts

Social and cultural dimensions of hygiene in Cambodian health care facilities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The frequency of bloodborne pathogen healthcare-associated infections is thought to be high in developing Southeast Asian Countries. The underlying social-cultural logics contributing to the risks of transmission are rarely studied. This report provides some insights on the social and cultural factors that shape hygiene practices in Cambodian health care settings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted qualitative surveys in various public and private health facilities in Phnom Penh, the capital city and in provinces. We observed and interviewed 319 participants, health care workers and patients, regarding hygiene practices and social relationships amongst the health care staff and with patients. We also examined the local perceptions of hygiene, their impact on the relationships between the health care staff and patients, and perceptions of transmission risks. Data collection stem from face to face semi-structured and open-ended interviews and focus group discussions with various health care staffs (i.e. cleaners, nurses, midwives and medical doctors) and with patients who attended the study health facilities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall responses and observations indicated that hygiene practices were burdened by the lack of adequate materials and equipements. In addition, many other factors were identified to influence and distort hygiene practices which include (1) informal and formal social rapports in hospitals, (2) major infection control roles played by the cleaners in absence of professional acknowledgment. Moreover, hygiene practices are commonly seen as an unessential matter to be devoted to low-ranking staff.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our anthropological findings illustrate the importance of comprehensive understanding of hygiene practices; they need to be considered when designing interventions to improve infection control practices in a Cambodian medical setting.</p

Jovens e associações em Moçambique: motivações e dinâmicas actuais

O presente artigo é uma reflexão sobre dinâmicas associativas de jovens no Moçambique pós colonial. O objectivo desta reflexão foi identificar e analisar as motivações de engajamento dos jovens nesses agrupamentos. Baseando-se em aproximações empíricas feitas a duas associações de jovens - Associação Aro Juvenil e Associação Positiva Juvenil - a análise demonstra que dinamica associativa de jovens mete em evidência relações complexas entre identidade, contexto, o privado, o público e o afectivo. Embora haja múltiplas motivações, a adesão dos jovens em associações associa trajectórias e expectativas individualizadas. A nível discursivo, a entrada na vida associativa representa uma forma de legitimação sóciopolítica em resposta a um discurso que considera os jovens passivos e pouco intervenientes na solução dos problemas que lhes afecta em particular e à sociedade no geral. A nível das práticas associativas quotidianas, os jovens reintrepretam e dão outro sentido às motivações do seu engajamento: para lá dos objectivos formais, pretensamente desenvolvimentistas, altruistas e humanitários, o associativismo é uma estratégia de vida e de realização de projectos individuais. Criar uma associação e/ou nela aderir pode significar maiores possibilidades de aceder e controlar recursos e capitais diversificados como emprego/profissão, dinheiro, trabalho, poder, reconhecimento e prestigio, formações entre outros que de outra forma não seria possível.This article reflects on youth associations dynamics in Postcolonial Mozambique. The aim is to identify and analyze motivations for young people's involvement in such groups. Based on empirical work with two youth associations - namely "Associação Aro Juvenil" and "Associação Positiva Juvenil" - the assessment finds that youth associations dynamics highlights intricate relationships involving identity, context, private, public and affective milieus. Although there are multiple motivations, young people's adherence to associations is combined with individual life stories and expectations. At the discourse level, entrance to the associative life represents a form of socio-political legitimation in response to other narratives that consider young people very passive and less intervening in finding solutions to their own problems, and society's in general. At the level of day-to-day practices, young people re-interpret and give a different sense to their motivations and commitment: beyond formal objectives - arguably development-oriented, altruistic and humanistic - associations are a life strategy for the accomplishment of individual achievements. To create an association and/or take part in one may imply greater possibilities of accessing and controlling diversified resources and capitals, such as a job/occupation, money, work, power, recognition, prestige, and training, among others, which would be otherwise impossible