Women’s circles and the rise of the new feminine : reclaiming sisterhood, spirituality, and wellbeing

This paper draws on the results of ethnographic research on ‘women’s circles’; women-only spaces that celebrate sisterhood and the ‘feminine’, including the increasingly globally popular ‘Red Tent’. Women’s circles are non-institutionalized, often monthly gatherings, for women to come together and relax, meditate, share stories, partake in rituals, heal, nourish, and empower themselves. Based on fieldwork and in-depth interviews with founders and organizer-practitioners of women’s circles in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, the study shows how they offer a growing number of women from diverse backgrounds a space that they find lacking in secular-liberal society, out of a desire to ‘re/connect’ with each other, their bodies, their inner selves, and sometimes with the sacred. Women’s circles are indicative of women’s heightened participation in the realm of subjective wellbeing culture, including both elements of spirituality and more secular ‘personal growth’. Against the presumption that circles would be merely expressive of neo-liberal individualist consumer culture or retrograde gender essentialism, the paper argues they can be viewed as sites of sisterhood, solidarity, and dissent, cultivating a new type of femininity grounded in both affirmative and more oppositional forms of emerging feminist consciousness. In response to the so-called ‘post-secular turn in feminism’ and the growing interest for religion and, more recently, spirituality in (secular) feminist theory, the paper pleads for a re-consideration of the rise of women’s spirituality/wellbeing culture in the West as a form of post-secular agency

Researching gender: the challenge of global diversity today

The text of this paper is based on a lecture given at the symposium of the Ghent African Platform “Researching Gender in/on Africa” at Ghent University in December 2009. It addresses some general challenges faced by ‘gender studies’ as an autonomous field versus ‘gender research’ as an integrated topic within mainstream disciplines in academia. Gender studies have sometimes superseded ‘women’s studies’ and expanded to cover the terrain of study of various forms of diversity including men’s and transgender studies. We will show that the ‘mainstreaming’ of gender in public policy at local, national and transnational levels is a development which may potentially lead to the loss of a – feminist – political edge. Secondly, while gender studies with their emphasis on socially constructed gender as opposed to biological essentialist understandings of ‘sex’ appear to face the challenge of a popular ‘new biological determinism’, it is shown that the binary model of sex/gender in fact has been criticised for some time now from within feminist theory and gender research. This is (selectively) illustrated with research from four disciplines, including the work of African gender studies scholars, i.e. feminist philosophy, social sciences (in particularsocio-cultural anthropology), history and biology itself. This then shows how the accusation that gender studies would be ‘socially deterministic’ without attending to bodily matters or materiality is unfounded. Finally, it is argued that there is still a need for gender studies to become more culturally diverse, more global and transnational in its outlook, by becoming more deeply attuned to the way gender intersects with other forms of difference and taking into account postcolonial critiques of western feminist paternalism, without falling into the trap of cultural relativism

Lending for rural development projects : infrastructure, community facilities, and affordable housing

Rural development

Petrocan

Poetry by Madelaine Longma

Government policy on science education in Uganda: a glass ceiling for women's access to higher education

The paper assesses the Ugandan policy on science education and its implications for girls’ access to higher education. The rationale behind this policy was to build capacity in the field of science in Uganda. Consequently, science subjects were made compulsory in schools, and 75% of the Government scholarships to public universities made science based. We demonstrate that this has created a “glass ceiling”: it has put girls at a disadvantage by reinstating the former status quo, where access to higher education favoured boys. This is because Ugandan society (at home and in school) discourages girls’ pursuit of the sciences. In addition, the policy was prematurely implemented with no adequate preparation for girls to take science based courses. Using content analysis, this study found that the policy was not guided by inclusion and/or equity principles to which Uganda committed as a signatory more than two decades ago, to the World Conference of Education for All (EFA) held in Jomtein, Thailand. These principles advocate removing obstacles to learning, and embracing diversity in education so that every learner is included

Polling learning: modelling the use of technology in classroom questioning

This project used an audience response system to explore its value for providing structured in-class feedback to tutors and learners, with a particular emphasis on supporting a tutor's use of questioning techniques. The research was conducted within a BSc Mathematics programme forming part of an undergraduate initial teacher training course. A key strategic aim for learning and teaching development at the University of Wales Newport is to embed feedback as part of the learning experience. This was achieved with the use of ‘clickers’, a valuable tool that tutors can use occasionally, or frequently to support more effective and satisfying feedback through question and discussion techniques. An additional element of this project was to model the use of clickers for student teachers in order to encourage their adoption of similar techniques in their own classroom teaching. The findings illustrate the impact on teaching in both diagnostic aspects and in social, classroom aspects

Unsolicited Narratives: The Experiences of Afro-Caribbean Women as Mathematics Learners and as Mathematics Educators in U.S. Institutions of Higher Education

Afro-Caribbean immigrant women are part of the brilliant makeup of Black excellence in the United States. Nevertheless, the experiences of Afro-Caribbean women as mathematics learners and as mathematics educators in U.S. institutions of higher education have yet to gain interest among researchers. These experiences are too often absent in the literature or are more times than not buried within categories such as women, foreign-born, or “Other” (Alfred & Swaminathan, 2004; Lather, 1991). When the experiences of Afro-Caribbean women are the focus of research, that inquiry rarely extends into the discipline of mathematics (Beck, 2010; King Miller, 2013) and is nearly nonexistent in examining the experiences of mathematics educators. The aim of this qualitative study, therefore, was to examine the social and contextual experiences of Afro-Caribbean women as mathematics learners and as mathematics educators in U.S. institutions of higher education. The narrative research project (e.g., Polkinghorne, 1988) employed figured worlds (e.g. Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998) and intersectionality (e.g. Collins & Bilge, 2016) as theoretical frameworks. Data collection included dialogical interviews (Kvale, 2007) and documentary data (Patton, 2002); data analysis included dialogic and categorical approaches (Charmaz, 2014; Goodall, 2000). A heuristic (Moustaskas, 1990) approach to the study included the researcher positioning herself as a guide representing the outcomes of the analysis. The analysis of the data showed that when Afro-Caribbean women enter the figured world of mathematics as learners, an actualization of their social positioning, based on practices witnessed, creates spaces for authoring their self-in-person now as mathematics educators. As the now actualized mathematics educator, Afro-Caribbean women become advocates in mentoring people who look and sound like them and use key moments to educate others about their Caribbean figured worlds. Afro-Caribbean women shared moments of how being Black, women, and immigrant in mathematics figured worlds brought both challenging and dismaying experiences as well as praiseworthy experiences. Nonetheless, as demonstrated by the participants’ narratives, having a strong sense of self, knowledge, and purpose is useful in making oppressive moments teaching and learning opportunities rather than sources of distress in their mathematics and academic figured worlds

Women with infertility complying with and resisting polygyny : an explorative qualitative study in urban Gambia

Background. In many low-and middle-income countries women with infertility are often in polygynous marriages. From a human and women's rights perspective, the practice of polygyny is commonly understood as harmful. Studies indicate that polygyny aggravates negative life circumstances of women with infertility with respect to their health and social well-being. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how women with infertility experience polygyny and to understand their decision-making regarding these marriages.Methods. An explorative qualitative study was conducted among women with infertility in the urban communities of the West Coast region of The Gambia using in-depth interviews (30). Data analysis involved an emergent and partially inductive thematic framework and was carried out using NVivo 11.Results. With the exception of some women with infertility who described positive experiences within polygynous marriages, most women emphasised conflicts that exist within polygynous households and reported financial and emotional difficulties. Thematic analysis identified several strategies of women with infertility to cope with and resist polygynous marriages, including overcoming childlessness, addressing conflict, spending time outside the compound, looking for social support, kanyaleng kafoolu, living separately and initiating divorce. Moreover, the experiences and decision-making power of women with infertility when it comes to polygynous marriages was found to be closely related to their socio-demographic background.Conclusion.This work highlights how women with infertility in polygynous marriages are in a precarious situation in urban Gambia. Women utilize a mix of compliance, coping and resistance strategies to navigate the challenges of polygynous marriages in a structurally constraining context