Feminist Sociology and Social Justice: African Feminist Voices and Perspectives

• In Event: 4212 - Feminist Sociology and Social Justice

Abstract

Feminist Scholarship in the field of feminist sociology and social justice has grown exponentially in recent years in response to the development of new theoretical and empirical discourses in public sociology and in feminist activism. In many regions of the world, extremist mobilizations and hate practices of authoritarian political and religious fundamentalist movements have opened spaces for the reinscription or reinforcement of gender and sexual inequalities. In response to these developments and with the global expansion of information technology and social media, feminist sociologists and activists globally are working within paradigms of feminism, intersectionality, transnationalism to engage in these dialogues and protest movements from the perspective of their own cultural, social, political and economic contexts. Feminist sociologists engaged in social justice work are building coalitions across race, class, sexual identity, religion, and other oppressive structures to confront right wing extremism to build new models of intersectional feminist activism. This presentation will explore how African feminist sociologists/social scientists conceptualize and interpret these complex and interlocking conditions impacting women’s lives in that region to advance knowledge construction and new epistemologies that explain their particular conditions of oppression, privilege, opportunity, and social transformation. I will discuss how African feminist sociologists and social scientists engaged in this dialogue incorporate new and alternative models of social justice to promote policies and practices that advance the rights of women and gender equality.

Author

• Josephine A. Beoku-Betts, Florida Atlantic University