Kim Johnson

The focus of the African Women’s Rights and Resilience Forum at Barnard College on March 12, 2014 was to use different panels of discussion to target and attempt to begin to resolve specific issues that exist in the African feminist movement. The last panel of the evening entitled “Intergenerational Organizing” focused on how activists of different eras and generations can work together and collaborate in order to maintain a more united stance in the feminist struggle for African women. The panel included Nobel Laureate and author Leymah Gbowee, political analyst and United Nations strategist Hakima Abbas, editor Simidele Dosekun, and the founder of Queer Women of Color Media Wire, Spectra. These women came together, representing different generations in the feminist community, and discussed the need, or lack there of, for an intergenerational dialogue in the African feminist movement. During the discussion there were three critical concepts that continually reoccurred, which were the spaces of dialogue, the role of the media in the movement, and the cultural dynamics between the younger and older generations. These three topics were the focal points of the discussion as they were the main areas in which tensions between the women came to a head.

One of the major themes throughout the panel was that of the spaces of interaction between different feminist generations. One of the major understandings of the younger generation is that there are privileged spaces, particularly within academia, that are the currently more prominent, mainstream sites of interaction which are very alienating for younger feminists. Dosekun identified two particular forums, the Nigerian Feminist Forum and the African Feminist Forum, as places where younger and the older feminist find common ground, but made it clear that these are anomalies. In order to create more dialogue amongst generations there must be places where they can interact on equal footing. Dosekun continued to say that, in her opinion, academic spaces of interaction are not conducive to meaningful dialogue amongst the generations as a whole. Spectra agreed with this sentiment, saying that she, as a young activist, and many young female activists feel silenced by this elitist academic structure and that this is the reason that so many of them have push away from it. While Gbowee did not speak directly on the issue of elitist academic spaces, she did speak to a concern for spaces among the older generation. Part of the tension between the younger and the older generations, in Gbowee’s understanding, stems from the older generation’s belief that they are being pushed out by the younger generation. Gbowee expressed concern that the older generation has nowhere to “retire” to and that they feel that their backs are against the wall because the younger feminists are taking more and more power and leadership within the movement.

One of the many forums of discussion that younger feminism activists seem to thrive in is the world of the online media. However, the panels younger feminists, Spectra and Dosekun, disagreed on the relevance of this space. For the younger generation the media, such as the Internet, primarily, is one of the new and innovative spaces that can help to give voice to younger women without the same kind of leverage that older, more established feminists have. However, in this new space of interaction, older feminists tend to find themselves lost, thus, the media, too, seems to divide the generations, rather than unify them. Also, while Spectra identified the Internet as a tool through which stories of many different women can be shared and archived, and through which women can find communities, Dosekun viewed this space as an elitist structure as well. Dosekun made the assertion that the online world is readily accessed for a privileged sector of the world, and that, while helpful, the online world is still exclusionary of many women’s voices and stories.

This discussion relates to our readings throughout class on the concept of silence. In Evelynn Hammonds’ article, “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality,” she addresses the silencing of black women, particularly in relation to their bodies and their sexuality. Initially, I related this solely to the silencing of young feminists in the larger discussion of African feminism, but I realized that this connection could be directly related to sexuality, as it is in Hammonds’ piece. While black women are excluded from the discussion of sexuality, particularly queer identity, which has become a critical issue in the white feminist movement, young, queer African feminists have found themselves totally silenced in the more traditional African feminist movement led by the older women. Spectra, in particular, identified feeling alone and exiled from the movement because of her sexual identity. However, the major difference between Spectra’s experience and the experience of the queer women of color that Hammonds references is that, rather than silence herself completely in relation to her sexuality, Spectra decided to find her own medium to express herself and represent a different voice in the African feminist movement.

Another key issue that was raised during this panel and that was clear in the relations between the panelists themselves was the cultural dynamics between generations, particularly in African communities. Gbowee made the statement during this panel that despite their differences there is a culture of respect in African countries and said specifically to Spectra, “If I said I was tired and asked you to hold my bag you would do it.” This statement was Gbowee’s way of addressing the fact that despite intellectual differences and disagreements, the culture of respecting elders in African countries creates an inherent respect dynamic that can function as a power dynamic as well. Dosekun responded to Gbowee’s statement by saying that, “I would hold your bag if you asked me, but I wouldn’t expect you to ask.”

It is clear through this statement that there is a deep divide between understandings of respect versus power in the older and younger generations. It is critical to note that the two younger panelists are not living in African countries as Dosekun is living in London and Spectra is living and grew up in Boston, thus they both, one can presume, have been heavily influenced by Western culture and social dynamics, which do not value age in the same way. This difference of cultural environments amongst the panelists impacted not only their individual understandings of respect and age, but also their relation to it. While the younger panelists made it clear that they did not equate respect of elders with a power dynamic, Gbowee stated that, for her, these two tend to go hand in hand and feminists must work around them. Abbas stated that there seems to be a lack of accountability on all sides and that in order to move forward as a collective unit, all of the generations must accept critique and learn from one another, an idea that seems to address power dynamics in an attempt to equalize them. It seemed that all of the panelists could agree with Abbas’ sentiment, along with the idea that instead of competition, there needs to be more collaboration amongst the different generations.

The theme of the cultural privileging of age and identity relates directly to the idea of intersectionality that we discussed in class this semester. Intersectionality is the way in which your different statuses as a social subject and the different facets of your social identity intertwine with one another. This concept was very clear in the relations of the panelists to themselves and to each other during the discussion. While the forum specifically sought to address intergenerational issues in African feminism, when the issue of cultural values came up there was also a clear relevance of nationality and place as well. Here what seemed important was not only the ages of the women as a way of understanding their differences on this issue, but also the places they were raised and were currently living. In this sense, there was a deeper duality that existed as multiple facets of the women’s identities, not just their ages, were informing the ways in which they viewed and conceptualized this issue of cultural respect in African countries.

While it seemed that the women on this panel ultimately wanted the same thing, which was a unified front between different generations of African feminists, it did not seem that they agreed on much beyond this. In relation to the issue of spaces for young and old women in the movement, I found Dosekun’s argument that there is still a privileging of elite spaces, whether it is in the traditional forums or even in the new-wave online activism, to be a critical insight. However, it did not seem that Dosekun was able to reconcile this or to a conclusion about what this more open and inviting space might look like.

The role of new media in this discussion is one where I found weaknesses in the panelists’ arguments. Spectra, for example, attempted to make the assertion that the Internet is a forum for all voices, yet it is essential to keep in mind that there are many women for whom the Internet is a luxury and not an easily accessible medium. While the Internet opens up space for more voices, it is in no way a space of total inclusion. It is, however, a powerful tool in that it can be more inclusive when grassroots activists involved with it. If women like Leymah Gbowee, who are involved in feminist activism that goes beyond academia and engaged with real women facing serious political challenges in their countries, utilized the Internet as a tool more it would open a much wider spectrum of voices and contribute to a large archiving of women’s stories. The topic that I had the most issue with, however, was Gbowee’s stance on the age relationships in African cultures. I am sure that my stance on this issue is due to my being raised in Western culture, but I found Gbowee’s insinuation that there is an inherent power dynamic because of cultures of age and respect in Africa to be debilitating to the issue that the panel was attempting to resolve. While these cultural differences must be understood and respected, there is also a serious need to recognize where culture creates potentially destructive or divisive social dynamics. Rather than accepting power dynamics that exist because of these cultures, I think it is more useful to restructure the culture so that the respect dynamic is still being maintained, but it can be utilized in a way that allows for a collaborative and equal feminist community.