Amina Mama and Feminism

Roseanne Barr quoted "the thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it". This strikes as true due to the lack of women who struggle to take the "power" they deserve, and the many men who fail to acknowledge that women have to perform the act of struggling to attain this "power". In order for women to take power, they must be ready to wage war against the inequality that creates a barrier against opportunities. Amina Mama excellently exemplifies the few women who "just take [power]" and act as the soldiers on the feminist front line. Through her accomplishments and prestigious appointments, she not only raises awareness, but also creates inspiration for many women in Africa who believe that such authority cannot be given to women. To achieve such undertakings however, one must swerve from expected behaviors and embody an eagerness for knowledge.

Like most people, Amina Mama's early life was not consciously political. She did not grow up classified as either "African" or as a "Feminist", but felt the attention she drew to herself when her behavior deviated from the expected character of a young girl growing up in Nigeria's northern states. According to Mama, she "studied too much, played too hard, and was much more assertive and confident than most of [her] other peers"(Salo) - ambitions nurtured by the kind of family she grew up in. Such a family consisted of members with highly educated backgrounds and firm beliefs in education as an imperative facet of upbringing, upward mobility and nation building (Salo). Mama took advantage of her mother's profession as a schoolteacher, and accompanied her to school from a very early age. Such actions allowed Mama to advance through her education at a rapid pace, an unforeseen task for a young Nigerian girl. Such a feat, however, did not occur without consequences, such as the feeling of alienation from her peers, especially female ones, during adolescence. She recalls that many of her peers were interested in clothes, hair, and makeup- matters that held no significance to her. When many of them left secondary school due to marriage, Mama's family urged a continuation of her studies. Because Mama did not relish the idea of being kept at home, like her married peers, she acted upon her family's advice and went away to study at the University of London, where she acquired a doctorate in Organizational Psychology. According to Mama, the world embodied exhilaration that the home simply did not afford. Such excitement and her family's support motivated Mama to continue herstudies, regardless of criticisms toward her digression from the norm. This deviation allowed others to often entitle her a feminist. Once called a feminist, Mama explored the issue and came upon Rebecca Mae West's attitude on the subject: "Whenever I do anything that differentiates me from a doormat, people call me a feminist". Mama naturally took the trouble to discern what the contention was all about, and "the rest was history" (Salo).

During Mama's educational period, she acquired a doctorate in Organizational Psychology from the University of London. This background in psychology radiates throughout her work, where it is used as a tool to describe and elucidate the nature of the inequalities in many African countries. Mama's use of psychoanalysis insinuates, "psychoanalysis remains useful for feminist projects and that it need not be reduced to its obvious shortcomings" (Burack). Mama also refers to Sigmund Freud, a renowned psychologists, in much of her work, chiefly when she discusses the roles of identity and gender. Freud placed gender at the center of theorization of identity, which allowed Mama to state that "all identities are gendered, perhaps dangerously so" (Mama). She believes that many African citizens have a skewed sense of distinctiveness- identifying themselves with the tribe, rather then with who they really are. This is one sense in which she believes that identity is a challenging subject: "it challenges us to rethink power, and all the banal and brutal simplifications and subjections that have accompanied the exercise of power by the ruling regime" (Mama). This identity simplification problem, she believes, has given rise to forces that threaten global order, which in essence, creates a hurdle to achieving feminist goals.

Much of Mama's work centers on Africa and the African feminist movement. Mama suggests that much of the African governmental interest in women is sparked when international agencies trumpet interest in women. This suggests that the national gender policies are "not adequately provided for in national budgets, because they have been established on the assumption that they will attract donor funds" (Mama). Africa's notorious underdevelopment presents not only a human cost, but also another obstacle to the feminist movement. Mama believes that underdevelopment can be challenged through cerebral development, which also serves as a key aspect of cultural development. On the other hand, Mama argues that the "unfulfilled promise of African intellectual development has been a key factor perpetuating Africa's underdevelopment" (Mbandlwa). Intellect and identity come hand in hand when discussing the acquisition and capacity of power. By attaining knowledge, "the intellectual challenge of identity lies in the exercise of adding gender to the arsenal of analytical tools required to rethink identity, so that we can deepen our understanding of power, and increase our strategic capacity to engage with and challenge its destructive capacity" (Mama).

Although Mama believes that the intellectual structure of Africa needs restructuring, and in spite of broader patterns of gender and class inequality, "public higher education remains a main route to career advancement and mobility for women in Africa" (Redebe). To uphold such beliefs, Mama holds the title of professor in Gender Studies at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. She has also held the position of Chair in Gender Studies at the African Gender Institute in the University of Cape Town since January 1999. She bestows scholarly and tactical guidance to the African Gender Institute; where she also served Director from 1999 to 2002. She instigated and at present assembles the "Gender and Transformation" graduate program in gender studies in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. Other tasks include institutional expansion, fund-raising, and intercontinental outreach, including the direction of the African Gender Institute's continental outreach program 'Strengthening Gender Studies for Africa's Transformation', a scholarly capacity- development and information technology development program. Major productivities of this program include the launch of the first continental gender studies journal 'Feminist Africa' in 2002, the establishment of a continental gender studies website (www.gwsafrica.org), and the introduction of a scholarly complex of teachers and researchers working with gender in African Universities.

Before Mama's appointment by the University of Cape Town, she held positions at international scholastic institutions in the Netherlands (The Institute of Social Studies, Den Haag) and Britain (The Development and Project Planning Centre at the University of Bradford, and the University of London). She was assigned as a Visiting Associate member at St. Anthony's College, Oxford for 3 months in 1988, and at Wellesley College for 6 months in 2002, and has embarked on consultancy activities in the Caribbean and in East, Southern and West Africa, on behalf of various erudite and development organizations. She has also been appointed as the Prins Claus Chair in Development and Equity for 2004. Mama also acts as a member of the Board of Directors of the United Nations Institute for Research on Social Development, the Board of Directors of the Global Fund for Women, the Scientific Committee of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, and the Board of the Institute for African Studies at the University of Ghana. She also operates as the Ministerial nominee on the Council of the Cape Technikon, and serves on the editorial advisory boards of numerous academic journals on the topics of development, human rights, and feminist studies. Amina Mama has also written and edited several books, including Beyond the Mask: Race, Gender and Subjectivity, which was newly listed as one of Africa's 100 Best Books in the twentieth century, Engendering African Social Science and The Hidden Struggle: Statutory and Voluntary Sector Responses to Violence Against Black Women in the Home.

Africa is currently undergoing a process of change in terms of leadership positions for women, and Amina Mama serves as a good example of such a change- a black feminist leader in Africa. Although South Africa still embodies racial and gender imbalances, Mama holds the position of Chair in Gender Studies and as a director of the African Gender Institute. Through such accomplishments, it becomes clear that she is not just a face in the boardroom, appointed simply to fulfill a number, but as a decision-making member. Such a triumph deserves much awareness and admiration. Mama's life demonstrates that such achievements come not only from the recognition of the gender inequalities but also from a strong intellectual background. Mama depends upon readings of experience and a strong academic background as foundations for theorizing about black women. When a strong, educated, powerful woman, like Amina Mama, takes a stand towards something she believes in, it is hard to refute her or bring her down. As Margaret Fuller states, "If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it".

Works Cited
Burack, Cynthia. "Book reviews." NWSA Journal 11.1 (1999): 214.
Mbandlwa, Sindisiwe. "Review of Professor Amina Mama's Wolpe Lecture."
Center for Civil Society. 2005. University of Natal. 10 Sept. 2007
http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?0,0,52,0
Mama, Amina. "Challenging Subjects: Gender and Power in
African Contexts." 7 Oct. 2001. Plenary Address, Nordic Africa Institute Conference: 'Beyond Identity: Rethinking Power in Africa,' Upsala.
Radebe, Mangaliso. "Gender Bias Still Rife in African Universities."
University of the Free State. 2005. 10 Sept. 2007
http://www.ufs.ac.za/news/newsarticle.php?NewsID=711
Salo, Elaine. Interview with Amina Mama. Talking About Feminism in Africa.
Women's World. 10 Sept. 2007. http://www.wworld.org/programs/regions/africa/amina_mama.htm