Skip to main content

Introduction: Women’s Roles in Justices Practices in Southern Africa

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
African Feminisms and Women in the Context of Justice in Southern Africa
  • 102 Accesses

Abstract

In this volume, we are interested in justice ‘on the ground’ in Southern African communities, and in particular in the roles that women play in this process. In this Introduction, we will explore the role of women in justice on the ground from the starting point of the lived experiences of women, and in the intersections of race, class, culture and the colonial experience. In the rural and peri-urban contexts discussed in this volume, which include Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, we find that ‘justice on the ground’ is relational. The network of relationships between people and the well-being and health of a community as an integral whole continues to be of central importance, as the survival of the community depends on the entire community functioning interdependently.

The author would like to thank Sarah Matshaka for her research assistance in preparing this chapter, particularly in relation to the section on gender in an African context. The author would also like to thank Dr Bosco Bae for his critical reading of this chapter as well as Chapter 2.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, T. 2007. The International Criminal Court and the invention of traditional justice in Northern Uganda. Politique Africaine 3 (107): 208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashcroft, B. 2009. Alternative modernities: Globalization and the post-colonial. A Review of International English Literature 40 (1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Baines, E. 2007. The haunting of Alice: Local approaches to justice and reconciliation in Northern Uganda. International Journal of Transitional Justice 1 (1): 91–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baines, E. 2010. Spirits and social reconstruction after mass violence: Rethinking transitional justice. African Affairs 109 (436): 409–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batley, M. 2020. Integrating practice and policy: An example from South Africa. In Justice during transitions: Policies that reflect African realities, ed. C. Wielenga and C.C. Nshimbi. Dakar: Codesria.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. 2006. ‘New things after independence’: Gender and traditional authorities in postcolonial Namibia. Journal of Southern African Studies 32 (1): 29–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benyera, E. 2014. Exploring Zimbabwe’s traditional transitional justice mechanisms. Journal of Social Science 41 (3): 335–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chirayath, L., C. Sage, and M. Woolcock. 2006. Customary law and policy reform: Engaging with the plurality of justice systems. Background paper for the World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development, 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Comaroff, J. 2002. Governmentality, Materiality, Legality, Modernity: On the Colonial State in Africa. In African Modernities: Entangled Meanings in Current Debate‚ ed. J.-G. Deutsch, P. Probst and H. Schmidt. Portsmouth, 130. NH: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Englund, H., and F. Nyamnjoh. 2004. Rights and the politics of recognition. London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faris, J. 2014. Editorial comment: Focus on the San community of Platfontein: Generating the knowledge of a First Nation people for dispute resolution. Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa 10 (4): iii–iv.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, J. 2005. Decomposing modernity: History and hierarchy after development. In Postcolonial studies and beyond, ed. A. Loomba, S. Kaul, and A.M. Burton, 166–181. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graness, A. 2017. Concepts of justice in Africa: Past and present. InThemes, issues and problems in African philosophy, ed. I.E. Ukpokolo. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosfoguel, R. 2007. The epistemic decolonial turn. Cultural Studies 21 (2–3): 211–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan, S.M. 2010. African modernism: Beyond alternative modernities discourse. South Atlantic Quarterly 109: 451–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honwana, A.M. 1997. Healing for peace: Traditional healers and post-war reconstruction in Southern Mozambique. Journal of Peace Psychology 3 (3): 293–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaya, H.O., and Y.N. Seleti. 2013. African indigenous knowledge systems and relevance of higher education in South Africa. The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives 12 (1): 30–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • LiPuma, E., and T.A. Koelble. 2009. Deliberative democracy and the politics of traditional leadership in South Africa: A case of despotic domination or democratic deliberation? Journal of Contemporary African Studies 27 (2): 201–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Logan, C. 2013. The roots of resilience: Exploring popular support for African traditional authorities. African Affairs 112 (448): 353–376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamdani, M. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Cape Town: David Phillip.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masoga, M.A. 1999. Seeds of violence and vengeance: South Africa and symbolic ritual cleansing. Affiliations 6 (1): 213–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mignolo, W.D. 2007. Introduction. Cultural Studies 21 (2–3): 155–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, C.T. 1988. Under western eyes: Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses. Feminist Review 30: 61–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murove, M.F. 2004. An African commitment to ecological conservation: The Shona concepts of ukama and ubuntu. Mankind Quarterly 45 (2): 195–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mvanyashe, Andiswa. 2019. IsiXhosa Proverbs and idioms as a reflection of indigenous knowledge systems and an education tool. Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies 29 (2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ndlovu, M., and N. Dube. 2012. Analysis of the relevance of traditional leaders and the evolution of traditional leadership in Zimbabwe: A case study of amaNdebele. International Journal of African Renaissance Studies—Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity 7 (1): 50–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nshimbi, C.C. 2017. Life in the fringes: Economic and sociocultural practices in the Zambia-Malawi-Mozambique borderlands in comparative perspective. Journal of Borderlands Studies: 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ntsebeza, L. 2004. Democratic decentralisation and traditional authority: Dilemmas of land administration in rural South Africa. The European Journal of Development Research 16 (1): 71–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nyamnjoh, F., and I. Brudvig. 2014. Conviviality and the boundaries of citizenship in Africa. In The Routledge handbook of cities of the south, ed. S. Oldfield and S. Parnell. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rist, S., et al. 2011. Endogenous knowledge: Implications for sustainable development. In Research for sustainable development: Foundations, experiences, and perspectives, ed. U. Wiesmann and H. Hurni. Perspectives of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South, University of Bern, Vol. 6, 119–146. Bern, Switzerland: Geographica Bernensia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiwy, F. 2007. Decolonization and the question of subjectivity. Cultural Studies 21 (2–3): 271–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tacoli, C. 1998. Rural-urban interactions: A guide to the literature. Environment and Urbanisation 10 (1): 147–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cori Wielenga .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Wielenga, C. (2022). Introduction: Women’s Roles in Justices Practices in Southern Africa. In: Wielenga, C. (eds) African Feminisms and Women in the Context of Justice in Southern Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82128-9_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics