Colette Harris

Gender–age systems and social change: a Haugaardian power analysis based on research from northern Uganda

This paper studies power through data focusing on gender–age relations gathered ethnographically among the Acholi of northern Uganda. It analyses these data through a framework combining Haugaard’s notions of dispositional, episodic and discursive/tacit power, with Arendt’s ideas on authority, and Bourdieu’s on disposition and habitus. I suggest using ethnographically collected data makes an important contribution to studying power and propose replacing the idea of gender and power as a simple binary relationship with the concept that gender–power relations are always crossed with multiple modalities, among which, for gerontocratic settings like most in Africa, age holds particular significance. I conclude that gender analysis based on the local habitus is critical for empirical explorations of social interactions.

Violence in a Religiously Divided City: Kaduna, Nigeria—From the Shari'a Riots of 2000 to the Post-election Clashes of 2011

Abstract This paper examines why frictions developed in Kaduna between Muslims and Christians, how they turned violent, and the outcomes. The frictions were caused by a combination of the effects of colonial policies that established the north/south, Muslim/Christian divide, added to unequal treatment of ethnic groups within Nigerian state structures, and Nigerias position as a rentier oil-producing state, making it a valuable property for elite capture, and structural adjustment that increased unemployment. Hostilities between Reform Islam and Pentecostal Christianity helped fuel conflict and the configuration of masculinities among unemployed youths facilitated participation in violence. The outcomes included death, destruction and mutual suspicion.

State business: gender, sex and marriage in Tajikistan

This article examines the relation of the state to masculinity and sexuality by way of an exploration of the sexual problems of a young man and his wife in Tajikistan at the end of the Soviet era. It suggests that the regimes inattention to this kind of issue was bound up with the importance to the state of projecting appropriate versions of masculinity. It further posits the idea that the continued refusal of the independent Tajik state to offer appropriate treatments for sexual dysfunction is consistent with the image of modernity President Rahmon wishes to present to the world. The article shows that as masculinity discursively occupies the superior gender position, with men expected to dominate, the state is itself impotent to respond when they are, in fact, unable to do so in sexual practice. However, the myth of male dominance persists to the point that it may prevent women from seeing beyond their subordination and finding mutually beneficial solutions in their familial and sexual relationships.

Masculinities, New Forms of Religion, and the Production of Social Order in Kaduna City, Nigeria

From the late 1970s when serious economic woes hit Nigerians in general and the inhabitants of Kaduna in particular, the latter began to seek explanations for the ills that beset their country and support to deal with them. Some found this in new religious movements, both Christian and Muslim, that rejected earlier sects/denominations as religiously and ethically unacceptable and focused on more modern, individualistic lifestyles as well as providing some measure of material support, explanations, and solutions based in the supernatural for the ills the population was suffering. The situation sparked fear of social chaos, partly owing to men’s uneasiness at the threat of losing their dominance over wives and offspring along with their control of economic resources. The new religious movements support male superiority while offering greater space for women, provided they keep to their assigned places. These movements thus combine material and social support with the spiritual.

The use of participatory gender analysis for violence reduction in (post-)conflict settings: a study of a community education project in northern Uganda

Abstract Purpose The research aimed to study the effects of participatory gender analysis. Design/methodology/approach This occurred within a community-based education project that was implemented in Ugandan Acholiland after the return from the displacement camps at the end of the civil war. The chapter describes the approach and analyses the impact. Findings Such analysis was shown to be very effective but this does not mean the community has been completely transformed. Practical and social implications Nevertheless, it shows the importance of participatory gender analysis for sociocultural transformation at community level. Originality/value This chapter makes a contribution to the literature on the use of participatory gender analysis in the global south.

Men, Masculinity and Labour-Force Participation in Kaduna, Nigeria: Are There Positive Alternatives to the Provider Role?

The capitalist-based masculine provider norm reached Nigeria with missionaries and colonial agents and has since become integral to Nigerian manhood, although economic circumstances have prevented the majority of men from being able to meet this norm. Since the late 1980s, neoliberal-based structural adjustment has degraded educational standards and reduced employment opportunities. In Kaduna today most jobs are insecure and low paid, particularly for youths, many of whom loiter on street corners, available for incorporation into sectarian violence. Attempts to remedy this through skills training have failed. A project I ran from 2007 to 2011 used participatory gender/masculinity analysis to help young men withstand pressures towards violence, but removing the male breadwinner norm to permit couples to share economic provision in order to decrease poverty would require a major transformation.

Author–critic forum: decolonial theory and gender research in Central Asia

Author–critic forum: decolonial theory and gender research in Central Asia Nick Megoran a , Colette Harris b , Sevara Sharapova c , Marianne Kamp d , Janet Townsend e , Nina Bagdasarova f & Madina Tlostanova g a Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK b School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK c International Womens Fund ‘Sharq Ayoli’, Tashkent, Uzbekistan d Department of History, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA e Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK f American University in Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan g Department of Philosophy, Russian Presidential Academy of Public Administration, Moscow, Russia

Author–critic forum: decolonial theory and gender research in Central Asia:Gender epistemologies and Eurasian borderlands, by Madina Tlostanova, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, ISBN 9780230108424, xx + 240 pp., 6 illustrations. (Comparative Feminist Studies Series, series editor Chandra Talpade Mohanty).

Author–critic forum: decolonial theory and gender research in Central Asia Nick Megoran a , Colette Harris b , Sevara Sharapova c , Marianne Kamp d , Janet Townsend e , Nina Bagdasarova f & Madina Tlostanova g a Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK b School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK c International Womens Fund ‘Sharq Ayoli’, Tashkent, Uzbekistan d Department of History, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA e Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK f American University in Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan g Department of Philosophy, Russian Presidential Academy of Public Administration, Moscow, Russia

Author–critic forum: decolonial theory and gender research in Central Asia: , by Madina Tlostanova, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, ISBN 9780230108424, xx + 240 pp., 6 illustrations. (Comparative Feminist Studies Series, series editor Chandra Talpade Mohanty).

Author–critic forum: decolonial theory and gender research in Central Asia Nick Megoran a , Colette Harris b , Sevara Sharapova c , Marianne Kamp d , Janet Townsend e , Nina Bagdasarova f & Madina Tlostanova g a Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK b School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK c International Womens Fund ‘Sharq Ayoli’, Tashkent, Uzbekistan d Department of History, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA e Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK f American University in Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan g Department of Philosophy, Russian Presidential Academy of Public Administration, Moscow, Russia

Author–critic forum: the politics of peace building in Tajikistan

The ‘Author–Critic Forum’ format is a relatively recent addition to the journal. It consists of a standard review of a new book plus a number of shorter appraisals of it, and finally a response by the author to all these contributions. The choice of book is agreed upon by the editorship of the journal, the Editorial Board, and the International Advisory Board. Books are selected because they engage pressing and contested theoretical, empirical and/or methodological issues within the broad field of Central Asian studies. The purpose of the format is to provide a lively forum that will acquaint the readership of the journal with the range of arguments, debates and issues within a particular field. The book review editor invites rejoinders to the debate begun by this forum. Nick Megoran