Gender, Ethnicity, and Violence in Kenya’s Transitions to Democracy

States of Violence

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Government, Democracy, International, Social Science, Gender Studies
Cover of the book Gender, Ethnicity, and Violence in Kenya’s Transitions to Democracy by Lyn Ossome, Lexington Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Lyn Ossome ISBN: 9781498558310
Publisher: Lexington Books Publication: April 2, 2018
Imprint: Lexington Books Language: English
Author: Lyn Ossome
ISBN: 9781498558310
Publisher: Lexington Books
Publication: April 2, 2018
Imprint: Lexington Books
Language: English

Critiquing the valorization of democracy as a means of containing violence and stabilizing political contestation, this book draws links between the democratization process and sexual/gendered violence observed against women during electioneering periods in Kenya. The book shows the contradictory relationship between democracy and gendered violence as being largely influenced in the first instance by the capitalist interests vested in the colonial state and its imperative to exploit laboring women; secondly, in the nature of the postcolonial state and politics largely captured by ethnic, bourgeois class interests; and third, influenced by neoliberal political ideology that has remained largely disarticulated from women's structural positions in Kenyan society. It argues that colonial capitalist interests established certain patterns of gender exploitation that extended into the postcolonial period such that the indigenous bourgeoisie took the form of an ethnicized elite. Ethnicity shaped politics and neoliberal political ideology further blocked women’s integration into politics in substantive ways. It concludes that it is not so much the norms and values of liberal democracy that assist in understanding women’s exclusion, but rather the structural dynamics that have shaped women’s experiences of democratic politics. In this way, gender violence in the context of democratization and electoral violence with its gendered manifestation can be fully understood as deeply embedded in the history of the structural dynamics of colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchalism in Kenya.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Critiquing the valorization of democracy as a means of containing violence and stabilizing political contestation, this book draws links between the democratization process and sexual/gendered violence observed against women during electioneering periods in Kenya. The book shows the contradictory relationship between democracy and gendered violence as being largely influenced in the first instance by the capitalist interests vested in the colonial state and its imperative to exploit laboring women; secondly, in the nature of the postcolonial state and politics largely captured by ethnic, bourgeois class interests; and third, influenced by neoliberal political ideology that has remained largely disarticulated from women's structural positions in Kenyan society. It argues that colonial capitalist interests established certain patterns of gender exploitation that extended into the postcolonial period such that the indigenous bourgeoisie took the form of an ethnicized elite. Ethnicity shaped politics and neoliberal political ideology further blocked women’s integration into politics in substantive ways. It concludes that it is not so much the norms and values of liberal democracy that assist in understanding women’s exclusion, but rather the structural dynamics that have shaped women’s experiences of democratic politics. In this way, gender violence in the context of democratization and electoral violence with its gendered manifestation can be fully understood as deeply embedded in the history of the structural dynamics of colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchalism in Kenya.

More books from Lexington Books

Cover of the book The Struggle over Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book A Three-Factor Model of Couples Therapy by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book On Dialogue by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book Rethinking Uncle Tom by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book On the Science of Uncertainty by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book Dostoevsky's Political Thought by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book Dancing Bodies of Devotion by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book The Eroticization of Distance by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book The Dynamics of Change in Modern World Politics by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book The Rhetorical Invention of Man by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book Perfecting the Constitution by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book Ana-María Rizzuto and the Psychoanalysis of Religion by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book The Politics of Institutional Failure in Madagascar's Third Republic by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book Forced to Flee by Lyn Ossome
Cover of the book Deductive Irrationality by Lyn Ossome
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy