The contested spatialities of transnational activism: gendered gatekeeping and gender struggles in an African association of informal workers |
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Authors: | ILDA LINDELL |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University, SE‐106 90 Stockholm, Sweden;2. and The Nordic Africa Institute, PO Box 1703, SE‐751 47 Uppsala, Sweden ilda.lindell@humangeo.su.se;3. ilda.lindell@nai.uu.se |
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Abstract: | In this article I explore the geographies of emerging transnational networks of organized informal workers, with empirical reference to a local association based in Mozambique and a transnational network of which it is part. I uncover the gendered spatialities of this transnational activism to demonstrate how participation is unequal and heavily mediated rather than direct. In particular, I show how influential actors have engaged in practices of gendered gatekeeping that tend to keep women in place. I also explore the tensions that emerged because of these practices and the negotiation of divergent gender ideologies and strategies within the network. In the article, I relate to recent theoretical work that problematizes the unequal and contested geographies of transnational activism, and introduce insights from feminist scholarship to reflect on gender inequalities and gender visions in transnational networks. |
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Keywords: | TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVISM NETWORKS WOMEN'S MOVEMENTS INFORMAL WORKERS GENDER MOZAMBIQUE |
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