On Friday 7 August, the Rift Valley Forum hosted a launch of the book, Gender, Protests and Political Change in Africa, edited by Awino Okech.

The book brings together conceptual debates on the impact of youth-hood and  gender on state building in Africa. It offers contemporary and interdisciplinary analyses on the role of protests as an alternative route for citizens to challenge the ballot box as the only legitimate means of ensuring freedom. Drawing on case studies from seven African countries, the contributors focus on specific political moments in their respective countries to offer insights into how the state-society social contract is contested through informal channels, and how political power functions to counteract citizen’s voices. These contributions offer a different way of thinking about state-building and structural change that goes beyond the system-based approaches that dominate scholarship on democratization and political structures. In effect, it provides a basis for organizers and social movements to consider how to build solidarity beyond influencing government institutions.

Moderator

Felogene Anumo
Feminist Activist, Association of Women’s Rights and Development (AWID)

Panelists

Patrick Hajayandi
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation

Awino Okech
Centre for Gender Studies, SOAS

Wadeisor Rukato
Peace, Security and Development Fellow, African Leadership Centre

Radwa Saad
Doctoral Researcher, Africana Studies and Research Centre, Cornell University

Moses Tofa
Postdoctoral Fellow in Peace, Security, and Development, African Leadership Centre