Should we give up on the State? Feminist theory, African gender history and transitional justice*

Abstract

In some excellent articles in the first issue of The International Journal ofTransitional Justice, scholars have examined in very thoughtful ways the relationship of feminism and feminist theory to the field of transitional justice and post-conflict. This article examines some of this work and suggests ways that we might build on these insights by working more with feminist theories of the state, feminist critiques of international human rights law, and with a gendered historical consciousness of colonialism and the post-colonial state in Africa.