SWS Distinguished Feminist Lecture: Feminist Politcal Economy in a Globalized World: African Women Migrants in South Africa and the United States

Abstract

Based on research conducted over the past two decades, this lecture examines how the feminist political economy perspective can aid us in understanding the experiences of two populations of African women: Zimbabwean women cross-border traders in South Africa and African immigrant women in the northeastern United States. Feminist political economy compels us to explore the impact of the current phase of globalization as well as the roles of intersectionality and agency in the lives of African women. This research stems from fieldwork conducted in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, as well as in metropolitan Boston and Philadelphia. Despite the many challenges that African migrant women face in these different venues, they continue to demonstrate much creativity and resilience and, in the process, they contribute to community development.