African Gender Institute,
University of Cape Town,
Rondebosch 7700, Cape Town
South Africa.

Amina Mama has held the position of Chair in Gender Studies at the African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa since January 1999. She provides intellectual and strategic leadership to the African Gender Institute, where she also served Director (1999-2002) She initiated and currently convenes the ‘Gender and Transformation’ graduate programme in gender studies in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. Additional responsibilities include institutional development, fund-raising and international outreach, including the coordination of the African Gender Institute’s continental outreach programme ‘Strengthening Gender Studies for Africa’s Transformation’, an intellectual capacity- development and information technology development programme. Prior to her appointment by the University of Cape Town she held positions at international academic institutions in the Netherlands (The Institute of Social Studies, Den Haag) and Britain (The Development and Project Planning Centre at the University of Bradford, and the University of London), served as visiting Professor in several others, and undertaken a range of consultancy activities in the Caribbean, and in East, Southern and West Africa.

She has authored and edited number of published works, including ‘Beyond the Masks: Race, Gender and Subjectivity’ (Routledge 1995) which was recently listed as one of Africa’s 100 Best Books in the twentieth century, Engendering African Social Sciences (co-edited and pub by CODESRIA 1997), and The Hidden Struggle: Statutory and Voluntary Sector Responses to Violence Against Black Women in the Home (Whiting and Birch 1996).

Professor Mama sits on the Board of Directors of the United Nations Institute for Research on Social Development, the Board of Directors of the Global Fund for Women, the Scientific Committee of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. She serves as Ministerial nominee on the Council of the Cape Technikon, and serves on the editorial advisory boards of a number of academic journals in the areas of development, human rights and feminist studies.

Current interests/expertise: feminist theory, policy analysis and praxis, politics of development, militarism, democratization and social transformation, organizational development and change.

Abstract:   Talking the thought, Walking the talk: Preliminary reflections on feminine Praxis in Selected         African Contexts.

Email contact: amama@humanties.uct.ac.za
Relevant Websites: http://www.uct.ac.za/org/agi
http://www.gwsafrica.org
http://www/feministafrica.org