“This may not be your grandmother’s page, but we will definitely talk about her”: Lusaka women and the Zambian Feminists Facebook page

Kasanga, Chishimba

Title: “This may not be your grandmother’s page, but we will definitely talk about her”: Lusaka women and the Zambian Feminists Facebook page
Creator: Kasanga, Chishimba
Subject: Feminists Zambia
Subject: Social media and society Zambia
Subject: Facebook (Firm)
Subject: Feminism Africa
Subject: Women Zambia Social conditions
Subject: Sex role Zambia
Subject: Patriarchy Zambia
Subject: Digital activism
Subject: Zambian Feminists
Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Date: 2021-10-29
Type: Master's theses
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190122
Identifier: vital:44965
Description: The internet has facilitated the creation of a global community of feminists who use it both for discussion and activism. Recently, high-profile campaigns, such as #MeToo and #AmINext, have garnered massive support online, attracting tens of thousands of women in diverse social and geographical spaces who have used the internet as forums for discussion and a route for activism. However, there are still parts of the world where feminism is a contentious topic, and one such place is Zambia, where the Facebook page Zambian Feminists, seeks to challenge patriarchy and gender non-conformity in a highly heteronormative society. This study investigates how prolific women fans of the Zambian Feminists page contest, negotiate and appropriate meanings from the posts and associated comments into their lives as “everyday feminists”. As a reception study, it inquires into how Lusaka women fans of the page negotiate their roles as strong feminists online and their offline social roles as women, mothers, daughters and wives living in a patriarchal and conservative society. The study draws primarily on qualitative research methods, specifically qualitative focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews, to investigate this audience’s reception of the page’s content. The study establishes that Zambian Feminists is consumed in a complex environment where contesting notions of Christianity, traditionalism, and modernity are at play. The study also shows how a Christian nationalism discourse acts as a stumbling block to women fans identifying as feminists and women fans who identify as members of the LGBTIQ community, as they must negotiate and construct their identity against this prevailing discourse. The study concludes that inasmuch as the Zambian Feminist page provides a platform for women to ‘call out’ and challenge patriarchy, sexism and misogyny, the offline space is more difficult to overcome; Zambian women continue to conform to patriarchal norms as they construct and negotiate their feminism in line with the broader societal gender order.
Description: Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (183 pages)
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies
Language: English
Rights: Kasanga, Chishimba
Rights: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Rights: Open Access

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