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in offering up-beat, timely decisions that serve to push forward their
agendas. Indeed, the issue of dissemination of critical information in
a timely manner is crucial. The task however is of first defining those
common agendas of interest for the different groups seeking to network
trans-locally and there-after remaining vigilant in translating these
agendas accordingly across time and space. This I conceptualise as
the oscillation of agendas in the articulation of voice, a matter I will
now turn to in the next section.
C. Capabilities
i. articulation of transformative voices through the
inter-linkage of agendas at different levels
As already touched upon in the foregoing paragraph, how one articulates
issues (exercising a transformative voice) is of crucial importance
in how young African women engage governance issues. Here the
critical point is a thorough knowledge of the modes of articulation.
This means being informed of what the agenda is (both overtly and
inertly), knowing how to speak to these different agendas and with
whom to speak. I will provide an example: At a workshop on Muslim
women negotiating development [8] a whither rights debate ensued. The
critical question was: whereas at an international level a discourse of
rights is the buzz-word, can we comfortably claim the same of local
contexts? In critically analysing women’s life worlds and their lived
experiences and especially young women’s everyday experiences,
can one argue on the basis of a rights discourse? Indeed, the tension
that still exists in African environments is this in-between position,
that is, between tradition and modernity. The issue then is how one
does negotiate (articulate a transformative voice) with this in-between
position in mind?
First and foremost, as already discussed, young women have
to recognise their endowments and achievements and appreciate
their competencies and abilities as individuals. With this comes an
169
YOUNG AFRICAN WOMEN
ENGAGE THE PUBLIC
SPHERE; PROSPECTS FOR
AN INTERDISCIPLINARY
INQUIRY?
Roseline M. Achieng
8
The workshop was titled, Negotiating Development: Trans-local Gendered Spaces in
Muslim Societies, 13 – 15 October 2005, University of Bielefeld, Germany