Gender and Sexuality 15

Long before they joined the “official” liberation struggle, African women were part of an ongoing history of resistance to colonialism. (…) opposition movements against colonialism. Not only did they actively participate in protests, but in many cases, they took on leadership roles in organising protests, strikes, demonstrations, work refusal campaigns, civil disobedience and other forms of resistance throughout the history of their countries.

Micere Mugo (2010, in German): Die Rolle der Frauen in afrikanischen Befreiungsbewegungen – Ein illustratives Beispiel aus Kenia. In: Africavenir (Hrsg.): 50 Jahre afrikanische Un-Abhängigkeiten - Eine (selbst)kritische Bilanz, p.48-55.

Micere Mugo (born 1942) is a Kenyan author, poet and activist. She had to leave Kenya in 1982 because of her political activism.

Women have played an important role in resistance movements: in Europe (see Federici 2009 for a historical overview), in Latin America (see Linhard 2005 on the Mexican revolution) and in Asia (rjb & ir 2008: 100f). In West Africa, the combative Dahomey fought in the 18th and 19th centuries, as described by Stanley Alpern in his book "Amazons of Black Sparta" (2011). There are also testimonies of female fighters in the Mau Mau war against German colonial rulers (Mugo 2004), as well as in the independence movements of the second half of the 20th century (on Zimbabwe, see Sinclair, 1996).

*Micere Githae Mugo (2004): Muthoni Wa Kirima: Mau Mau woman field marshal: interrogation of silencing, erasure, and manipulation of female combatants' texts. Harare: Sapes Books. *Stanley B. Alpern (2011): Amazons of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey. New York: New York University Press. *Silvia Federici (2009): Caliban and the Witch. Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation. New York: Autonomedia. *Ingrid Sinclair (1996): Flame. (Documentary on female Guerillas in liberation struggle in Zimbabwe). *Rheinisches JournalistInnenbüro & recherche international e.V (2008, in German): Die dritte Welt im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Unterrichtsmaterialien zu einem vergessenen Kapitel der Geschichte. *Tabea Alexa Linhard (2005): Fearless Women in the Mexican Revolution and Spanish Civil War. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.

2004