A Feminist Reading List on Care, Crisis and Pandemics

© Awino Okech

Some of you will have watched the short clip of Vivian Balakrishnan the foreign affairs minister for Singapore, who states that the COVID-19 pandemic is an acid test for three things — the quality of healthcare, standard of governance and social capital. These three things he argues have to work together if any government is to manage the spread of Coronavirus effectively. In effect a crisis always exposes the structural faults in how our societies are organised.

The reading list below brings together material that draws on feminist and critical gender studies frameworks to offer a holistic analysis of what it means to deal with crisis. The material ranges from reflections on Ebola, HIV/AIDS, post conflict societies, hostile contexts (also commonly referred to as closing civc space). These are resources that are useful during this COVID-19 moment when it is easy to reproduce and erase. We’ve been here before.

1. Bishop, Kate. 2017. Standing Firm: Women and Trans Led Organisations Respond to Closing Space for Civil Society. https://www.mamacash.org/media/publications/mc_closing_space_report_def.pdf
2. Cordero, Tatiana. 2020. HEALTH CRISIS: A REFLECTION ON UNCERTAINTY. https://fondoaccionurgente.org.co/en/news/health-crisis-a-reflection-on-uncertainty/
3. Fawole, O. I., Bamiselu, O. F., Adewuyi, P. A., & Nguku, P. M. 2016. Gender dimensions to the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria. Annals of African medicine, 15(1), 7–13. https://doi.org/10.4103/1596-3519.172554
4. Harman, Sophie. 2016. Ebola, gender and conspicuously invisible women in global health governance, Third World Quarterly, 37:3, 524–541, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2015.1108827
5. Horn, Jessica. 2020. Decolonising emotional well-being and mental health in development: African feminist innovations, Gender & Development, 28:1, 85–98, DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2020.1717177
6. JASS and Global Fund for Human Rights. 2018. Power and Protection: Defending Rights in Hostile contexts. https://www.jass-fghr.org/power-and-protection
7. JASS. “Collective Protection”. https://justassociates.org/sites/justassociates.org/files/collective_protection.pdf
8. Jones, Peris and Wangui Kimari. 2018. “Security beyond the men: Women and their everyday security apparatus in Mathare, Nairobi” Journal of Urban Studies. Volume: 56 issue: 9, page(s): 1835–1849
9. Jungar, Katarina and Oinas, Elina. 2010. A Feminist Struggle? South African HIV Activism as Feminist Politics. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 11(4), 177–191. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol11/iss4/13
10. Kimari, Wangui. 2018. Activists, care work, and the ‘cry of the ghetto’ in Nairobi, Kenya. Palgrave Commun 4, 23. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0078-8
11. Lewis, Desiree. 2006. “Rethinking Human Security: The Implications for Gender Mainstreaming”, in Cheryl Hendricks (ed), From State Security to Human Security in Southern Africa: Policy Research and Capacity building Challenges, Monograph №122. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies (ISS).https://issafrica.org/chapter-2-rethinking-human-security-the-implications-of-gender-mainstreaming-desiree-lewis
12. Matebeni, Zethu. 2018. Queer Bodies in Trouble. http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/uprising1313/zethu-matebeni-queer-bodies-in-trouble/
13. Miller, Kellea and Rochelle Jones. 2019. Toward A Feminist Funding Ecosystem. AWID. https://www.awid.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/awid_funding_ecosystem_2019_final_eng.pdf
14. Nyanzi, Stella. 2013. Homosexuality, Sex Work, and HIV/AIDS in Displacement and Post-Conflict Settings: The Case of Refugees in Uganda, International Peacekeeping, 20:4, 450–468, DOI: 10.1080/13533312.2013.846136
15. Okazawa-Rey, Margo with Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng. 2008. In Conversation: Healing Work with War Survivors. Feminist Africa 10. 111–121
16. Okech Awino, Chigudu, Hope, Anderson, Katrina and Quintana Soledad. 2017. Feminist Resilience and Resistance: Reflections on Closing Civic Space. Urgent Actions Funds. https://www.uaf-africa.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/edited_Feminist-Resistance-and-Resilience-ENGLISH-14.pdf
17. Ruparel, Sonya, Clare Bleasdale and Kathleen O’Brien. 2017. How can Humanitarian Organisations Encourage More Women in Surge?https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/action_aid_aw_v4_-_final.pdf
18. Sallam , Yara. Even the Finest Warriors https://eventhefinestofwarriors.org/en/
19. UAF LAC. 2015. “Echoes of the sounds of the conch”. https://issuu.com/fondodeaccionurgente-al/docs/caracola_engl
20. Williams, Korto. 2017. Navigating checkpoints: The journey of the Liberian Feminist Forum”. Feminist Africa 22 Feminists Organising — Strategy, Voice, Power. pp. 119–127 . Available at http://www.agi.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/429/feminist_africa_journals/archive/22/fa22_critical_reflection_2.pdf
21. Raffo Susan. 2019. Healing Justice: Building Power and Transforming Movements. ASTRAEA Lesbian Foundation for Justice. New York. https://s3.amazonaws.com/astraea.production/app/asset/uploads/2019/05/Astraea-Healing-Justice-Report-2019-v7.pdf