This paper discusses findings from separate focus group discussions among boys, girls, and parents in two communities in Ghana on the kinds of attitudes expressed with regard to specific gender roles and sexual and reproductive behaviour. The FGDs also point to some of the ways adolescents recognise sex role disparities in their own socialisation and that of other young people. The two communities reflect two lineage types, one matrilineal and the other patrilineal. The data show that with few exceptions patriarchal attitudes essentially prevail across age, sex and lineage type. The paper concludes by suggesting programmatic implications for strengthening the abilities of young males to be responsible in their sexual relations.

This article seeks to broaden understanding of issues and controversies addressed in social science research on women’s and gender studies by researchers and activists based in English-speaking sub-Saharan Africa. The topics covered were selected from those ratified by African women in the Africa Platform for Action in 1995 as well as from current debates on the politics of identity. The common feminist issues the authors identified were health; gender-based violence; sexuality, education, globalization and work; and politics, the state, and nongovernmental organizations. In addition, the authors address theoretical and methodological trends. All four coauthors are feminist sociologists: One scholar is based in an African academic institution, two are Africans based in U.S. academic institutions, and one is an African American based in a U.S. academic institution.

Th is article refl ects on contemporary struggles for citizenship rights through an examination of civil society's advocacy for the passage of domestic violence legislation in Ghana. Th e National Coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation, established in 2003 specifi cally to push for the passage of the legislation, at various times worked closely with, and at other times independently of, or even in confl ict with, the state. Th ese processes and engagements point to the vibrancy of civil society and suggest the need for new analyses of social movements, political power and democracy that are rooted in Africa's contemporary realities.

Abstract:This article considers what African Studies needs to look like in order for it to retain its disciplinary relevance for the next generation and in the larger context of the Black Lives movement globally. It asks questions about where we have come from in terms of race consciousness in our discipline and why this issue matters today. It begins by tracing the development of African Studies’ epistemic journey, and follows this with an examination of the recent Black student movements in South Africa and the U.S. It concludes by suggesting where we should be going.

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