Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: Girls, Power and International Development
- 2 The Girl in Global Politics
- 3 Feminist Activism Within and Against Neoliberalism
- 4 The Girl Up Discourse
- 5 ‘We Need to Talk’: Celebrity Feminism and Girls’ Activism amid Global Crisis
- 6 Girls’ Readings of Girl Up
- 7 Girl Up Members’ Feminist Activism
- 8 Ubuntu Feminism in a Lilongwean Girl Up Club
- 9 ‘It’s Like, Do You Wanna Go to Girl Up or Do You Wanna Go to Tesco?’: Ambivalent Activism in the Global North
- 10 Crossing North–South Divides in Research with Girl Activists
- 11 Conclusions: Hope and False Hope in the Fight for Girls’ Rights
- Notes
- References
- Index
8 - Ubuntu Feminism in a Lilongwean Girl Up Club
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2025
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: Girls, Power and International Development
- 2 The Girl in Global Politics
- 3 Feminist Activism Within and Against Neoliberalism
- 4 The Girl Up Discourse
- 5 ‘We Need to Talk’: Celebrity Feminism and Girls’ Activism amid Global Crisis
- 6 Girls’ Readings of Girl Up
- 7 Girl Up Members’ Feminist Activism
- 8 Ubuntu Feminism in a Lilongwean Girl Up Club
- 9 ‘It’s Like, Do You Wanna Go to Girl Up or Do You Wanna Go to Tesco?’: Ambivalent Activism in the Global North
- 10 Crossing North–South Divides in Research with Girl Activists
- 11 Conclusions: Hope and False Hope in the Fight for Girls’ Rights
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
We are going to learn different things
When we told them that at our school
We have Girl Up club they feel so excited oh!
We meet at twelve o’clock at lunch
We are in classes
When we reach the government with our manifestos it can change many lives of girls
We can manage to find any girl
All of us will be in one group and we will know how important to be educated
We need to reach some girls who live in village
We are still planning
We are still planning
As of now we have changed our mindset
Back when we were not in girl club
We think that we cannot be a doctor
As girls we cannot be a scientist
We cannot be a lawyer
When we are participating Girl Up club
We have the potential
That we can do
Whatever we want in life
We just want to fulfil that dream
We want to change their mindset.
Lilongwe, February 2017Gender, politics and colonialism in Malawi
Gender roles and politics in Malawi, as elsewhere in Africa, are influenced by an incredibly complex array of different forces, religions and phenomena, including traditional and precolonial belief systems, colonialism, Christianity and Islam, and international development agendas largely dictated by institutions in the Global North. Malawi also has in common with many of its neighbours an incredibly diverse population of different ethnic groups and languages, united through boundaries drawn by European colonizers. It is a small country, with a population of around 20 million, with the main ethnic groups including the Chewa, Tumbuka, Ngonde, Tonga, Yao, Ngoni, Sena, Mang’anja and Lhomwe, along with Asian and European migrants and their descendants (Kuwali, 2022: 92, 99).
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- Girls, Power and International DevelopmentAgency and Activism in the Global North and South, pp. 117 - 137Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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