Gender in Motion: The paradoxes of persistence and change in notions of gender and gender relations
A South African – Swiss comparison of the local inflections of global trends

Contact: Stephan Meyer, stephan.meyer@unibas.ch Zentrum Gender Studies, Universität Basel, Steinengraben 5, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland, Tel. +41 61 267 08 73 http://www.genderstudies.unibas.ch/

Aim: A series of three workshops – funded by the Commission for Research partnerships with Developing Countries and the Swiss Academy for the Social Sciences – will bring together leading researchers, senior students and members of civil society in South Africa in October 2007. These workshops inaugurate a larger joint research programme beginning in 2007 on how gender structures and is structured by changes in different regional, social, economic, cultural and historical contexts. An improved grasp of these mechanisms should generate theoretical frameworks and data for action which can be used in the pursuit of gender justice for women, men and children in both South Africa and Switzerland.

Overall Research Question: The project aims to gain a thorough understanding of a paradox which marks societies across the globe, including South Africa and Switzerland. This paradox consists in the co-existence of, at times radical changes in some areas, accompanied by persistences in older patterns in other domains. In particular we seek to grasp changes and persistences, firstly, in the ways in which gender is conceived; secondly, in the practises through which gender is constituted; and finally in gender relations. The underlying methodological assumption is that these changes and persistences can best be understood through comparing different societies and relating this comparison to overall global changes.

Structure: Such globally contextualised comparative study of change and persistence requires sustained mutual learning over a considerable period. The overall project thus consists of the following parts:

1. A series of three workshops in South Africa
2. Teaching and research exchanges between South African and Swiss scholars
3. Seminars at the University of Basel
4. An international conference and a graduate course at the University of Basel
5. The transfer of knowledge gained, through publication and feedback to concerned individuals, organisations and decision-making bodies

Workshop 1: Transition, democracy and gender
Thematic focus at the University of the Witwatersrand: Gender & Society
Friday 12 and Saturday 13 October
Participants from: University of the Witwatersrand, University of South Africa, University of Pretoria, Human Sciences Research Council

Workshop 2: The performative and narrative constitution of gender
Thematic focus at the University of KwaZulu Natal: Gender & Culture
Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 October
Participants from the four campuses of the University of KwaZulu Natal: Howard College, Westville, Edgewood, Pietermaritzburg

Workshop 3: Health, the other and the body politic
Thematic focus at the University of the Western Cape: Gender and the Subject
Friday 19 and Saturday 20 October
Participants from: University of the Western Cape, University of Cape Town, University of Stellenbosch

Project members: The South African team is led by

Prof Sheila Meintjes – Head, Political Studies
Sheila.Meintjes@wits.ac.za
University of the Witwatersrand
Private Bag 3
WITS 2050
South Africa
++ 27 11 – 7174051

Dr Thenjiwe Magwaza – Director, Gender Studies
Magwazat1@ukzn.ac.za
University of KwaZulu Natal
Howard College
PO Box 54001
South Africa
++ 27 31 – 260 3362

Prof Tamara Shefer – Director, Women’s and Gender Studies
tshefer@uwc.ac.za
Dr Desiree Lewis – Women’s and Gender Studies
deslewis@iafrica.com dlewis@uwc.ac.za
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
South Africa
++ 27 21– 9593360

The Swiss team consists of five members from the Centre Gender Studies at the University of Basel:

• Prof Andrea Maihofer (Director of the Centre Gender Studies and Project Leader)
• Dr Patricia Purtschert
• Serena Dankwa
• Katharina Pühl
• Stephan Meyer