A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Gendered citizenship in rural Uganda : Localized, exclusive and active (2020)

Ndidde, A. N., Ahimbisibwe, K. F., & Kontinen, T. (2020). Gendered citizenship in rural Uganda : Localized, exclusive and active. In K. Holma, & T. Kontinen (Eds.), Practices of Citizenship in East Africa : Perspectives from Philosophical Pragmatism (pp. 105-120). Routledge. Routledge Explorations in Development Studies. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429279171-8

JYU authors or editors

Ahimbisibwe, Karembe
Kontinen, Tiina

Publication details

All authors or editors: Ndidde, Alice N.; Ahimbisibwe, Karembe F.; Kontinen, Tiina

Parent publication: Practices of Citizenship in East Africa : Perspectives from Philosophical Pragmatism

Parent publication editors: Holma, Katariina; Kontinen, Tiina

ISBN: 978-0-367-23296-2

eISBN: 978-0-429-27917-1

Journal or series: Routledge Explorations in Development Studies

Publication year: 2020

Pages range: 105-120

Number of pages in the book: 258

Publisher: Routledge

Place of Publication: Abingdon

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429279171-8

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/72147

Abstract

This chapter scrutinizes ways in which practices of citizenship are embedded and interwoven in local contexts and existing power relations. It draws from a participatory qualitative study conducted in two districts, Kiboga and Namutumba, in Uganda. The chapter discusses experiences and perceptions of gendered citizenship articulated by rural inhabitants, both women and men, who had previously participated in some activities of a Uganda gender-advocacy NGO, Action for Development (ACFODE). Our analysis has showed that Ugandan women, especially in rural communities, are struggling with discrepancies between entitlements granted in government legislation and social controls exercised in everyday life. Women’s everyday experiences, habits and practices are rooted in the local context and the possibility of their active citizenship is locally contested through self and community exclusion. Nevertheless, localized women practices can reduce the gap between habits and status and create spaces for change in lived experiences. These changes might not represent radical transformations in gendered citizenship, but they do constitute a disruption and trigger incremental change in these habits. In conclusion, we argue that from the perspective of habits and lived experience, citizenship, in rural communities in Uganda, appears gendered, contested and contradictory, but nevertheless includes possibilities for reformulation of habits.

Keywords: citizenship; civil society; gender; gendering; equality (values); rural communities

Free keywords: Uganda

Fields of science: