Cape Verdean Women and Globalization : The Politics of Gender, Culture, and Resistance

This book employs critical ethnography and critical discourse analysis to explore what Cape Verdeans have to say about women's lives in the era of twenty-first century globalization. The authors investigate the economic and personal difficulties they face such as poverty, managing single mother-headed households, and violence.

Offering valuable insights into social science methodology and practice, Cape Verde Women and Globalization employs critical ethnography and critical discourse analysis to explore what Cape Verdeans have to say about women''s lives in the era of twenty-first century globalization.  The authors investigate the economic and personal difficulties they face such as poverty, managing single mother-headed households, and violence.  They also examine the ways women resist the challenges globalization has brought to them especially through cultural expressions of batuku dancing and Creole language. Using the framework of Patricia Hill Collins'' intersectionality theory, Cape Verde Women and Globalization concludes that scholars need to make central the links among the concepts of oppression, resistance, culture, and gender in order to "see" the lives of women and especially in order to identify the bridges to political change. Each chapter also includes a "reflections on methods" section to reveal the journey the authors took in undertaking this project from its earliest conceptualization to their conclusions.