Periods, Paternalism, and Power: Menstruation NGO Genres of Self-Transformation in Eastern Africa

Rachel Hodapp

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-16ns-7d55

Work

Periods, Paternalism, and Power: Menstruation NGO Genres of Self-Transformation in Eastern Africa

Public Deposited

Download video

Download All Files (.zip)

In this current historical moment, with the increase in globalized inequity and with the intensification of decolonial efforts, I argue for “pluriversal” orientations towards development discourses wherein people are “de-linked” from inherently damaging comparisons (Quijano 2007; Mignolo 2011). To these ends, I interrogate the intersections of discourse, social structure, and power in the online language and iconography of eight menstruation NGOs in East Africa. I aim to lay bare mechanisms that, however inadvertently, systematically subjugate people. I employ Jan Blommaert’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and I introduce how these NGOs characterize menstruation. I posit they present a three-step genre of self-transformation that undermines East African women’s neoliberal emancipation. In addition, I suggest these NGOs illustrate Chimamanda Adichie’s (2009) “danger of a single story” by painting East Africa as homogeneously destitute. This representation ossifies ideologies of the West as bearers of civilization. Second, I do not have data from East African women; however, since self-narratives are reflexively constructed between people and systems, I discuss how these online representations may affect women’s habitus and self-perceptions. Here, I argue, by globally circulating this discourse, these NGOs at best present a single story and, at worst, may be symbolically violent towards the women they serve. I argue for more pointed research projects that privilege East African voices. Third, I reflect on cultural hegemony, symbolic violence, and necolonization, and I close by drawing on decolonial theories to assert alternative models for menstruation NGOs on the continent.

Last modified