Papers by Cathy Skidmore-Hess
Journal of Global South Studies
Journal of Global South Studies
African Studies Review, 2000
Seeking to discover "some of the concrete realities of capitalism" in contemporary sub-... more Seeking to discover "some of the concrete realities of capitalism" in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa, Kate Crehan's The Fractured Community details life in two villages in northwest Zambia. One, Bukama, had its origins in a Dutch-funded project designed to establish a village of progressive farmers. Development officers hoped that these farmers, freed from the obligations of traditional communities, would become innovative producers integrated into the international economy. This did not occur. Instead, Bukama attracted a large number of widowed and divorced women who were having difficulties in their own communities. Labeled troublemakers, these women continued to see themselves as part of their former villages rather than of their current residence. In contrast to Bukama's seeming instability and foreignness, Kibila was viewed by its residents as internally established. They claimed their village dated back to the colonial period and even that it had been one of the most important Kaonde chiefdoms. Nevertheless, Crehan emphasizes that both villages remained creations of international economic coercion as well as of local conditions. Distinct in their inceptions and alleged purpose, they were bound by similar economic conditions and notions of community. Relatively poor and held within the grip of international development experts, the two communities are part of a larger region that remains difficult to reach and politically marginalized. The national government's neglect of roads, wells, and other forms of infrastructure reflects the ways in which political weaknesses and economic disenfranchisement reinforce each other. Furthermore, lack of access to communications and capital makes it difficult for local people to articulate their own notions of identity to the outside world. The people of Kibila and Bukama are faced with a situation in which the outside world has the ability to impose its agenda upon them regardless of the result or of their own wishes. Crehan, however, also wants to explore the ways in which people create their own world within the constraints of economy and the international community. In so
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2012
The prophetess Deborah presents an exception to prevailing gender patterns in biblical narrative ... more The prophetess Deborah presents an exception to prevailing gender patterns in biblical narrative and religious and political leadership. Her appearance in the Hebrew Bible is limited to two chapters in the Book of Judges, yet the roles and identities attributed to her in the biblical text are remarkable: judge, military strategist, poetess, and prophetess (naviah), one of only four named women so described in the biblical texts. This study traces the "diminishing" of Deborah, considering how such a remarkable figure could receive so little textual attention. We trace the lessening and even derogation of Deborah's significance from ancient commentary to contemporary commentary, a process that perhaps began as early as the redaction of biblical sources. We argue that by focusing on Deborah's "diminishing" we gain critical purchase on textual practices that to illuminate scriptural texts also have obscured female voices and even the presence of feminine leadership.
African Studies Review, 1998
Journal of Global South Studies, 2021
Women and Religion in the Atlantic Age, 1550—1900
International social science review, 2016
Have we not an equal interest with the men of this nation?" Gender, Equality, and Genesis in John... more Have we not an equal interest with the men of this nation?" Gender, Equality, and Genesis in John Locke's Political Thought John Locke (1632-1704) is a seminal figure in modern political thought, of this fact, most, if not all readers of this article would agree. Beyond this observation, however, there is an almost dizzying array of diverse interpretations and disagreement as to the meaning, intent, and significance of his work. As Paul Sigmund, the editor of a recent critical edition of Locke's works notes, in looking at Locke "there is something for everyone," to either condemn or to praise in often contradictory readings of his classic texts. 1 A reader can find proof of a "covert Hobbesian or an apologist for unrestrained accumulation of property," although there is plenty in his corpus to contradict any narrow view of Locke as "hedonist, materialist, atomistic individualist, collectivist, deist, secularist, advocate of majority tyranny, and naïve believer in human perfectibility." 2 Controversial interpretations of John Locke's views that Sigmund's critical edition describes as "refuted" still have their defenders. 3 The authors of this study hope to make a contribution to Locke scholarship that emphasizes above all the importance of understanding and evaluating Locke within his historical context. To that end, the methodological commitment of this study is both textual and contextual. In other words, the primary text needs to be read closely and within the context of seventeenth-century social and political assumptions. Specifically, with regard to the issues discussed here, it is crucial that Locke first describes the pre-political State of Nature as a situation within which "all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal." 4 Locke's working assumption was that in all instances human societies are formed by social interaction, not à la Hobbes by isolated survivalists, but rather by people who even without a sovereign state would already, and "by nature," be engaged in a set of relationships including economic, familial, and even religious ties. None of these are 1 Skidmore-Hess and Skidmore-Hess: "Have we not an equal interest with the men of this nation?"
Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History
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Papers by Cathy Skidmore-Hess