ANATHI SIQOKO

TUTORIAL 5

TUTOR: Nonhlanhla Lukhele

G18S1215

A state can be regarded as territories which have an organized political community under one
government. When the idea of statehood was established at Westphalia, it was to bind alike
people under one government, so as to stop conflicts and make life more manageable in Europe.
In 1884 at the Berlin Conference, the scramble for Africa began (Schoeman 1999: 241). It was at
this conference that it was decided that Africa was to have state boundaries. Unlike the European
model of states, statehood was imposed on Africa. Boundaries were created and did not take into
consideration “historical, social, economic or political conditions” (Schoeman 1999: 241).
Families and tribes that used to share the same village, now found themselves separated by a
border. It is this history connected to the creation of borders that states such as Zambia, the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire are sometimes considered as “weak” or “quasi
states”. This weakness is in comparison to nations’ Northern and Western counterparts where
borders are not so easily threatened (Schoeman 1999: 242). States are also made weak in that
with the separation of already existing African kingdoms, some countries have more resources
than others where before those resources were shared. There are many ties at societal and
economic levels through which the countries and their peoples interact and this interaction in
turn influences the foreign, and quite often domestic, policies of governments.

Schoeman (1999), examines closely how the nature of Africa’s borders has contributed to the
contestations over territory within African states, and how nation building challenges inhibit
African states from playing a pronounced role in international relations. These borders have
therefore contributed to the inability of African states to project power over each other leading to
unique peaceful conditions between African states in stark contrast to the inter-state wars
witnessed in Europe until the Second World War. There is a stark contrast between Africa and
Europe. Europe has had a history littered with inter-state wars up to the end of the World War II
in 1945, whereas Africa has been characterized by relative peace between its states. This
however, does that mean that conflicts and disagreements do not occur. Africa mainly concerns
itself with civil war therefore hardly ever finding itself getting involved in inter-state wars. This
is what distinguishes Africa from the rest of the international system.

The documentary and the article by Prasch (2015) help us to examine the use of motherhood as a
tool to achieve peace in the Liberian civil war by members of the Liberia Mass Action for Peace.
It also allows us to understand the unique circumstances of the Liberian civil war. It also allows
us to appreciate the transnational, historic and structural dynamics of African intra-state wars.
Motherhood affords a special type of agency to women who frame their actions as motivated by
maternal concerns. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell defines the rhetorical agency as “the capacity to act,
that is, to have the competence to speak or write in a way that will be recognized or heeded by
others in one community” (Parsch, 2015), as is seen in the Liberian civil war and how the
women gathered each other, Muslim and Christians (something that was never thought possible)
because they had one common goal which was peace. Nigerian feminist Oyeronke Oyewumi
explains that many African cultures share the view that “mothers are powerful.” The most
important role that African women claim for themselves would be mother (Family Bonds, 1097).
Mother is therefore preferred and cherished and is a symbol of self- identity for most African
women and the primary source of individual agency and empowerment (Prasch, 2015:190).
Mothering is not limited to one’s nuclear family or biological children. African women weild
special authority as mothers of the nation and often serve as “mediators, interceders, and
negotiators” as was seen in the Liberian civil war which showed women negotiate for peace with
those that were in power. Gbowee and the LMAP protestors for instance, returned to the
communal function of motherhood to convince Taylor and the LURD rebel leaders to respond to
their demands of peace. Oyewumi argues that Gbowee and the LMAP protesters mobilized their
traditional maternal powers through militant protest tactics and, in so doing, constituted their
status as coherent political agents. Despite their reality (sexual violence), these women bravely
reasserted their maternal agency by framing their political protest as one motivated by a concern
for Liberia’s children.

The action or scenario that took place in Liberia reaffirmed the powerful role mothers held in
Liberian society even as it co-opted the pattern of sexual violence during the civil war (Prasch,
2015:195). Stripping naked is the most powerful curse available to African women: deliberate
public nakedness. The cultural significance being that; “it is a terrible curse to see a married or
elderly woman deliberately bare herself. If a mother is really upset with a child she would take
out her breast and slap it and a child is cursed. Therefore the group of men that would threaten to
arrest them, seeing them naked would have been a death sentence (Prasch, 2015). Gbowee states,
“Men are born through women’s vaginas, and it’s as if by exposing ourselves, we say, “We now
taking back the life we gave you.” This was always the last resort. Hence when Prasch says that
the threat to strip deliberately was an act of “desperation” and “to reclaim” the agency of
Liberian mothers, to a greater extent he says the truth. Nevertheless the threat communicated
more than desperation; especially the impactful because it co-opted the systematic sexual
violence against mothers and their children. Whilst the rebel leaders targeted the maternal body
as a symbol to be used and abused. This resulted in Gbowee and LMAP protestors no longer
being targets of sexual violence and proved that women’s voices mattered and should be heard.

Referencing

Schoeman, M. and McGowan, P.J. (eds.), 1999. Power, Wealth and Global Equality-An IR
textbook for Africa. University of Cape Town Press.

Prasch, A., 2015. “Maternal Bodies in Militant Protest: Leymah Gbowee and the Rhetorical
Agency of African Motherhood.” Women’s Studies in Communication 38: 187;pp. 187-295.