Decoloniality and women's agency in sex education in Zambia.

In 2018, 22 teachers and four government officers started a six-month development process, designed to integrate a gender-equity lens into sex education in Eastern Province, Zambia. The initiative was funded by the Dutch Government. In this article, I explore the emancipatory potential and limits of this gender transformative approach. Civil society privileges the empowerment of women's and girls' voices through participatory methods. This situated women-led 'encounter of change' between men and women addressed the 'harmful practices' of Chewa initiation, transcending patriarchal opposition in the process. Using an applied anthropological lens, I explore what enabled this contingent change in narrative among teachers, but I also question the coloniality inherent in efforts to transform the gender and sexuality of others through the ubiquity of voice. Mu chaka ca 2018, aphunzitsi makumi awiri ndi awiri ndi amai anai akulu-akulu amuboma adayambitsa ndondomeko ya chitukuko ya miyezi isanu ndi umodzi yokonzedwa kuti aphatikize ku maphunziro po linganiza nchito pakati pa amuna ndi akazi kuti ikhale ngati mandala amaphunziro kwa amuna kapena akazi kundela la laku m’mawa kwa dziko la Zambia. Nchitoyi idathandizidwa ndi boma la chi Dutch. Poyankha Connelly ndi Messerschmidt anapempha kuti apange kafuku-fuku pa zokhuza kugwirizana pakati pa bungwe la azimai ndi malingaliro ya mphamvu za amuna. Mu nkhaniyi ndikufufuza momasulira ndi kuika malire pofuna kuthetsa nchito za chi badwidwe pakati pa amuna ndi akazi. Mabungwe osiyana-siyana amapereka mwai wopititsa patsogolo mau a zimai ndi atsikana kudzera mu njira yotengako mbali pa kupanga chisankho ngati chida coyenelera. Ici chidapangitsa bungwe la zimai kukhala ndi manso mphenya pa nchito ya chibadwidwe ya amuna kapena akazi, kunena pa miyambo yoipa ya a Chewa, mopitiliza kutsutsa chikhalidwe cosayenera cotengera kumakolo awo pa nthawiyi. Pogwiritsa nchito mandala a chikhalidwe ca umunthu, ndina fufuza zomwe zidzetsa sintho lotengera polankhulana ndi aziphunzitsi, koma ndi nakayikiranso za makhalidwe otengera kwa atsamunda pofuna kusintha nchito za chibadwidwe ca amuna kapena akazi kudzera mu mau onenedwa mu makwao. Mau afungulo: chitukuko pa kusiya chikhalidwe ca atsamunda ndi kugonjera makhalidwe abwino, nchito za chibadwidwe ca amuna kapena akazi ndi chitukuko, kukula kwa mphamvu ya amuna,bungwe la azimai, maphunziro a amuna kapena akazi ku Zambia. Integrating critical thinking on gender and power within sexuality education has been praised for its ability to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. The Dutch government has been investing in this ‘gender transformative approach’ by strengthening the capacity of 64 schools in Zambia. I draw on findings of a multi-sited ethnography on the experiences of 22 male and female teachers and government officials in Zambia, who underwent training in this approach from 2018 to 2019. Female teachers and government workers utilized this training to critique and change harmful initiation rites of the Chewa peoples. However, this attempt at norm change was hindered by the ‘fluidity of patriarchy,’ which refers to the ability of powerful men to adapt to outside interventions. In this case, they undermined the project. Labeling this resistance simply as ‘dealing with opposition’, as Western NGOs have started doing recently, overlooks the ways in which traditions are reimagined and reinvented to sustain patriarchy and gender inequality. In this article, I critique the way Western programs listen to the voices of the young people they aim to support. Due to NGO jargon and a focus on evidence and effectiveness, these voices often go unheard. I urge policymakers and practitioners to ask self-critical questions about who gets to set the research agenda, whose voices are prioritized, and (ironically) how their own masculinist leadership norms and neoliberal practices may embody expressions of coloniality and patriarchy.

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© 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

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