Gender and Fundamentalisms

When, why and how can religion and culture be both sources and places of expression for fundamentalisms especially when they are connected to politics? Those are central questions raised throughout this book. What is at stake here is religion when it underpins culture and becomes a political tool to access moral and social power and particularly political power. Cultural and religious messages and their interpretations often underlie decisions, laws and programs made by politics. They have direct efect on society, in general, and on women and gender relations in particular. The various forms of fundamentalism in some African countries, the contexts of their emergence and the ways they (re)shape identities and relationships between men and women are also analysed in this book. These fundamentalisms are sources of persistent concerns in social debates, in feminist and feminine organizations as well as in academia and politics. The manipulations of cultures and religions are progressively political and consequently cause social discriminations, or even physical, moral and symbolic violence undoubtedly unsustainable.