2007 Journals

Issue # 73 'Bio Politics'
When Agenda invited environmental justice activists to a meeting earlier this year to get input into the conceptualisation of this journal, one question came up immediately: How does one define biopolitics? There was not one easy, straight-forward answer to this question but a realisation that the term biopolitics refers to several different yet compatible concepts.

Biopolitics is, for example, defined as advocacy in support of or in opposition to reproductive technology and genetic engineering; as political application of bioethics; as politics of ‘the body'; or, in the work of Michel Foucault, as a style of government that regulates population through biopower (the application and impact of political power on all aspects of life). For this journal, we eventually decided on a definition of biopolitics that focuses on what is popularly called ‘green biopolitics' and deals with the public policy area of biotechnology policy.

Issue # 72 '20th Aniversary'
Agenda is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and it seemed only appropriate to celebrate two exciting decades of feminist publishing with a special edition of the Agenda journal.

It has been an interesting and stimulating 20 years. We have fought for women's rights as part of the political struggle against apartheid. We have debated women's reproductive rights, the right (or not) to abortion and HIV/AIDS. We have discussed women's leadership and how to crack the glass ceiling. We have tackled taboos, such as homosexuality, and there have been debates on culture, women's access to land, genderbased violence, economic injustice - and many more issues than I could possibly list on these pages.

Issue # 71 'Women take a Byte'
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is transforming the way people interact around the world it has created new networks across cultures, countries and continents and altered the workings of the global economy.

2006 Journals

Issue # 67 'Homosexuality'
The idea of an 'African' homosexuality within the landscape of 'African feminism' is crucial to our understanding of the lives and identities of gay and lesbian African men and women. A common thread running through the edition is that homosexuality is not unAfrican. This edition brings togeather a rich collection of personal, political and critical narratives that highlight a range of issues and ideas about homosexuality. 

2005 Journals

Issue # 65 'Women in Leadership'
Women are increasingly visible in positions of power and leadership in South African society. This issue will go beyond the presence of women in these positions and look at women's participation and leadership in structures at various levels of government, civil society, corporate, traditional.

Issue # 64 'Beijing +10'
This issue reviews Beijing+10, placing South Africa's progress in a global context. This issue will evaluate the implementation of the Platform of Action and the gains (or failures) in areas such as fundamental human rights, violence against women, participation in decision making, health, education and the fight against poverty.

Issue # 63 'African Feminisms, Vol 2, 2, Body Image'
The Agenda African Feminisms collection embraces feminist scholarship and action, highlighting the dialectical relationship between theory and practice. A recurring theme in the collection is the tension between African feminism, a contested concept in itself, and western discourses of what feminism is.This issue forms the second volume of the second series of African Feminisms, and focuses on Sexuality - Body Image.

2004 Journals

Issue # 62 'African Feminisms, Vol 2, 1, Sexuality in Africa'
What narratives constitute sexuality in Africa? How are these narratives shaped, constructed, resisted and possibly reconfigured? How are sex and sexuality played out, performed, constituted, interrogated and configured in Africa? We ask why pain, suffering and death is often associated with African sexualities, and assess how we could reinstall pleasure and desire for the sexuality of our citizenry.

Issue # 61 'Religion and spirituality'
In the last decade, there has been an incredible and concerted effort to reclaim women's roles in religion, its texts and the interpretation of these texts. The Religion and Spirituality issue is Agenda's contribution to the growing dialogue between women whose commitment to gender equality is based on their profound faith.

Issue # 60 'Contemporary Activism'
There is considerable debate at present on the changing nature of political life in South Africa. 
Both local and global activism it seems is intensifying. This issue of Agenda explores the nature and areas of women's activism in the contemporary, looking at their specific concerns and examining whether these concerns are being taken up.

Issue # 59 'Women in war'
That women are the first victims of war and conflict and who's bodies become sites upon which battles are waged, is undisputed. The number of wars taking place across the world - public and private, subtle and overt, all marked by violence and terror - makes it essential that we examine the manifestations and effects of war and conflict in the contemporary.

2003 Jounals

Issue #58 ‘African Feminism III’
The final in our first volume of African Feminisms continues in the same vein as the first two issues. This issue focuses on African diaspora feminisms, black women's civil participation and the nature of movement throughout countries and continents for African women.



Issue # 57 'Urban Culture'
This issue is filled with words and images which command our full attention. They speak to issues that we, as feminists have long been concerned with- issues of identity, self- expression, representation, the making of meaning through our everyday experiences and knowledge, and more specifically the production of knowledge.’ Urban culture’ provides a gendered analysis of the various representations and experiences of urban space and culture.

Issue # 56 'Gendering Childhood'
This issue is concerned with the gendered construction of childhood, and the quality of childhood in South Africa and in Africa. ‘Gendering childhood’ is published at a time when there have been increasing media reports of violence against women and children, often perpetrated by offenders disturbingly younger than the norm. Writers highlight the way in which the socialization of young children gives a gendered dimension. Childhood is a critical time of development, as it is during this period, that values and biases, which are often preserved into adulthood, are shaped.

Issue # 55 'Urban Women the invisible refugees'
The discussions around the gendered nature of the refugee experience are relatively new in South Africa. Much of the activism and media attention has been around xenophobia and legal issues of status. This issue contributes towards gendering the analysis of the refugee experience, in an effort to make visible specific experiences of refugee women.

2002 Journals

Issue # 54 'African Feminisms II'
This issue reaffirms the diversity, complexity and breadth of African feminist thought and action. As with the African Feminist part one issue, contributors represent a range of perspectives and areas. At first glance, it seems the terrain covered is too disparate to be connected. Literature, policy change, men’s attitudes to gender, cultural relativism versus universalism, womanism or stiwanism, the role of narrative and story telling in feminist praxis… the list is endless. However, a closer look reveals there are a number of themes that tie together the concerns of each writer.

Issue # 53 'What kind of future can we make: Education, Youth and HIV/AIDS.'
Estimates indicate that in South Africa, women comprise 56 percent of HIV- positive people, with young women between the ages of 15 and 35 making up the largest group Whiteside & Sunter, 2000) Confronted with such alarming statistics this issue reaffirms the urgency to find transformative and practical ways to address the AIDS pandemic. This issue looks at surrounding HIV prevention strategies for young people specifically in the school context, and focuses attention on the gendered nature of youth experience.

Issue # 52 'Sustainable development: an oxymoron?'
A common theme that runs throughout the issue is caution and cynicism over the discourse of ‘sustainable development’. In this issue we highlight the problems associated with the concept of sustainable development itself- questioning what it means, its appropriateness for different contexts, and the way it has become ‘development speak’. It shows how irrespective of the concepts or approaches applied, women have specific experiences of poverty, development and the environment.