Globalization, AGlobalization of Feminism@ and the Liberation of Women: The Case of African women.
Jilly M. Ngwainmbi

Abstract
This paper examines the role of globalization and Aglobalization of feminism@ in the liberation process for women in general and African women in particular, using the 2002 riots in Northern Nigeria associated with the 2002 Miss World Beauty Contest as its case study. A distinct contribution of the paper to the current literature is two fold: 1) it conceptualizes women=s liberation at the global level as a process driven by and contingent upon globalization and Aglobalization of feminism@ whose success is contingent upon intellectual and scholarly legitimation and justification; and 2) it recognizes and demonstrates the liberating potential of globalization and Aglobalization of feminism@ and identifies the challenges and limitations of these liberating forces in any attempt to liberate women globally. Drawing on both the case study and the literature on globalization and Aglobalization of feminism@ the paper concludes that: 1) globalization, driven by capitalism, has created favorable conditions and opportunities for a global expansion of feminism, aimed at women=s liberation globally; 2) to achieve meaningful and realistic liberation of women at the global level, liberation must be conceptualized as a long process that involves mutual understanding, education and ultimately, an intellectual revolution based on communicative action, triggered by feminist scholarship of the type demonstrated in the works of Anderson and Collins (2004); Collins (1990, 1998); Harding (2000); Hooks (1981, 1984); Lotz 2003; and Whelehan (1995); and 3) this process must identify and address specific differences among women which stem, primarily, from culture, social class, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, customs, tribal origin, social and political systems and the status of different nations within the so-called Aglobal capitalist society,@ as well as these nations= status within the AGlobal Political class System@.

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