Reviews for Japan and Africa: Globalization and Foreign Aid in the 21st Century

The average rating for Japan and Africa: Globalization and Foreign Aid in the 21st Century based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-10-26 00:00:00 Antonio Givens So often feminist scholars try to analyze women through the lenses of men. Robin Leblanc lived with a Japanese family for a little while and as she was there she started to analyze the housewives surrounding her. She was surprised at how politically motivated they were and how much they got done. She talks of their daily gatherings to care for the children and the discussions that would arise. Women also made an incredible difference in the school meetings and town hall forums that they participated in. This surprises Leblanc who went to Japan expecting to see disenfranchised women with no power beyond supporting their husband. In the end, Leblanc developes a metaphor to describe the unique perspective that the women in Japan (and everywhere else) have. Men, she says, see the world from fast paced taxis on the main roads; whereas, women see it on bicycles that find every nook and cranny. Plus, they are slow enough to catch the details missed in the taxi. I like the way that LeBlanc puts the bicycles and taxis (women and men) on an equal level. Because the taxis are flashy some would say they are more powerful and grander. LeBlanc says that they miss the small moments of community power that build a nation and raise children. They are both necessary but different. If anything, by the end of the book LeBlanc favors the women cyclists more than the impresonal taxi driving men. At my high school many kids thought that all Mormons did things a certain way; however, once they got to know me they realized that their stereotypes were untrue. Once I got people to see through my lens they understood my perspective. I guess that is why I relate to books like this one. They make me feel that there is some hope for true understanding in our world of streamlined, everyone act and think the same way, living. They also help me understand that although I might be small I still have power to change the world. Sorry for the long review!!

Review # 2 was written on 2019-06-27 00:00:00 Daniel Gubman I am not competent to judge this as a work of political science, but as a reader who is interested in Japan, and women's lives, and most especially the domestic aspect of women's lives, I found this absolutely fascinating. It is dry at times; LeBlanc is writing for academic colleagues and using the appropriate language of her field. I was willing to tolerate the dryness and moments of jargon, however, because of my delight in her argument that the frame of political science itself is lacking by failing to take into account women's experiences as women. She writes about the volunteer work of housewives in their community, of why it is that these women's political actions are seen by both themselves and others as unpolitical, and of why it is that these women have so little interest in joining the more easily understood political spheres of campaigns and support of candidates. Through it all she argues that the standard ungendered political actor is really just a male actor, and that the very things which people denigrate about housewives -- their focus on caring for others (especially children and the elderly) as an inescapable obligation -- are exactly what Japan needs more of in its politics. I cannot speak for Japan, but much of what she documents is very relevant to my own life as an apolitical volunteering-focused housewife in the United States, and I am considering how to integrate some of what she suggests into my own life.