Birkbeck College , University of London
Which school did Amina Mama go to from 1980 to 1987?
Amina Mama Amina Mama ( born 19 September 1958 ) is a Nigerian-British writer , feminist and academic . Her main areas of focus have been post-colonial , militarist and gender issues . She has lived in Africa , Europe , and North America , and worked to build relationships between feminist intellectuals across the globe . Background . Mama was born in northern Nigeria in 1958 in a mixed household . Her father is Nigerian and her mother is English . According to Mama , her eclectic family background and upbringing has shaped her worldview . In 1992 she married Nuruddin Farah , with whom she has two children . She grew up in Kaduna , an ethnically and religiously diverse town in northern Nigeria . Her ancestral roots on her paternal side trace back to Bida . Several members of Mamas family were involved in the development of the post-colonial local educational system . In 1966 , she left her community in Nigeria due to anti-Muslim riots . Career . Mama moved from Nigeria to the UK and pursued further education at the University of St . Andrews , Scotland ( 1980 , Bachelor of Science , with Honours , in Psychology ) , at the London School of Economics and Political Science , University of London ( 1981 , Master of Science in Social Psychology ) and at Birkbeck College , University of London , where in 1987 she received her doctorate in organizational psychology with her thesis entitled Race and Subjectivity : A Study of Black Women . Some of her early work involves comparing the situations of British and Nigerian women . She moved to the Netherlands and then back to Nigeria , only to encounter more upheaval in 2000 . Then she moved to South Africa , where she began to work at the historically white University of Cape Town ( UCT ) . At UCT , she became the director of the African Gender Institute ( AGI ) and helped to found its journal Feminist Africa . Mama remains the editor of Feminist Africa . In 2008 , Mama accepted a position at Mills College in Oakland , California , United States . After moving , she commented : I have learned America isnt just a big , bad source of imperialism . Professor Mama became Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair in Womens Leadership at Mills—the first person to hold this position . She co-taught a class called Real Policy , Real Politics with Congresswoman Lee on topics concerning African and African-American women , including gender roles , poverty , HIV/AIDS , and militarism . She was also Chair of the Department of Gender and Women Studies at the University of California , Davis . Mama is the Chair of the board of directors for the Global Fund for Women , and advises several other international organisations . She has sat on the board of directors of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development . Mama serves on the advisory board for the feminist academic journals Meridians and Signs . One of her best known works is Beyond the Masks : Race , Gender and Subjectivity . She is also involved in film work . In 2010 , she co-produced the movie The Witches of Gambaga with Yaba Badoe . Thought . Mama describes herself as a feminist and not a womanist , arguing that feminism originates in Africa and that white feminism has never been strong enough to be enemy—in the way that say , global capitalism can be viewed as an enemy . She has criticised discourses of women in development for stripping gender studies of politically meaningful feminism . She has also argued that African universities continue to show entrenched patriarchy , in terms of both interpersonal sexism and institutional gender gaps . A primary area of interest for Mama has been gender identity as it relates to global militarism . She is an outspoken critic of AFRICOM , which she describes as part of violent neocolonial resource extraction . Publications . - The Hidden Struggle : Statutory and Voluntary Sector Responses to Violence Against Black Women in the Home . Runnymede , 1989 ; republished by Whiting and Birch , 1996 . - Black Women and the Police : A Place Where the Law is Not Upheld , in Inside Babylon : The Caribbean Diaspora in Britain , ed . Winston James and Clive Harris . London : Verso , 1993 . . - Beyond the Masks : Race , Gender , and Subjectivity . New York : Routledge , 1995 . . - National Machinery for Women in Africa : Towards an analysis . Third World Network , 2000 . . - Is It Ethical to Study Africa ? Preliminary Thoughts on Scholarship and Freedom . African Studies Review 50 ( 1 ) , April 2007 . External links . - Global Fund for Women Info - Brief bio at Smith College site - Bio at African Gender Institute - Feminists Respond to AFRICOM : An interview with Amina Mama —audio interview about AFRICOM and militarism conducted by Preeti Shekar , 11 October 2010