Kimberly Wedeven Segall 
Performing Democracy in Iraq and South Africa 
Gender, Media, and Resistance

Reflecting twenty years of research and experience—after working with guerrilla fighters in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, with Iranian refugees in Istanbul, with interreligious reconciliation groups in Morocco, and with former political prisoners in South Africa—Segall offers a groundbreaking study of globalization, gender, and resistance in public spaces. With timely correctives to the media lens of the Arab and African Spring, the author views protest not just as an economic and political act but also as a potential space of healing and creativity amidst contentious and gendered territories. Analyzing blogs, graphic novels, performances, and public testimonials, this book is unique in its attention to local expressions and creative use of technology to speak of political identities. With its impressive range of generational and gendered voices,
Performing Democracy suggests hybrid protests that are voicing trauma, seeking change.

About the author

Kimberly Wedeven Segall is professor of English at Seattle Pacific University and affiliate faculty of gender, women, and sexuality studies at the University of Washington.