Loes Oudenhuijsen
Loes Oudenhuijsen works as a PhD student on her own project, titled ‘’Islam, everyday ethics, and its gendered contestations: ‘’wicked’’ women in Senegal from 1950 to the present.’’ The study aims to uncover historical transformations and continuations of gender norms in Senegal, through the figure of sexually transgressive, so-called ‘’wicked’’, women. The biographical narratives of such ‘’wicked’’ women furthermore serve to add to, as well as nuance and challenge, the dominant existing (historical) narrative of gender in Senegal. By creating an (online) archive of these biographical narratives, in collaboration with Senegalese scholars, professionals, and interlocutors, Senegalese women shall have access to a part of their history and that of their foremothers that may explain historical change and continuity with regards to their position as ‘’wicked’’ women.
In addition to her work at the ASCL, Loes is involved in Voice4Thought Foundation as an academic director. Voice4Thought is a non-profit foundation that offers a platform where different voices of the world participate in building an inclusive debate and critical knowledge on issues concerning our time, such as democracy, activism, radicalisation, to name a few. Voice4Thought works as an open platform that engages with researchers, artists, activists, bloggers, and institutions to co-create new forms of knowledge and reflection.
Loes holds a BSc in International Development Studies from Wageningen University, and an MA in African Studies (research) from Leiden University.
Key words: Senegal; sexuality; gender norms; agency; political economy; Islam; secularity
L. Oudenhuijsen's profile on the Leiden University website
Quietly queer(ing): the normative value of sutura and its potential for young women in urban Senegal (2021)
Introduction ASCL library web dossier 'Somali literature' (2021)
Female slam poets of francophone Africa: spirited words for social change (2021)
Feminists and other dangerous elements: the politicisation of gender and sexuality in Senegal (2021)
Queer Senegalese migration can redefine activism (2020)
A rebel youth? : social media, charismatic leadership and 'radicalized' youth in the 2015 Biafra protests (2019)
Inclusive development in Africa (2019)
''You have to know how to play, otherwise they will catch you'' : young women and the navigation of same-sex intimacies in contemporary urban Senegal (2018)
''You have to know how to play, otherwise they will catch you'' : young women and the navigation of same-sex intimacies in contemporary urban Senegal
Leiden: African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL), 2018
L.W. Oudenhuijsen
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'A rebel youth? : social media, charismatic leadership and 'radicalized' youth in the 2015 Biafra protests'
In: M.E. de Bruijn: 'Biographies of radicalization', Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2019.
'Quietly queer(ing): the normative value of sutura and its potential for young women in urban Senegal'
in: Africa, vol. 91, no. 3, pp. 434-452, 2021.
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'Female slam poets of francophone Africa: spirited words for social change'
in: Africa, vol. 91, no. 5, pp. 742-767, 2021.
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Blogs by this author in the ASCL Africanist Blog: