The Grandmothers' Movement : Solidarity and Survival in the Time of AIDS

Grandmothers' alliances across distance and difference - unlikely mobilizations, unexpected change. At the height of the African AIDS crisis older women mobilized across two continents and an ocean of difference to change the lives of innumerable African women confronting insecurity, violence, grief, and illness. In 2006 the Stephen Lewis Foundation launched its Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, seeking to organize Canadians in solidarity with "Africa's grandmothers" - older caregivers who had lost their children to AIDS and were left to raise their grandchildren. Four years later, some 10,000 Canadians had joined the campaign. May Chazan's The Grandmothers' Movement explores the encounters, ideas, and circumstances that shaped this remarkable story of solidarity and struggle. Based on interviews, family trees, personal journals, and archival materials, Chazan provides the first analysis of the movement. Through personal reflections and powerful vignettes from nearly a decade of participation in grandmothers' lives in South Africa and Canada, she presents untold narratives and brings new humanity to the AIDS crisis in Africa. The Grandmothers' Movement tells a story of hope while challenging conventional understandings of the global AIDS response, solidarity, and old age. It is about the power of older women to alter their own lives through collective action and about the influence of transnational cooperation to effect positive global change. Cover Title Copyright Contents Map, Table, and Figures Acknowledgments Acronyms Preamble 1 The Unexpected 2 From Toronto to Manzini 3 Solidarity Granny-Style 4 Views from the Valley 5 Gogos’ Lives and Perspectives 6 Global Connections 7 Politics of Possibility Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z Examines the "Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign", launched in 2006 by the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which organized Canadian support for African grandmothers left to raise their grandchildren when their children died of AIDS