Speaking out, talking back? African feminist politics and decolonial poetics of knowing, organising and loving

SUMMARY

This piece reviews the ‘Talking back: African feminism in dialogue’ interview series I conducted with 15 African feminist activists, policymakers, researchers and artists of diverse ages, genders, sexualities, ability and nationality in which they shared their visions, personal and institutional biographies and aspirations. It explores the intersections of feminist activism, knowledge production, solidarity and power dynamics in Africa and the African diaspora. The essay delves into how African feminists challenge existing power structures, including patriarchy, colonialism, racism, fundamentalisms, capitalism and heteronormativity. It emphasises the importance of feminist scholarship and activism in reshaping political economies and political ecologies and challenging the status quo. The piece discusses the lived experiences of African feminist social movements and their efforts to redefine social contracts.

KEYWORDS:

• African feminism
• feminist methods
• feminist activism
• social movements
• decoloniality
• politics
• capitalism

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank all the African feminists who agreed to be part of this interview series. I also thank the feminist trailblazers who enriched our imagination with their scholarship and activism.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Translation by author.

2 In dialogue with Françoise Moudouthe, Eyala Blog and Rama Dieng.

3 Translation by author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rama Salla Dieng

Rama Salla Dieng is an African feminist scholar-activist from Senegal, and a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. Before that, she taught at SOAS University of London and worked for five years in policy research at the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP). Rama’s research focuses on land grabs and labour, agrarian change, feminism, care and social reproduction in Africa.