Post Africa(n) feminism?

Abstract

The growing body of literature authored by women in Africa and the African Diaspora over the past four decades has been accompanied by vigorous debates out of which has evolved a body of theories pertaining to African Feminism(s). Theoretical models such as ‘Third World Feminism’, ‘African Feminism’, ‘Womanism’, ‘Stiwanism’, ‘Afrikana Womanism’ and ‘Nego-feminism’, amongst others, have responded to the anomalies exhibited by mainstream feminism, particularly its inability to address the cultural specificities out of which ‘other’ feminisms are theorised. The focus of this article has arisen out of the realisation that while such theories are invaluable to the development of feminist discourse, they have tended to focus predominantly on the politics of naming associated with the term ‘feminism’.