The Encyclopaedia of African Feminisms

The Encyclopaedia of African Feminisms is a dynamic and decolonial intervention that charts the rich, complex, and often underrepresented terrain of feminist thought and practice on the African continent. Grounded in the lived realities, intellectual traditions, and cultural expressions of African women, this collection seeks to challenge Western-dominated feminist discourses and to affirm the plural, place-based feminisms that continue to shape African societies. The idea of an encyclopaedia was conceived by Dr Sarah Setlaelo, who worked with Dr Dimpho Maponya and me to draft the proposal. None of us had any experience in producing such work, but we knew the importance of a reference work that not only helps readers understand popular concepts in African feminist discourse, but concepts that are original to Africa reminding us that Africa is a wonderful site of theory and concept generation and innovation. Without the intellectual gifts from all African Feminists (many are yet to be written entries about) this project would not have been possible. To gogo Siphokazi Tau, Dr Setlaelo and Dr Maponya and many legendary feminists whose thoughts, incantations, duas and prayers shaped this project, we feel eternal gratitude.