African Feminism Beyond the Clichés: A Thought in Motion

There is, in the way the West has long spoken about African women, a double violence: that of erasure and that of cliché. The African woman has been presented alternately as a passive victim of archaic traditions, or as an exotic figure of spontaneous resistance, without political depth. Yet, from the Beijing conferences to the digital movements shaking the continent, another story is being written — more complex, more lucid, and deeply rooted in African realities. African feminism is not an import. It sinks its roots into centuries of struggles against intertwined dominations: patriarchy, certainly, but also colonialism, economic imperialism, and inherited social hierarchies. African women were at the heart of anti-colonial resistances, struggles for independence, and national liberation movements. Yet their contributions have been systematically marginalized in official narratives. Today, a new generation of scholars, artists, and activists is undertaking a work of historical rehabilitation, while facing unprecedented challenges. Among these challenges, perhaps the most urgent is theoretical autonomy. For too long, the analytical frameworks of gender have been modeled on Western templates, without accounting for African specificities. The very concept of 'gender,' as used by international institutions, can seem foreign to societies where power relations also play out through kinship, age sets, ethnic or religious affiliations. Thinkers like Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, with her radic