The African Feminist Initiative has released a solidarity statement following the awareness raised by Nigerian journalist, Kiki Mordi’s (pictured), brave and important documentary, Sex for Grades. I post the statement below. Sex for Grades: Solidarity Statement By African Feminist Initiative We are African feminist scholars and feminist scholars of Africa, working in institutions both on…
An African feminist analysis of Marvel’s Black Panther
This article was originally posted on The Guardian where it was titled Black Panther deserves an Oscar – but is it a feminist film? No way. Next Sunday, Marvel’s Black Panther will compete for the best picture award at the Oscars. If it wins, it will not only be a first-time victory for a superhero movie, it…
Nigerian feminism – past, present and future perspectives
What is Nigerian feminism? Who does it speak for? Does contemporary Nigerian feminism reflect the realities of all Nigerian women? Does it include the voices and struggles of the masses of women who do not have economic freedom? What are some of the issues Nigerian feminism should include moving forward? In my latest article below,…
New podcast feature on black feminism, women’s liberation, Ancient Egypt and more…
Hey everyone! Sharing a link to an interview on the Badass Women’s Hour podcast, which lives up to its name. I’m so grateful to be able to bring my views to exciting spaces like this. Our wide-ranging discussion covered everything from the difference between liberal and radical feminism, between growing up in Nigeria and in…
Omusiya Tayangwa… Bullshit!
After being told that, “As a Mutoro woman, you can never say no to a man,” a group of East African feminists decided to collaborate on a visual art project to inspire women to challenge oppressive traditional values and spark conversations about patriarchy. The Bantu Project, as the series of photographs are called, is a collaboration…
What is African feminism, actually?
One of the questions I am most frequently asked is “what is African feminism and how is it different from western feminism”. It is a valid question that points to the clarity that people seek in the process of self discovery, which is what becoming feminist is. But the response that I’ve been giving over…
How Ellen Johnson Sirleaf failed the African feminist agenda
In the guest post below, Robtel Neajai Pailey and Korto Reeves Williams argue that Africa’s first female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has done little for the African feminist agenda. It is a convincing argument and I am delighted to share it on MsAfropolitan especially because if there is one space where African feminists cannot afford to coddle…
7 popular posts about African feminism
It’s exactly seven years today since MsAfropolitan was launched . In the time since, I’ve published over 350 articles (where did I find the time?) and this site has received half a million visits and tens of millions of hits yearly (thank you!). There are 3530 comments and a similar engagement on social media. Again, thanks for being such dynamic readers, I…
Plantain and porridge: My in-depth interview with Kathryn Buford at TRUE AFRICA
Writer and curator, as well as one of my colleagues/dear friends/partners in crime, Kathryn Buford, recently interviewed me for her ‘Plantain and Porridge’ series on the TRUE AFRICA platform. The feature was about African feminism, which we spoke in-depth about but we discussed a bunch of other stuff too. Many thanks to Kathryn for the brilliant, fun and engaging questions, I…
Masculinity in African film – the seductive case of Run
As I’ve written about before, there is something about African men that evokes in me a particular appreciation of the masculine. That “something” is not necessarily what popular culture appreciates in African men – athleticism, build, rhythm, creativity, resilience, being well-endowed, confidence, and so on. That’s all good, don’t get me wrong, but they are…
7 films directed by African women to see at Film Africa
The fifth edition of the Royal African Society’s annual film festival, Film Africa, is taking place on the 30 Oct – 8 Nov in London. Film Africa celebrates the best African cinema with a wide-ranging film programme. This year, over 60 films from 26 African countries will be screened. As one of the Friends of Film Africa, I have selected seven…
7 non-fiction books African feminists should read
African feminists, that is African women who are feminists, should not only read books by other African women. From my Afropolitan point of view, our reading should be cosmopolitan, we should enjoy books about all kinds of topics from anywhere in the cosmos. That is how you expand your mind, and not by repeatedly reading one genre. However,…
Repowerment rather than empowerment
I’m getting impatient with the idea that the reason we should empower African women is to lift African economies, as UN under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, argued in The Sowetan on Sunday. I’m not fed up with this proposition because economic growth isn’t important for African countries (although I do think…
Oyalogy – a poetic approach to African feminism
On April 1st 2003, Leymah Gbowee, an activist who would later win the Nobel Peace Prize, learnt that fighting was nearing Monrovia, her country’s capital. There were clashes between rebels and then president Charles Taylor, and the scheduled presidential elections seemed increasingly unlikely to take place. Distressed, Gbowee began to make calls to her colleagues at WIPNET, the…
Sexism is pan-Africanism’s Achilles heel
In the 19th century, books in the west were often published in weekly segments in journals and newspapers. Readers awaited each new instalment and the discussions that followed eagerly. Pigeonhole is a new publishing platform aiming to revive this communal spirit of reading. One of the series you can read on their platform at…
On the African Union’s message to women
Yesterday, to commemorate International Women’s Day, the former chairperson of the African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, posted a message for African women on the union’s website. The focus of the update, one which I have pasted below, was to hone in on a political vision and action plan – ‘Agenda 2063‘ – which, among other things, “envisages a…
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