African Gender Scholarship: Concepts, Methodologies and Paradigms

A distinctive contribution of African feminist and gender scholarship has been a conscious effort to draw from, and simultaneously rethink, concepts, paradigms and methodologies that are often taken for granted both in conventional and in mainstream feminist scholarship. This with a view to enriching them with perspectives sensitive to the encounters, cultures, economic and socio-political predicaments that have shaped and been shaped by gender relations in Africa.

Volume I brings together essays by some of the leading names on gender studies in Africa, as a major contribution to these concerns. Situating themselves variously in relation to claims and counter claims on the universalisms and particularisms in African feminism and gender studies, the authors de-bate the relative (de)-merits of Eurocentrism, African epistemologies and cultures, colonial legacies, postcolonial realities, and other current dilemmas and challenges in understanding and articulating African feminism and gender research. Practiced and budding scholars should find this a fascinating read.

The CODESRIA Gender Series acknowledges the need to challenge the masculinities underpinning the structures of repression that target women. The series aims to keep alive and nourish African social science research with insightful research and debates that challenge conventional wisdom, structures and ideologies that are narrowly informed by caricatures of gender realities. It strives to showcase the best in African gender research and provide a platform for the emergence of new talents to flower.