Africana Womanism in the Global Age - Old Challenges, Recurrent Struggles and New Solidarities

This edited volume brings together scholars, feminist activists, policymakers, civil society and government practitioners to discuss the recurrent challenges and struggles women in Zimbabwe and Africa continue to face, and more importantly, to show how new solidarities (beyond generations and geopolitical spaces) have emerged to try and deal with these multifarious challenges. Synthesizing theory formation with practical case studies, this volume shows the liberative potential and limitations of Africana womanism in Zimbabwe and Africa. Contributors to the volume wrestle with diverse issues relating to women s struggles for justice and equality in an environment characterized by patriarchy, capitalism and epistemic injustice. Utilizing multiple angles, they highlight the effectiveness of theory formation that is informed by local realities, while in conversation with conceptualizations from within the Global South, including the experiences of African American women. Highlighting the importance of intracontinental and transnational conversations, these chapters challenge Western-centered epistemologies and instead center Africa and African lived experiences as pivotal in knowledge production within gender, feminist and womanist scholarship. In devising new ways of thinking through gender(ed) relations, these contributions are interested in finding inclusive paradigms in which men and masculinities play a central role in bringing about change. It is an important intervention in the discourse on epistemic liberation in Global South scholarship and will be of interest to students and researchers in Women and Gender Studies, African History, Cultural Studies, Development Studies, and Sociology.

List of contents

Chapter 1. Why Africana Womanism? Authenticity and collectivity for Social Justice.- Chapter 2. Africana Womanism:  Re-thinking Gender(ed) Relations from a Multi-disciplinary Perspective.- Chapter 3. The Eurocentric gender-phobic neurosis: Potential theoretical threats to African male-female relations.- Chapter 4. The Quest for Sustainable Bases to Anchor Women s Struggles: A Study of the Matrilineal/Matriarchal Tonga Society in Zambia and Zimbabwe.- Chapter 5. The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Recurrent Interface between Disability and Gender: Exploring the Gendered Dimensions Characterising the Impact of Covid-19 in Zimbabwe through an Africana womanist lens.- Chapter 6. The dimension of gender equality in educational institutions: Female teachers and the glass ceiling phenomenon.- Chapter 7. Chikwamboism: Complementing African(a) Womanist/Feminist Thought in Understanding Women s Oppression in Africa.- Chapter 8. Africana Womanist Perspective in the Works of African Francophone Women Writers: The Example of La Tâche de Sang.- Chapter 9. African womanism and gender advocacy: A Critical Analysis of current practices.- Chapter 10. Marriage and Inheritance: An Africana Womanist Rendition of Precolonial and Postcolonial Shona Societies . Chapter 11. Gender and the media: An exploratory study of sexual harassment of students in the newsroom.- Chapter 12. Transforming gender identities through legal reforms: a critique of the representation of gender reforms in selected post-independence Shona writings in Zimbabwe.- Chapter 13. Home-grown Communicative Competences in Domestic Violence Mitigation: Harnessing Cultural heritage for development.

About the author

Pauline Mateveke is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Languages, Literature and Culture at the University of Zimbabwe. 

Eventhough Ndlovu is Associate Professor in the Department of Languages, Literature and Culture at the University of Zimbabwe.  

Zifikile Makwavarara is Professor in the Department of Languages, Literature and Culture at the University of Zimbabwe.

Ezra Chitando is Professor of History and Phenomenology of Religion at the University of Zimbabwe.

Summary

This edited volume brings together scholars, feminist activists, policymakers, civil society and government practitioners to discuss the recurrent challenges and struggles women in Zimbabwe and Africa continue to face, and more importantly, to show how new solidarities (beyond generations and geopolitical spaces) have emerged to try and deal with these multifarious challenges. Synthesizing theory formation with practical case studies, this volume shows the liberative potential and limitations of Africana womanism in Zimbabwe and Africa. Contributors to the volume wrestle with diverse issues relating to women’s struggles for justice and equality in an environment characterized by patriarchy, capitalism and epistemic injustice. Utilizing multiple angles, they highlight the effectiveness of theory formation that is informed by local realities, while in conversation with conceptualizations from within the Global South, including the experiences of African American women. Highlighting the importance of intracontinental and transnational conversations, these chapters challenge Western-centered epistemologies and instead center Africa and African lived experiences as pivotal in knowledge production within gender, feminist and womanist scholarship. In devising new ways of thinking through gender(ed) relations, these contributions are interested in finding inclusive paradigms in which men and masculinities play a central role in bringing about change. It is an important intervention in the discourse on epistemic liberation in Global South scholarship and will be of interest to students and researchers in Women and Gender Studies, African History, Cultural Studies, Development Studies, and Sociology.

Product details

• Assisted by: Ezra Chitando (Editor), Zifikile Makwavarara (Editor), Zifikile Makwavarara et al (Editor), Pauline Mateveke (Editor), Eventhough Ndlovu (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 03.10.2025
• EAN: 9783031998973
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3199897-3
• No. of pages: 324
• Illustrations: XVII, 324 p. 3 illus.
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Women's and gender studies; Afrika, Kulturwissenschaften, Gender Studies, Sociology, Feminismus und feministische Theorie, Feminist Theory, Feminism and feminist theory, African Culture, Women's Liberation, Africana womanism