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African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi

Thesis (D.Phil)--Stellenbosch University, 2017.

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Main Author: Coetzee, Azille Alta
Other Authors: Du Toit, Louise
Format: Thesis
Language:en_ZA
Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2017
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access_status_str Open Access
author Coetzee, Azille Alta
author2 Du Toit, Louise
author_browse Coetzee, Azille Alta
Du Toit, Louise
author_facet Du Toit, Louise
Coetzee, Azille Alta
author_sort Coetzee, Azille Alta
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv Stellenbosch University
description Thesis (D.Phil)--Stellenbosch University, 2017.
format Thesis
id oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/102695
institution Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
language en_ZA
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:46:13.197Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
publishDate 2017
publishDateRange 2017
publishDateSort 2017
publisher Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
publisherStr Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
record_format dspace
source_str SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
spelling oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/102695 African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi Coetzee, Azille Alta Du Toit, Louise Halsema, Annemie Goris, Wouter Du Toit, H. L. Halseman, J. M. Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy. Decolonization -- Africa Oyewumi, Oyeronke Women philosophers -- Africa Feminist theory -- Africa African feminist philosophy Motherhood -- Africa UCTD Thesis (D.Phil)--Stellenbosch University, 2017. ENGLISH SUMMARY: In this dissertation I present the work of Nigerian feminist sociologist, Oyèrónké Oyĕwùmí, as a decolonising force having the power to disrupt sub-Saharan African philosophy, Western feminist thought and discourses on African decolonisation in highly significant and surprising ways. Sub-Saharan African feminist voices have been largely absent from philosophical discourse in the Western and African worlds, but also from global western feminist debates and the discourses on the decolonisation of Africa. This has been explained in African scholarship to be due to the fact that the two struggles that Africa feminism has pledged allegiance to, namely on the one hand, the liberation of African people from colonialism, neocolonialism and racism and, on the other hand, the empowerment of African women, are often construed as two logical opposites on account of the fact that feminism is regarded as a recolonising force that is alien to Africa. In this sense African feminism’s fight for the rights of African women is commonly made out to be ‘unAfrican.’ African feminist voices are therefore excluded from, and understood in opposition to, African intellectual discourses that centre indigenous and decolonising knowledges. At the same time, on the other hand, on account of the fact that Western feminism still often unthinkingly applies Western conceptual frameworks to African contexts and thereby erases African knowledges and realities, African feminists most often formulate their feminist theories outside of or independent of Western feminist theory. Their allegiance to the struggle of the decolonisation of Africa therefore keeps African feminists outside of global feminist debates, while, at the same time, their commitment to bettering the plight of women, leads to their exclusion from many systems of African knowledge production that centre indigenous or decolonising knowledges. Moreover, African philosophy is still mostly a masculinist venture and does not engage with issues of gender and accordingly African feminists mostly choose other disciplines within which to express themselves. African feminism and African philosophy are therefore to a large extent regarded to be two mutually exclusive domains of knowledge. In this dissertation I show how Oyĕwùmí, as African feminist, who is rendered inaudible and invisible in the dominant processes and sites of sub-Saharan knowledge production and Western feminism, occupies a unique epistemological position that is rich in resources to subvert, rupture and enrich these dominant systems of knowledge. I make this argument by placing Oyĕwùmí in dialogue with sub-Saharan African philosophy and with Belgian feminist scholar, Luce Irigaray. Doctoral 2017-10-13T10:24:31Z 2017-12-11T10:42:38Z 2017-10-13T10:24:31Z 2017-12-11T10:42:38Z 2017-12 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/102695 en_ZA Stellenbosch University 171 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
spellingShingle Decolonization -- Africa
Oyewumi, Oyeronke
Women philosophers -- Africa
Feminist theory -- Africa
African feminist philosophy
Motherhood -- Africa
UCTD
Coetzee, Azille Alta
African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi
title African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi
title_full African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi
title_fullStr African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi
title_full_unstemmed African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi
title_short African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi
title_sort african feminism as decolonising force a philosophical exploration of the work of oyeronke oyewumi
topic Decolonization -- Africa
Oyewumi, Oyeronke
Women philosophers -- Africa
Feminist theory -- Africa
African feminist philosophy
Motherhood -- Africa
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/102695
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