Decolonizing feminist education

Teaching African feminism at a South African university

Bibliographic Data

ID12232133
AuthorsNaomi Nkealah (0000-0001-7953-9663, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume38
Issue3
Pages296-311
Publication date2026-01-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGender and Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0954-0253 • E-ISSN: 1360-0516
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09540253.2026.2617569
OpenAlexW7125950245
LanguageEN
References cited36

Contemporary feminist education is riddled with inequalities that place Western feminist theories and pedagogies at the centre of teaching and learning feminism, while African knowledges and pedagogies remain marginalized. This article draws on the experience of teaching African feminism at a South African university to offer some propositions on decolonizing feminist education. It suggests that the project of decolonizing feminist education at universities entails epistemological and pedagogical transformations that legitimate indigenous ways of being, knowing and learning. Reflective in nature, it argues that there is a need for a uniquely African feminist pedagogical framework that enables African feminist teachers to bring African women’s ontologies and epistemologies into the classroom. Ultimately, the article offers indigeneity and orality as core principles in African feminist pedagogy that foster a transformative feminist education, while affirming the need for ongoing reflection and action in decolonizing feminist education.

African culture · Black feminism · Ethnography · Feminism · Higher education · Qualitative research · African cultural and philosophical studies · Feminist Theory and Gender Studies · South African History and Culture

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