Heterogeneity of social movements addressing the intersections of gender and race: A reflection on feminisms and womanisms emerging from African women

African feminist and womanist movements emerged as a response to the ways in which the experiences of African women have been hidden and obscured and by the way in which particular notions of womanhood have been centred as universal and others have been muted, erased or ignored (Mohanty, 1991; Fennell and Arnot, 2008). Kolawole (2002: 97) argues that we need to revisit the history of women’s mobilisation in Africa to reveal ‘unchartered areas of African women’s self- assertion and resilience’. This will contribute to knowledge on the precolonial resistance and activism of African women that remains unexplored. To accentuate the knowledge production and self- definition of African women, this chapter will focus on Black feminisms, African feminisms, womanisms, Africana womanisms and nego- feminism, as some examples of scholarship from African women. The use of the terms feminisms and womanisms (plural) where relevant, instead of feminism and womanism (singular) accentuates that even within each of these bodies of thought, there is heterogeneity.