Introduction: Shedding the old
Since the turn of the century, the world has changed radically, making it unrecog- nisable to activists who came of age in the 20th century.Yuval Harari’s provocative book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, lays out current global historical, political, technological, religious, and ecological crises plus numerous other issues of interest. He asks the poignant question: “[W]hen the old stories have collapsed... what should we do in life? What kinds of skills do we need?” (2018, xiii). African feminists have been pondering similar questions for some time now, individually and collectively, attempting to weave together new stories to replace old tropes dictating how to challenge the complex and ever-changing manifestations of imperialism, oppression, and inequality. During this day and age, how do we jettison the universal narrative of “deficiency” about Africa and change it to one of dynamism and potential? Or, to borrow from Chinua Achebe, how do we continue to pursue the project of “re-storying” ourselves and reclaiming our humanity in the 21st century with vigour (2000, 79)?
This issue of Feminist Africa takes on the challenge of telling new stories of African women in the context of the “new” normal, offering fresh theorisations about our engagements with contemporary hegemonic and systemic trends. At the same time, the articles reiterate the fact that for many ordinary African women, this “new” normal is not so new. Indeed, the use of quotation marks here signals the partial novelty in the “new” normal. While there are certainly new developments in the nature of the contemporary drivers of oppression and privilege, their building blocks remain the underlying quest for profit and power. Similarly, the stories of the marginalised and oppressed may have changed in
surface details, but the tone and language are still very relatable. Activists within the African feminist movement are tightening the knots around their colourful wrappers, ready to take on the reinvented patriarchal-capitalist bull by its horns.
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FA-Volume-5-Issue-2