by Janet Ami Husunukpe
Abstract
This paper centres the voices of grassroots women, exploring their role in socioeconomic development through resistance strategies rooted in indigenous knowledge and ethics of reciprocity. Drawing on empirical engagement with grassroots women and activists in Northern Ghana, as well as interviews with feminist scholars, I argue, firstly, that ethics of reciprocity and acknowledgement of local knowledge are central to these women’s resistance. Secondly, their resistance practices exemplify how agency is exercised in challenging socioeconomic structures and embody the principles of African feminism and feminist ethics, principles rooted in local context and critically relevant for broader feminist theorising and praxis. Thirdly, their experiences illuminate the tensions between external development frameworks and local resistance practices, highlighting the complexities of grassroots-led socioeconomic transformation. Exploring how women collectively resist alienation entails identifying contextual practices of resistance rooted in shared histories, cultures, and values which African feminisms emphasise. By attending to the material and kinship economies that sustain life, I position grassroots women’s organising as a crucial site for reimagining futures. These feminist practices feed us materially and epistemologically – offering visions of survival that exceed the limits of mainstream development thought.
Keywords: African feminisms, Indigenous knowledge, ethics of reciprocity, grassroots women, feminisms
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02_FA2025_Vol6.3_-Feature-2_-Husunukpe