Overview

In this seminar contemporarity is theorized as a new framework for Black feminist resistances—personal and socio-political—and explores reimagined lived realities as a crucial site for the generation of new feminist epistemologies and alternative ways of living. Given the failures of neo-colonial and neoliberal state regimes across the African continent and the globe to respond equitably to the imperatives of human emancipation, I argue for a return to and closer interrogation of personal politics and feminist relationships to the self and the ecosystems that nurture both. The challenge is to find new sources of creative imaginaries and resistance that will lead to the unfolding of discourses, practices, and ways of living that offer an alternative to neoliberal capitalism. From the experience of sustaining oneself through ecological balance, a respectful interaction with nature, and nonmarket practices of sufficiency, I propose to glean the knowledge and inherent integrity embedded in such processes to create new radical social knowledge and practices.

Bio note

Patricia McFadden is a radical African feminist who aspires to a life of freedom and joy. She is vegan and produces most of her own organic food on a mountain in eastern Swaziland. She teaches and advocates internationally for women's issues. MacFadden has a degree in Politics and administration from University of Botswana and Swaziland, a master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Dar es Salaam and, in 1987, she received her PhD from Warwick University. She is the author of the books Gender in Southern Africa: A Gendered Perspective, Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa and Reconceptualizing the Family in a Changing Southern African Environment (this one with Sara C. Mvududu). Her most recent publication is Women’s Freedoms Are the Heartbeat of Africa’s Future: A Sankarian Imperative.


Activity within Escola de Inverno Ecologias Feministas de Saberes II, do Gender Workshop Series e do Programa de Investigação Epistemologias do Sul