Oyèrónké Oyéwùmmí argues that “gender is actually more about gendering – a process – than about something inherent in social relations” and that in order to “develop valid theories of gender, all types of experiences from around the world must be documented”. The same can be said about philosophy and its epistemologies. In order to understand the concept of gender in an African context, it is paramount to explore it’s development; its local practices and theories. Clues can be found within indigenous concepts of care, ownership, and aspiration. Therefore, this panel gathers investigative documentation about how people philosophize about gender relations in their daily lives. These include, for example, private discussions about rights within polygamous marriages; mediascapes which publicly discuss parenthood; indigenous forms of communication or religious sermons that solicit the question of what it means to be a good person.
In the spirit of Oyéwùmmí’s call to documentation of diverse experiences, we seek papers that engage with indigenous languages throughout the Senegambia in order to explore these questions of philosophy and gender. How do languages express particular ideas about gender relations and in what ways are people actively engaging in these discussions? Are these particularly African philosophies or African concepts of gender? What does that mean? What role does philosophy play in daily lives?
Please send paper proposals to eriley@colmex.mx no later than Tuesday, April 11th, 2023.
