The African Feminist Initiative (AFI) at Penn State has announced this year’s grant recipients, naming five scholars and artists whose work spans parliamentary politics in Uganda, Black womanhood in South Africa’s Diamond City, Black masculinities across three continents, women’s cultural production in the Sahel, and feminist responses to the climate crisis. In the announcement, shared by Gabeba Baderoon, the organisers said they received dozens of outstanding applications, which made selection a challenging process. They described the strength of the submissions as a testament to the innovative and groundbreaking work being done by feminist scholars, artists and activists of Africa.

The Research Seed Grant goes to Hannah Muzee for “Is it Time to Move on from Affirmative Action in Politics? Political Godmothers and the Future of Women’s Parliamentary Representation in Uganda.” The project asks whether quota-based approaches to women’s political participation have run their course, and looks at the role of political godmothers in shaping who gets into Uganda’s parliament. An honorable mention in this category goes to Baleseng Maeneche for “Mining the Silences, from the Big Hole to Galeshewe: Black Womxn, Exclusion and the Politics of Belonging in the Diamond City.” Maeneche’s work follows the history of exclusion and belonging for Black women in Kimberley, from the mining site of the Big Hole to the township of Galeshewe.

The ASA Annual Meeting Graduate Student Travel Grant is awarded to Marie-Fidele Dusingize for “Beyond Hegemonic Paradigms: Territoriality, Vulnerability, and Agency in the Reconfiguration of Black Masculinities (Brussels, Dakar, Salvador da Bahia).” The project examines Black masculinities across Europe, West Africa and Brazil. Diweng Mercy Dafong receives an honorable mention in the same category for “Archiving the Sahel through Burkinabè Women’s Cultural Production,” which centres women’s creative work as a way of building a record of the region.

The Feminist Cultural Productions Grant goes to Yusra Abdi for “Voices of Climate Justice: An Online Feminist Cultural Production and Digital Archive from the Nairobi Summer School on Climate Justice.” The project will produce both a cultural work and a digital archive from the summer school, preserving feminist voices in climate justice debates.

The African Feminist Initiative was formed in 2015 as a global and transnational platform where feminist scholars and activists collaborate on interdisciplinary knowledge production about Africa and its diaspora. Based at Penn State, it aims to raise awareness of African feminist studies and to build partnerships among scholars, activists and institutions. Its programming includes Feminist Dialogues, Feminist Book Talks, mentoring, professional development and global conferences, alongside a growing digital repository of African feminist research, teaching and activist materials. In the announcement, AFI thanked all applicants for sharing their work and said it looks forward to seeing these projects develop in the months ahead.

Congratulations to all of this year’s recipients and honorees!