Over the past years, more lively discussions championed by African feminists have moved online to platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. “The internet has been a space where African feminism in new generations is flourishing,” notes Jessica Horn, an African feminist activist, and writer with roots in Uganda. She has formerly acted as a Director of Programs at the African Women’s Development Fund, Africa’s largest women’s fund, and is the founder of the African Feminist Forum.
Much of her work has been carried out transnationally, in conversation with activists from a variety of backgrounds in the continent. Most of the discussions she has witnessed and joined, however, have had to take place in colonial languages that are predominant, like English and French, in an internet infrastructure dictated by the West. These are the languages used to describe one’s causes and actions, to engage with fellow feminists, and to promote messages across different regions.
Listen to Jessica’s reflections around the need for a big push to center non-colonial languages online, and to support those who speak them.
