Can Feminism be African?: A Conversation with Minna Salami

Nov 20, 2025

Minna Salami, a writer and social critic focused on African feminism and political philosophy, shares insights from her new book, Can Feminism Be African?. She challenges the notion that African feminism solely stems from suffering and examines the historical ties between nationalism and patriarchy. Salami discusses the need for a new feminist language to transform societal ideas and critiques colonial education models. She also explores the complexities of masculinities in African contexts and encourages engagement with political philosophy for feminism's evolution.

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INSIGHT

African Feminism As Political Philosophy

Minna Salami reframes African feminism as a political philosophy rather than a report of suffering.
She urges readers to see African feminism as expansive, addressing ideas, history, and global relations.

INSIGHT

Paradox As A Generative Question

Salami uses the paradoxical title to disrupt assumptions about Africa and feminism and to invite deeper questioning.
She links this paradox to historical feminist statements like Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" to provoke rethinking.

INSIGHT

Patriarchy Linked To Agriculture

Salami traces patriarchy's origins to the agricultural revolution and land ownership, not to an eternal human constant.
She connects the rise of property and borders to male dominance and control over women and children.

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Transcript of the interview

Minna Salami is a writer, social critic, and thought leader on feminism, knowledge production, and the aesthetics and structures of power. She formerly served as Programme Chair and Senior Fellow at THE NEW INSTITUTE, where she led the Black Feminism and the Polycrisis programme. Her work sits at the intersection of ideas, culture, and systems thinking, with a commitment to making complex theories accessible through books, essays, public speaking, and creative projects.

She is the author of Can Feminism Be African? (Harper Collins, 2025) and Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone (Bloomsbury, 2020), which has been translated into multiple languages. Her writing also appears in numerous anthologies and educational publications exploring feminism, African philosophy, media, and cultural criticism.

Her work has featured in The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Ideas Letter, Project Syndicate, and The Philosopher, and she has delivered talks at global institutions including TEDx, the Institute of Arts and Ideas, the European Commission, the Oxford and Cambridge Unions, Yale, and Singularity University at NASA.

Salami was the creative director of the short film Black Feminism and the Polycrisis, which won the Silver Award for Public Service and Activism at the 2024 Lovie Awards.

From 2019 to 2022, she co-directed Activate, an intersectional feminist movement that supported minoritised women in politics and community organising through visibility campaigns, mentoring, and fundraising. The initiative played a key role in shifting narratives and resources toward a more inclusive political landscape in the UK.

She has also worked as a Research Associate and Editor at Perspectiva, advised governments on gender equality, developed national school curricula, and curated cultural events at institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Her blog, MsAfropolitan, launched in 2010, has reached over a million readers and remains a platform for exploring feminist and African-centred approaches to contemporary life.

Salami is a Full Member of the Club of Rome, a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader, and serves on the advisory boards of the African Feminist Initiative at Penn State University and Public Humanities at Cambridge University Press, as well as the council of the British Royal Institute of Philosophy.

Links to References:
Apart Together – essay on Leopold Senghor and Aimé Césaire’s radical vision for the world

Africa’s Populist Trap for The Ideas Letter

The Niger River and the Dearth of History: Deconstructing the Myths of Mungo Park by Ezenwa E. Olumba

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