‘AFRICAN FEMINISMS GATHERING: FEMINIST WORLDS IN PRACTICE’

Feminist Worlds in Practice centers the ways women across Africa create and sustain spaces of resistance, care, and possibility in their everyday lives.

At a time when feminist spaces are increasingly constrained, this gathering turns attention to what already exists: the practices, strategies, and forms of knowledge that women use to hold themselves and each other. It asks how these worlds are created, what sustains them, and what they make possible.

Day 1: Opening at Impundu Arts Centre

Thursday, 03 September

Grounding in memory, context, and collective arrival

Time

Session

Description

Venue

17:00

Gallery Walk

(Re)present: African Feminist Perspectives on Representation

A walk through an exhibition exploring how African women shape, reclaim, and transform narratives of identity, memory, culture, and belonging. Through diverse artistic voices, the exhibition celebrates self-representation as an act of agency, affirmation, and imagining new futures.

Impundu Arts Centre

18:00

Opening: Feminist Worlds in Practice

The opening gathering marks the beginning of four days of collective inquiry, connection, and imagination. It introduces the central theme, “Feminist Worlds in Practice,” as something already being built every day across the continent and its diaspora. A keynote by Giramata sets the tone for conversations on feminist futures, collective action, and possibility.

The keynote by Giramata will offer critical insights to frame the gathering’s core themes.

Impundu Arts Centre

19:00 - 21:00

Informal Gathering
Social

The evening continues with food, art, music, and conversation at Impundu Art Centre. It offers a gentle space to arrive, settle in, and connect — with time to meet others, rest from travel, and ease into the gathering. Performances by Nigerian artist Taiwo Ayiedogbon and Rwandan musician Sophie Nzayisenga will accompany the evening, creating a relaxed setting for conversation, connection, and shared enjoyment.

Performance by:
Taiwo Aiyedogbon (Nigeria)
Sophie Nzayisenga (Rwanda)

Impundu Arts Centre

Day 2: Care

Friday, 04 September

Practices of healing, ritual, and sustaining feminist worlds.

Time

Session

Description

Venue

09:30 - 10:30

Embodied Practice
Opening Ritual & Morning Tea

A short embodied practice to open the day, breath, meditation and intention-setting before the morning's conversations begin.

Goethe-Institut

10:30 - 13:00

Storytelling as Political Practice
Masterclass

This masterclass explores storytelling as an artistic and political practice, asking how women can reclaim the power to define their own bodies, experiences, and narratives. Drawing on Natacha Muziramakenga’s practice, participants will use film, photography, and poetry to explore visibility, agency, silence, and power.

Facilitated by:
Natacha Muziramakenga

Limited Space. RSVP to: hoaf@goethe.de (RE: Storytelling Masterclass)

Goethe-Institut

09:30 - 12:30

A hands-on basket weaving workshop facilitated by Iraba Artisans, inviting participants to explore weaving as a creative and collective practice. Through making, conversation, and shared knowledge, participants will weave together ideas of community, care, connection, and feminist worlds.

Facilitated by:
Iraba Artisans

Limited space. RSVP to: hoaf@goethe.de (RE: Basket weaving workshop)

Iraba House

13:00 - 15.30

A table talk at the Nyamirambo Women’s Center exploring how place, memory, food, care, and everyday practices shape the worlds women create around them. Through conversation and a shared meal, we will reflect on how knowledge and values are passed between women, and how practices of care, creativity, independence, and resistance are sustained.

Grounded in Nyamirambo and the lived experiences of local women, the conversation asks: What worlds are women already creating around us, and what does it take to sustain them?

Nyamirambo Women's Centre

18:00 - 20:00

Feminist Ritual in Practice
Circle Dialogue

This intimate conversation explores how African women and feminist communities use everyday rituals to create meaning, connection, and support. Through objects, storytelling, paired conversations, and a gentle movement practice, participants will reflect on the relationships and practices that help them navigate everyday life, healing, loss, and belonging.

The session offers a warm, relaxed space to share, listen, and consider how the rituals we create and inherit can hold memory, build community, and sustain us.

Facilitated by:
Joia Sabimana (Rwanda)

Limited space. RSVP to: hoaf@goethe.de (RE: Feminist Rituals Circle)

The Circle Kigali

18:00 - 18:30

A brief closing ritual to mark the end of the day.

The Circle Kigali

19:00 Onwards

Care Garden (Fire edition)

An informal evening around the fire with food, snacks, and conversation. A space to eat, talk, rest, and connect without a set agenda. Come as you are, stay for a while, and enjoy an easy evening together.

The Circle Kigali

Day 3: Solidarity

Saturday, 05 September

Building connections, movement, and collective action.

Time

Session

Description

Venue

09:00 - 10:00

Opening Ritual & Morning Tea
Embodied Practice

A short embodied practice to open the day, breath, meditation and intention-setting before the morning's conversations begin.

Goethe-Institut

10:00 - 12:00

Buidling Solidarity in Practice
Conversation

A participatory conversation focused on the practical work of building sustainable collective action. Participants will explore resource mapping, mutual aid, navigating conflict, and creating structures for long-term accountability — moving beyond allyship towards deeper forms of solidarity and collective action.

Facilitator:
Chantal Umuhoza

Speakers:
Marie Mornonde (Chad)
Maria Luisa Fernando Garcia (Angola)

Goethe-Institut

13:00 - 14:30

The House Reading
Reading & Reflection

This session invites participants to slow down and spend time with feminist writing. Four works offer different ways of thinking about feminist worlds — naming them, living them, imagining otherwise, and sustaining them. Short excerpts will be read aloud, followed by reflection and a brief pair-share, creating space to listen, reflect, and exchange ideas.

Contributor:
Edwige Dro (Cote d'lvoire)

Goethe-Institut

14:30 - 16:30

Nkisu: Reading & Gallery Walk
Reading and Discussion with young adults

A live reading of Nkisu, the House of African Feminisms comic series about a teenage girl navigating life, friendship, and feminism at the African Feminist Academy. The session brings the story to life, followed by an open conversation about gender, identity, relationships, and the everyday experiences of young people.

14:45 - 16:30

Lineages of Care and Resistance
Soft Panel

This dialogue explores the historical and collective practices that have sustained African feminist movements across generations. Centering care as a political and community practice, rather than a private emotion, the conversation looks at storytelling, healing, memory, organising, and collective resistance. It asks how these feminist lineages are carried forward, reimagined, and connected to struggles for social and ecological justice.

Contributors:
Samira Isimbi (Rwanda)
Dr Omileye Achikeobi-Lewis
Tomiyin Bello (Nigeria)
Nokwanda Ndlovu Grava (South Africa)

Goethe-Institut

16:30 - 17:00

Daily Closing Circle

Come talk, rest and conect in the care garden.

Goethe-Institut

Day 4: Imagination

Sunday, 06 September

Reimagining feminist futures through collective visioning.

Time

Session

Description

10.00 - 14.00

Cultivating Feminist Worlds
Closing

A participatory closing session inviting participants to reflect on the Gathering. The session offers space to take stock, imagine what comes next, and think together about the futures we want to create — and the role each of us can play in cultivating them.

Limited space. RSVP to: hoaf@goethe.de (RE: Cultivating Feminist Worlds)

Inzira

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