“From the West, Clouds come hurrying with the wind” - Caribbean & African feminism: Trends Examined

Abstract

To describe Caribbean and African feminism as interwoven is an understatement. Their correlation is irrefutable, sharing commonalities across concepts of gender and sexuality, labour, and feminist organization. Both feminisms share the distinctive characteristic of being in constant flux, being especially influenced by the colonial structures that continue to pervade our society today. As a result of colonialism, the gender identity and sexuality of the Caribbean and African female subject have been subject to regulation and policing, in order to ensure that the recipients of patriarchal privilege are made explicit. Likewise, attempts have also been made to control the Caribbean and African entrepreneurial community. The space these women have created for themselves in order to escape the racialised and genderised barriers associated with formal labour, is being constantly devalued through the implication that this space is in need of legitimisation. Over time, these feminisms have grown to centre a multitude of social, economic and political concerns. The contributions they have made to society however, are under constant threat of erasure.