Narrative Landscapes of Female Sexuality in Africa: Concluding Thoughts

Abstract

In this chapter, the author brings together important themes and findings from the book linking them to the broader picture of social change and gender research for the African continent. She discusses the possibilities for women’s agency in the face of patriarchal oppression of female sexuality in South Africa, drawing on the theoretical findings of the research. She then discusses the methodological and practical insights gained for a research model that provides new knowledge about women’s agency and promotes practical change in the lives of the researched. In the final section of the chapter, the author provides suggestions for future research that will enrich African-based knowledge and intellectual activism within what Macleod (Radical plural feminisms and emancipatory practice in post-apartheid South Africa. Theory & Psychology, 16, 348, 2006) calls the ‘patchworks’ of global patriarchies.