Elevating Decolonial and Afrofeminist Debates

Dr. Yolande Bouka is pioneering a transformative approach to International Relations (IR) by decolonizing its study and teaching, highlighting the often-overlooked contributions of Black women from Africa and the Diaspora. As the Canada Research Chair in Afrofeminist Thought and Political Transformation, her research challenges the dominant Anglo-European traditions that have long shaped IR and seeks to address the unique vulnerabilities that Black and other racialized women face under the modern state. She aims to elevate decolonial and Afrofeminist debates by creating and sustaining physical and virtual spaces to develop strategies to teach and mainstream Black women’s international thought in the study of politics.

Dr. Bouka’s research program also includes the creation of a transnational network that will act as a laboratory of ideas where domestic and international academics, activists, and students can learn from one another through workshops, web-based repositories, podcasts, and the development of collaborative research projects on Afrofeminist Thought. It will draw on archival research, analysis of secondary data on Black and African women from various disciplines for political science and IR analysis, and life history interviews. To complement these methods and achieve decolonial feminist objectives, Dr. Bouka’s research program will rely on storytelling as part of the Black narrative tradition. It will also explore and explain the various kinds of worldmaking Afrofeminists have engaged in to map new pathways for political transformation and social justice. Additionally, the research is timely as it engages with emerging conversations about emancipatory thought, practices, and aspirations of Black women for planetary transformation.