This book critically opens new pathways for de-colonial scholarship and the reclamation of indigenous self-definition by women scholars. Indigenous peoples around the world are often socially egalitarian and gender equal, matricentric, matrifocal, matrilineal, less violent, beyond heteronormative, ecologically sensitive, and with feminine or two-gender deities or spirits, and more. Bernedette Muthien has contributed to several publications over the years, while June Bam has made numerous key contributions in the field of rethinking and rewriting the African past more generally. In this book, indigenous women write their own herstory, define their own contemporary cultural and socio-economic conditions, and ideate future visions based on their lived realities. All chapters herstoricise the accepted 'histories' and theories of how we have come to understand the African past, how to problematise and rethink that discourse, and provide new and different herstorical lenses, philosophies, epistemologies, methodologies and interpretations. In a first of its kind in Africa and the world, this collection of essays is written by, with and for indigenous southern African women from matricentric societies.

Important intervention in the field of decolonising knowledge; Has a wide audience including not only scholars but also indigenous societies all around the world.

About the Author
Bernedette Muthien has held executive positions in academia, civil society and the public sector in South Africa and abroad. She is an accomplished facilitator, researcher and poet with over 200 publications and conference presentations, some of which have been translated into at least 16 other languages. She was the first Fulbright-Amy Biehl Fellow at Stanford University and holds postgraduate degrees in Political Science. She serves on various international advisory boards, including the journals Human Security Studies and Journal of Human Security, as well as the International Institute on Peace Education. June Bam heads the Khoi and San Unit, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town. She is co-originator of !Ga re - Rangatiratanga - Dadirri, a project on 'deep listening'; visiting professor with Stanford University's overseas programme (2014-2020); co-editor of Whose History Counts (2018); and finalist for the NIHSS inaugural awards (2020). Her previous work won the UNESCO Peace Education Prize for South Africa in 2008.


Book Information
ISBN 9781928232940
Author Bernedette Muthien
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd
Publisher Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd
Weight(grams) 500g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 155mm * 15mm