African men and feminism: Reflections on using African feminism in research

The role of African men in African feminism is a precarious one. At the core are debates on whether African men can be feminist. Using my personal experiences as a starting point I navigate these debates. I delve into the politics of the term feminist and conclude, as Ratele and Botha (2013) did, that African men cannot be feminists but pro-feminists. The use of the identifier pro-feminist assists in not silencing African women's voices. The adaptation of the identifier does not mean African men have no role to play in African feminism; in these spaces African men, acting as collaborators, can apply African feminist methods in their work as it provides rich analysis on the postcolonial position of women in Africa. I use my experiences of doing a PhD on abortion (a highly stigmatised research area in Africa) to illustrate how African feminist methods can enrich our analysis when researching Africa. I propose that it is only through collaborations between African women and men that issues of gender can continue to be addressed on the continent. African feminist methods provide useful tools for African men to challenge and problematise masculinities. I also warn against the danger of not reflecting on male privilege within the research space and how this can lead to a silencing of women's voices.