Caring through the lens of African Feminisms: A systematic review

Abstract

This study presents a systematic review of the research into care practices by African authors with a feminist perspective. The research question has been developed through the strategy known as PICo: participants, phenomenon of interest and context. In our case, these are women, feminism and care practices, and sub-Saharan Africa respectively. After the process of filtering 102 selected articles, twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. They were organized into three broad categories using thematic analysis: HIV epidemic; crisis of social reproduction, and Afro-communitarian care. The papers examined explore cultural practices and traditional gender roles as risk or protective factors for contracting HIV; the overload of care work that African women face with regard to the crisis of social reproduction; and the Afro-communitarian proposals in relation to care.

Keywords

• care
• african feminisms
• gender studies
• hiv
• afro-communitarianism