On December 15 and 16, 2025, a workshop will be focusing on women’s voluntary activism in Ghana and other (post)colonial contexts, organized by Gifty Nyame Tabiri, co-Investigator in our sub-project on “Voluntariness, Decolonization and Gender.” Starting with a film screening followed by a discussion of the 2022 documentary film “When Women Speak” a workshop on recent research perspectives and resources on Friday will discuss “Voluntariness, Women’s Activism and (Post-)Colonial Narratives.”
The workshop explores women’s voluntary political activism in (post)colonial societies. Women, throughout history, have challenged their marginalization by actively forging their own paths of social and political change. How did these endeavors look like? What forms did they take, especially during the transitional (post-)colonial periods? How did voluntariness reinforce or challenge these endeavors? Both the documentary film and our workshop will explore oral history, (un)conventional historical resources and recent research perspectives to discuss these questions, in postcolonial West African history as well as other global contexts.
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On Monday, December 15, 2025, from 06:30 to 09:00 pm, Kate Skinner, Professor for African History at the University of Bristol, and Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Professor for African and Gender Studies at the University of Ghana, will introduce us to both the workshop questions and the documentary film “When Women Speak.” Both launched the research project behind the film and we are delighted to host them for our workshop. On Tuesday, December 16, 2025, from 10:00 am to 15:00 pm, the discussion broadens with perspectives on other research projects and insightful resources under thetheme of “Voluntariness, Women’s Activism and (Post-) Colonial Narratives.”
Everybody interested is cordially invited to attend the event. To take part in the workshop starting Tuesday morning, please register with Stefanie Büttner, coordinator of the DFG Research Unit “Voluntariness”, via email to fg.freiwilligkeit@uni-erfurt.de. Both events will be held in English.
On the Topic: Women’s Voluntary Activism in (post-) Colonial Societies
Over the years, the roles played by women in the fight against colonial rule have been underestimated. Equally underrepresented are their contributions to building and shaping (post-)colonial societies before and after the attainment of independence. Though these narratives have gained in prominence in contemporary discourses and historiography on gender and development, there remain gaps in conceptualizing and understanding how voluntariness as an underlying force of women’s activism plays out in reinforcing or challenging their efforts. This workshop explores the multi-layered and often overlooked aspects of women’s political activism in colonial and postcolonial contexts. We probe how women, through voluntary agency, have navigated shifting ideas of womanhood, citizenship and development to forge their own paths of social and political change.
We will examine how these self-organized and largely voluntary endeavors have not only challenged but also been shaped by the continuously evolving nature of post-colonial societies. Taking the case of Ghana, as is illustrated by the documentary film , “When Women Speak” (2022), the workshop will explore unconventional sources that aid our understanding of voluntariness in historical contexts. By analyzing examples from different regions in Africa and Asia, the workshop will additionally unravel the changing meanings of voluntary action that underpin women’s activism in other postcolonial societies. Thus, by reviewing and analyzing differently framed case studies across different contexts, the workshop will facilitate a deeper understanding of the agency of women, and its continued relevance in post-colonial societies.
