What this list covers: Decolonial feminism extends feminist critique beyond Western frameworks to dismantle how colonialism, imperialism, and Western knowledge systems have shaped gender, sexuality, and liberation movements. These texts center the work of scholars, theorists, and activists from the Global South and marginalized communities worldwide.
10 Essential Texts
- “Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity” by Chandra Talpade Mohanty (2003) — Mohanty’s foundational text reimagines feminist solidarity across borders, critiquing Western feminist universalism and centering the knowledge of women in the Global South.
- “Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism” by Trinh T. Minh-ha (1989) — This hybrid genre-work theorizes how colonialism constructed categories of “Woman” and “Native,” offering poetic and philosophical resistance to Western epistemic frameworks.
- “Heterosexualism and the Colonial/Modern Gender System” by María Lugones (2007) — Lugones argues that the gender binary itself is a colonial imposition, tracing how colonialism introduced heterosexual dimorphism to non-Western societies.
- “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment” by Patricia Hill Collins (1989) — Collins develops Black feminist epistemology as a critical standpoint, demonstrating how Black women’s knowledge production has always been decolonial in practice.
- “Women, Race, & Class” by Angela Davis (1981) — Davis traces how racism, capitalism, and gender oppression are interlocked systems, analyzing resistance from enslaved women, working-class women, and women of color.
- “Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center” by bell hooks (1984) — hooks articulates how feminism must center the experiences of women on the margins—particularly Black women—to be truly liberatory and oppositional.
- “The Coloniality of Gender” by Rita Segato (2013) — Segato excavates how colonialism gendered indigenous peoples and reorganized patriarchy, contributing essential analysis on how colonialism weaponized gender.
- “Can the Subaltern Speak?” by Gayatri Spivak (1988) — Spivak’s influential essay theorizes how colonized women’s voices are systematically silenced, problematizing Western feminist attempts to “speak for” the subaltern.
- “On Being Woman and Womanist” in Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde (1984) — Lorde’s essays articulate an intersectional feminist praxis grounded in Black women’s experience, sexuality, and power.
- “Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature” by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1986) — Though Ngũgĩ centers language and African literature, this text is essential for understanding how decolonial feminists engage with epistemic and linguistic sovereignty.
How to Use This List
These texts work best not as isolated reads but as an evolving conversation. You don’t need to read them in order or all at once—start with what calls to you based on your specific context and questions. Consider reading decolonial feminists in conversation with one another: pair Mohanty with Lugones, or Lorde with Collins. Pay attention to how these thinkers build on, critique, and expand each other’s work. Decolonial feminism is not a finished framework but an ongoing practice of unlearning Western knowledge production and building new ways of knowing together. Use this list as a foundation, but let it lead you to other writers, particularly those from your own regions and communities who are doing this work locally and in languages beyond English.
