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Womanism, Activism, Higher Education Research Network

Decolonising Higher Education: A Global Womanist Perspective

Conference 2026

Navigating the Spaces for Resistance: Autoethnography and Black Feminisms

Tuesday 7 July 2026, Bloomsbury, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú.

Speakers: Geniece Crawford Mondé and Ebonie Cunningham Stringer ‘Spaces for resistance: Black Feminist Theory and Praxis in Academia and Beyond’.

For further information email Dr Jan Etienne.

Background

This research network is an international proactive space for womanist conversations with black women in higher education.

The network draws heavily on the concept of womanism which acknowledges the need to tackle the under-representation of black women in British feminist research. Members of the network engage with womanist learning, a black feminist approach in education and learning which depicts the ways in which black women learn while at the same time locating their learning in the heart of their communities. In this way, womanist learning becomes synonymous with community activism as the women find ways to help build stronger, local communities and rise above past and current oppression.

This research network explores the role of the black woman in promoting learning development and political activism in the community. It seeks to bring together the work of researchers, academics, and activists in the field of gender, ‘race’, education, and community development to explore womanism and the influence of education for building stronger, local communities.

  • About us

    The Womanism, Activism, Higher Education Research Network brings black women academics and researchers together with education activists in the community. The research network exists to promote womanist research and the voice of the black woman across diverse areas such as:

    • community and political representation
    • pedagogies for change: teaching strategies for womanist learning
    • media representation, social technologies, art and music
    • mothers and sisters in the struggle: reclaiming black women's grass roots activism
    • sexuality, community and non-binary strategies for change
    • widening access and womanist participation in higher education
    • intersectionality and inequality
    • communities in crisis: black women, youth justice, criminality - institutions and challenge
    • womanism and faith-based strategies for promoting inclusion
    • disability, challenge and the health of black communities
    • dismantling structural racism in higher education.

  • Meetings and conferences

  • Members

    • , Chair of Womanism, Activism, Higher Education Research Network, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú
    • Higher education members:
      • Funmike Alonge, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú graduate, MSc Education, Power and Social Change
      • , Georgia State University, USA
      • Elizabeth Charles, Assistant Director of Library Services, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú
      • Ezimma Chigbo, youth practitioner and founder of the Luna Project
      • , University of Oxford
      • Jen Davis, law graduate, creator, and co-host of Consensus Podcast 
      • Fyna Dowe, teacher, vocalist, lyricist, and Director of Head Healers Theatre Company
      • Patricia Gilbert, Associate Lecturer, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú
      • Lurraine Jones, Senior Lecturer, University of East London
      • Dawn Joseph, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú graduate, postgraduate certificate in Criminology 
      • Carmelita Kadeena-Whyte, artist, pan-Africanist, and Black Art Trail Cultural activist
      • Iesha Ledeatte, poetic text artist and Peach Mango Maverick activist
      • Nombusi Mathibela, independent activist researcher and member of Pathways to Free Education, South Africa
      • , University of Bedfordshire
      • Dr Sibongile Mpofu, National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe
      • Matilda Okuyiga, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú graduate, MSc Education, Power and Social Change
      • , Vanderbilt University, USA
      • , Open University
      • Palmela Witter, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú graduate, MSc Voluntary and Community Sector Studies 
      • Professor Cecile Wright, University of Nottingham
      • Bex Shorunke, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú PhD student researching, Race, Gender and Policing
      • Angela 'Poppyseed' Harvey, Writer, Musical Performance Poet, Lecturer, Pan Black Womanist, Environmentalist and Humanitarian
      • Sharon Frazer, Psychodynamic, Psychotherapist
      • Sabrina Bowen, ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú PhD student researching intergenerational roles of the Caribbean diaspora

  • Community membership

    • Arts-based black women’s activist forum
    • Dub poets project
    • Web-based black sister’s group
    • Pod casting black feminist blog collectives
    • Online youth feminist groups
    • Anti-knife/gun crime womanist initiative
    • Community education projects

  • Support

  • Ongoing research projects

    • Black women; youth crime and violence
    • Impacting black lives: womanist research methodology research project

  • Related publications

    • Etienne, J. (2025). (Ed) . New York: Lived Places Publishing

  • Videos

  • Contact