Collective healing justice and sustainable African feminism

Addressing gender-based injustice and violence is a priority for feminist activism, but women’s and queer rights activists are often motivated by past traumas that can undermine their work. Healing justice tackles such harm by incorporating collective healing processes as core movement-work. This article draws on qualitative research with 47 feminist activists and healers in 11 African countries and three learning events to show how collective healing could be applied to sustain them. It argues that healing mutual harm requires a combination of communal, holistic-embodied and political healing approaches, which should be contextualised.

Five key praxis elements are synthesised to guide adaptive healing applications: reenergising-bonding; verbal–interactive; embodied-enacted; spiritual-ritual; and power-building practices. Insights on navigating the key tensions are discussed. However, collective healing requires longer-term, iteratively evolving processes to achieve social and political healing, and this needs fundamental changes to feminist financing.