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Paper short abstract

African women shape development through everyday authority often excluded by Eurocentric knowledge systems. Using interviews and the Yoruba concept of àṣẹ, this paper frames women’s practices as governance and proposes ethical ways to document and theorise them for feminist political theory.

Paper long abstract

African women have long shaped development at home, in communities, and across society. Their contributions include managing resources, resolving conflicts, guiding moral norms, and sustaining collective life. Much of this knowledge remains unwritten and is excluded from scholarship. This exclusion reflects Eurocentric frameworks and colonial legacies that define what counts as valid knowledge.

This paper examines African women’s knowledge as a form of authority expressed through àşę — the Yoruba concept of power, agency, and the ability to effect change. Drawing on interviews, oral narratives, and historical examples, we examine how Yoruba women exercise authority through everyday practices that sustain social order and organize communities. These practices are political and governing in nature, not merely cultural or domestic.

With these, this paper proposes approaches to document and theorize these knowledge while maintaining epistemic integrity. It outlines oral interviews, participatory research methods, community workshops, and indigenous philosophical frameworks. These strategies allow scholars to capture unwritten and oral knowledge without flattening or appropriating it. They also make these practices legible and citable in scholarship and policy.

By combining empirical examples with conceptual analysis, the paper advances feminist political theory and development studies. It challenges state-centric and Eurocentric accounts of power. It also highlights how African women’s everyday knowledge constitutes recognized authority and shapes collective outcomes. The paper argues that documenting and theorizing these knowledge is essential for epistemic justice and for rethinking development frameworks that historically exclude African women.