Developing a Decolonial Feminist Framework for Gender Studies Curriculum in Nigerian Universities

Gender Studies as an academic discipline in Nigerian universities has been shaped significantly by Western feminist theories and methodologies that inadequately reflect African women's lived experiences, epistemologies, and political priorities. This study develops a decolonial feminist framework for Gender Studies curriculum in Nigerian universities, drawing on African feminist theory, indigenous knowledge systems, and empirical assessment of current curriculum content. A transformative research paradigm underpins a multi-phase design: systematic curriculum analysis of Gender Studies programmes across 12 Nigerian universities, 55 interviews with academics, students, and feminist practitioners, and participatory curriculum co-design workshops. Decolonial feminist theory, Ubuntu epistemology, and critical pedagogy informed the analytical approach. Findings demonstrate that existing Nigerian Gender Studies curricula overrepresent Western second-wave feminist theory, neglect African feminist scholarship including the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi and Nkiru Nzegwu, and rarely incorporate indigenous knowledge frameworks. Students report significant epistemological disconnect between curriculum content and their social realities. The resulting Decolonial Feminist Curriculum Framework (DFCF) provides module templates, reading list guidelines, pedagogical approaches, and assessment principles grounded in African feminist traditions. This study makes an original and substantial contribution to curriculum theory, African feminist scholarship, and educational decolonisation debates. Keywords: decolonial feminism, curriculum, Gender Studies, Nigerian universities, African feminist theory