African Feminist Communication Theory: Developing an Indigenous Framework from Nigerian Women’s Media Experiences

This study develops an original African feminist communication theory grounded in the communication experiences of Nigerian women across different social positions, making a substantive contribution to the decolonisation of feminist communication scholarship. Western feminist communication theory, while providing important analytical tools, inadequately accounts for the distinctive patriarchies, communal ethics, intersectional identities, and communication practices of Nigerian women's lives. This study employs a participatory research methodology combining narrative inquiry with 68 Nigerian women across diverse positions (journalists, rural communicators, social media creators, NGO communication officers, traditional women communicators, and academic communication scholars) in all six geopolitical zones, complemented by critical discourse analysis of Nigerian women's media productions across multiple genres and platforms. Theoretical development follows a grounded theory approach, allowing theory to emerge inductively from women's experiences rather than being imposed from existing frameworks. Findings reveal eight original theoretical propositions about communication and gender in Nigerian contexts that collectively constitute a foundation for an African feminist communication theory: community-centred over individual voice, strategic code-switching as feminist practice, extended kinship as communication network, spiritual communication authority as gender empowerment, oral tradition as feminist archive, economic communication as primary feminist concern, digital platforming as both liberation and exploitation, and resilience through humour as resistance communication. The study contributes an original feminist theoretical framework for Nigerian and African communication scholarship and recommends integration into Nigerian mass communication education.

Keywords: African feminist theory, communication, Nigerian women, indigenous theory, gender.