Have you noticed how technical conversations can get in formal feminist gatherings?
With meeting agendas that focus almost exclusively on the various women’s rights violations or on abstract analysis of feminist theory, meetings tend to prioritise performance over exploration. But being a feminist is not only about what we do, it is also about who we are and how we go about living a feminist life.
Do you ever think back on a feminist meeting you’ve attended and realize that the most transformative conversations you had there happened during the lunch break, not during the formal sessions?
And yet the meeting agendas are designed for participants to build professional expertise, and not to share experiences.
Eyala’s Circles: Feminist gatherings, but with a twist
We convene the Eyala Circles: intimate in-person gatherings that enable African women and non-binary persons to share their experiences of embodying feminist values, and to support one another through the struggles they encounter on their feminist journeys. To date, we have hosted Eyala Circles in Dakar, Niamey, Ouagadougou, Vancouver and Montreal.
Our Circles typically bring together 15-25 African women and non-binary persons with diverse backgrounds, life experiences and feminist practices for honest discussions about their experiences of living a feminist life and of practicing sisterhood. The rules of our Circles are simple: be your (full, honest and vulnerable) self, keep everything confidential, don’t judge (others or yourself), and don't forget to have fun. There is yummy food, great music, lots of hugs and, sometimes, a few tears.
We're learning from our Eyala Circles
Our Eyala Circles are teaching us a lot about what African feminists experience, believe, question and aspire to - but also about what sisterhood means to them and how they practice it.
We document the process and outcomes of the Eyala Circles, with the aim to demonstrate what happens when feminist convenings dare to make participants’ personal journeys and experiences central to the agenda, and to encourage women’s rights and feminist organisations to intentionally foster sisterhood among their staff, partners and constituencies.
We're just getting started!
We look forward to hosting more Eyala Circles across the continent and in the diaspora. We are also planning other types of gatherings, such as feminist retreats and feminist leadership trainings for budding feminists. Get in touch if you’d like to partner with us!
