This week on Womanity, Dr Amaleya Goneos-Malka speaks with Professor Pumla Dineo Gqola, an award-winning author, literary and cultural scholar, and the NRF SARChI Chair in African Feminist Imaginations at Nelson Mandela University. This conversation explores the power of imagination, the evolution of African feminism, and the importance of creating communities that enable women to thrive professionally.

A Childhood Built on Books and Curiosity

Professor Gqola reflects on growing up in a family where reading was simply part of everyday life. Weekly visits to the library, parents who nurtured curiosity, and a home where questions were encouraged cultivated a lifelong passion for literature and critical thinking. She explains how books opened worlds beyond day-to-day realities – new ideas, different perspectives – and laid the foundation for her academic journey.

Finding Feminism Before Knowing Its Name

Long before she understood the language of feminism, Professor Gqola was surrounded by remarkable women who challenged convention. From family members and community activists to influential writers she discovered later in life, these women shaped her understanding of courage, leadership and possibility. By the age of fifteen, she recognised that feminism simply gave a name to values she had already embraced.

The Power of African Feminist Imagination

Professor Gqola holds the SARChi Chair in African Feminist Imaginations. What does this mean? Rather than viewing literature, music, art, film and activism as separate disciplines, she explains how imagination flows across them all, creating new ways of thinking about freedom, identity and justice.

She argues that imagination does far more than reflect society, it actively helps co-create it. Stories, music and artistic expression influence how we see ourselves, what we believe is possible, and how societies evolve.

Why African Feminism Matters

Professor Gqola offers a nuanced perspective on African feminism, describing it as deeply connected to Africa’s histories, cultures and diversity while remaining part of a broader global feminist movement.

She highlights that African feminism values difference as a source of collective strength rather than division. It embraces complexity, intersectionality and Pan-African solidarity while continually adapting to new social and political realities rather than relying on past solutions.

Breaking Barriers in Academia

Drawing on her own career, Professor Gqola shares the realities of often being the first, or only, Black woman in senior academic spaces. While many celebrate these milestones, she reminds listeners that being “the first” often reveals the systemic barriers that have excluded others.

Her goal, she says, has never been to remain exceptional but to ensure many more women follow, making the “first” eventually unremarkable, be the 300^th instead.

Building Communities That Help Women Thrive

One of Professor Gqola’s pieces of advice emphasies community. She encourages women to intentionally create supportive networks where ideas can be challenged honestly, growth is encouraged, and isolation is replaced with belonging. These trusted communities become spaces for rigorous thinking, mutual encouragement and collective advancement.

Importantly, she believes that once these spaces are created, women have a responsibility to sustain them for future generations.

Protecting Your Dreams

As the interview draws to a close, Professor Gqola encourages young women and girls to protect their dreams before sharing them too widely, recognising that even well-meaning people can unintentionally diminish aspirations. She urges young women to nurture belief in themselves, remain true to their ambitions, and trust that somewhere in the world there are many others who share similar dreams and aspirations.

No one is truly alone, and communities of like-minded women can, and will, be found. Look for your tribe.

Tune in for more…

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