Sara Panata

Dr Sara Panata

Research Associate 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

I am an historian specializing in modern African history and gender studies. My Ph.D thesis, Nigeria Marches On. Feminist and Women’s Movements in the National Struggle for Socio-Political Rights (1944-1994), examined the trajectories of eleven feminist movements in Nigeria over half a century of socio-political action, thus analyzing the country’s history from an alternative point of view.

As postdoctoral researcher, sponsored by Atlas Programme (FMSH/IFRA, 2020 campaign), I currently study the long-term activism of three generations of Nigerian feminists: from independence (1940-1960), through military regimes (1960-2000), to democratization (2000-2020). Firstly, I will study the international circulation of feminist ideas formulated in Nigeria, by following the trajectories of these activists across borders and their feminist struggles in different countries. Secondly, I will examine the effects of these years of activism in Nigeria on the lives of the activists themselves. I will focus on a microhistory of feminist activists in order to shed new light on the complex personal and intimate dimensions of feminist engagement. At the crossroads of gender history and the sociology of engagement, this research complexifies the understanding of global feminism and the meanings and forms of feminist engagement, by emphasizing the centrality of Nigeria as a site of knowledge production and feminists struggles. 

I invite you to visit my Acamedia page for further information about my publications and my most up-to-date CV.