Femminicidi in Africa: retaggi coloniali e violenze contemporanee

This article examines femicide in Africa through a historical, intersectional, and decolonial perspective, exploring the complex relationships between colonial legacies, patriarchal structures, and contemporary forms of gender-based violence. Challenging both culturalist interpretations and colonial determinism, it argues that colonial rule did not create gender inequalities ex nihilo, but selectively institutionalised and reinforced existing hierarchies through legal pluralism, the codification of customary law, economic restructuring, and the regulation of women's sexuality and mobility. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship and selected African case studies, the analysis investigates how these historical processes have been reconfigured within postcolonial institutions, socioeconomic inequalities, armed conflicts, and contemporary systems of justice. Particular attention is devoted to the methodological challenges of defining and measuring femicide, the gendered and racialised biases embedded in colonial judicial archives, and the largely unexplored historiography of capital punishment for the killing of women under colonial rule. The article further considers the limitations of contemporary legal frameworks and the transformative potential of African feminist movements, highlighting the importance of the Maputo Protocol and the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. It concludes that effective prevention requires moving beyond exclusively punitive approaches towards historically informed, intersectional strategies that integrate institutional accountability, women's economic autonomy, improved data collection, and the recognition of African women's agency in shaping gender justice.