The traditional knowledge of women of African descent and African women constitutes a scientific, cultural, and therapeutic heritage of exceptional richness. Long marginalized by the dominance of Western biomedical paradigms, this knowledge has nevertheless, for centuries, enabled the prevention of diseases, the management of disabilities (Damus, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019), pregnancy care (Nalumansi, Kamatenesi-Mugisha, Anywar, 2017), childbirth, and postnatal care (Berche, 1998; De Sardan, Moumouni, Souley, 2001; Wogaing, 2018; Diene, 2015; Damus, 2017, 2021), sexual and reproductive health, mental health, dietary practices, the preservation of nature, and individual and collective well-being. These forms of knowledge are based on relational conceptions of the world in which human health is intimately linked to the social, cultural, environmental, and spiritual dimensions of life (Damus, 2020; 2023; Escobar, 2018; Kimmerer, 2013). Today, international debates on the decolonization of health knowledge (UNESCO Chair in Education and Health, 2022; Lainé, 2024), cognitive justice, epistemologies of the Global South (Santos, 2016), and the recognition of traditional medicines call for a rethinking of the role of this knowledge in public policy, health systems, research, and professional training. This reflection is rooted in a perspective of medical and epistemological pluralism that recognizes the coexistence of multiple legitimate ways of producing, transmitting, and validating knowledge in the fields of health and education (Santos, 2016; UNESCO, 2021; Damus, 2023). Much of this cognitive output consists of knowledge in exile, which is part of a process of cultural transformation and reinterpretation. This is knowledge of survival and resistance that stems from the ingenuity and dynamism of the art of blending, passed down from woman to woman, from generation to generation. This constitutes what might be described as an intangible and tangible “matrimony” (Damus, 2020) that transcends national borders.
This call for proposals is organized around six interdisciplinary themes:
1-Women’s Traditional Knowledge as Legitimate Knowledge Systems
This theme invites us to move beyond a folkloric or exotic view of traditional practices and instead consider them as genuine systems for production, validation, and transmission of knowledge. Contributions may analyze the epistemological foundations of this knowledge, its modes of construction, its criteria for credibility, and its mechanisms of intergenerational transmission. Particular attention will be given to approaches that highlight its contribution to cognitive justice, epistemological plurality, and the recognition of African and Afro-descendant epistemologies (Santos, 2016; Damus, 2026, forthcoming). This perspective also allows us to examine the historical processes of rendering local knowledge invisible and the forms of epistemicide that have contributed to marginalizing certain ways of knowing and inhabiting the world (Santos, 2016; Damus, 2026, forthcoming).
2- Women as Guardians, Producers, and Innovators of Health Knowledge
In many African and Afro-descendant societies, women play a central role in the production and dissemination of health-related knowledge. Matrons, mambos, herbal healers, mothers, grandmothers, and community leaders continually develop practices adapted to social, cultural, and environmental realities. Submissions may document these forms of innovation, the trajectories and strategies for knowledge transmission, as well as the processes of resilience that ensure the sustainability of these living cultural heritages (Damus, 2020; Battiste, 2013). In particular, articles may explore how these women serve as true epistemic agents whose practices help transform the relationships between knowledge, power, and health.
3-Traditional Knowledge at the Intersection of Health, Education, and Community Development
Therapeutic knowledge is not limited to healthcare practices. It also constitutes educational mechanisms that foster prevention, health promotion, community solidarity, and the transmission of cultural values. Authors are invited to explore the relationships between health, learning, socialization, the environment, and local development, highlighting how this knowledge helps build the capacities of individuals and communities (Freire, 1974; Damus, 2021). From this perspective, learning to care for oneself, others, and the land becomes a form of education in collective responsibility and the maintenance of the balance of life (UNESCO, 2021; Kimmerer, 2013).
4-Decolonizing Health Systems: Recognizing Women’s Traditional Knowledge
Contemporary health systems remain largely shaped by power dynamics inherited from colonial history, which have contributed to the invisibilization of the knowledge of African women and women of African descent. Proposals may examine mechanisms of exclusion, forms of epistemicide (Damus, 2020; Damus et al., 2022), and symbolic linguicide (Damus, 2021; Gürsoy, 2025), issues of institutional recognition, as well as opportunities for dialogue between conventional medicine and traditional medicines (ecology of knowledge and practices). Reflections on public policy, cultural and epistemic rights, intercultural health, and participatory approaches will be particularly welcome (Damus, 2021; Damus et al., 2022).
5-Toward a Regenerative and Restorative Approach to Health
From the perspective of regenerative and restorative pedagogy (Damus, 2024), traditional knowledge can help redress the epistemic injustices resulting from its historical marginalization. It paves the way for a new conception of health based on dialogue between the epistemologies of the North and the South, recognition of the diversity of knowledge systems, intercultural cooperation, and the development of more inclusive models of care (Damus, 2023; Damus, 2026, forthcoming; Santos, 2016). In Damus’s conception, regenerative and restorative pedagogy seeks not only to restore knowledge systems that have been historically devalued or suppressed, but also to regenerate relationships among human beings, communities, and the more-than-human world. It therefore challenges the epistemicides, identity-based forms of destruction, cultural erasures, and ecological degradation produced by hegemonic educational and knowledge systems, while promoting cognitive justice and more equitable forms of knowledge production and transmission. Traditional knowledge, particularly that held and transmitted by women and local communities, can thus be understood not simply as cultural heritage, but as a potential resource for regeneration, repair, and human, ecological, and planetary sustainability (Damus, 2023, 2024, 2025). Submissions may propose theoretical frameworks, empirical research, or field experiences illustrating the regenerative and restorative potential of traditional knowledge in the fields of health, education, research, and public policy.
6-Women’s Knowledge and Nature: A Relational Approach to Health
The traditional knowledge of African women and women of African descent is based on a relational conception of the bonds between humans and non-humans. This knowledge helps preserve health through the use of natural resources, particularly medicinal plants. Women who hold this knowledge play an essential role in the intergenerational transmission of etiological and therapeutic knowledge. Their practices integrate the physical, social, spiritual, and ecological dimensions of care. This research area calls for recognition of the scientific value of this knowledge, which has long been marginalized and rendered invisible (Damus, 2020; 2023). It also explores their contribution to a sustainable, inclusive, and regenerative conception of health. This knowledge challenges the separation between humans and nature and proposes a vision grounded in interdependence, respect for living beings, and collective responsibility (Kimmerer, 2013; Escobar, 2018; Descola, 2005; Shiva, 2022; Damus, 2024).
Through this call for papers, we aim to foster international reflection on the contribution of African women and women of African descent to the production of health knowledge, promote the scientific recognition of their knowledge, and encourage the emergence of care models grounded in epistemological pluralism and the ecology of knowledge and practices (Santos, 2016; Damus, 2023), cognitive justice (Damus, 2026, forthcoming), intercultural solidarity, and dialogue between etiological-therapeutic traditions and the biomedical sciences.
This call for papers aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, midwives, doulas, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, physicians, community leaders, and specialists in the educational and health sciences to explore the multiple dimensions of the traditional knowledge of African women and women of African descent.
Articles, written in French, Creole, English, Spanish, or Portuguese, must be between 4,000 and 8,000 words (1.5 line spacing; Times New Roman, size 12) and comply with the editorial policy of the journal Anthropologie des savoirs des Suds, published by Éditions de l’Université de Sherbrooke.
Deadline for submission of full articles: January 31, 2027
Double-blind peer review: February–March 2027
Notification of decisions to authors: March 31, 2027
Deadline for submission of revised versions: May 31, 2027
Estimated publication date of the special issue: Fall 2027
Editorial Board:
Professor Obrillant Damus, Université de Sherbrooke, Université d’État d’Haïti
Obrillant.Damus@Usherbrooke.ca
Professor Nicolas Adell
Directeur adjoint scientifique CNRS-SHS / Section 41 Anthropologie
Université de Toulouse - Jean Jaurès
Professor Erin Stiles, Department of Anthropology, Ozmen Institute for Global Studies, University of Nevada
Professor Kathleen Rice, Canada Research Chair in the Medical Anthropology of Primary Care
Research Director, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University
Professor Frédéric Laugrand, Université catholique de Louvain
Professor Anthony Diala, Centre for Legal Integration in Africa (CLIA), University of the Western Cape
Professor Oumy Thiongane, Institut Éducation Famille Santé Genre de l'Université Assane Seck Ziguinchor
Professor Jeannette Wogaing, Département d’Anthropologie
Université de Douala