The study of African photography is a continuous process of exploration and discovery. Originating in the symposium Photographs Beyond Ruins: Women and Photography in Africa, which took place at the University of London, the newly published Women and Photography in Africa: Creative Practices and Feminist Challenges, edited by Darren Newbury, Lorena Rizzo, and Kylie Thomas, makes a significant contribution to our understanding of African women's photographic practices and provides an innovative way of reflecting on a historically specific articulation of gender and photography in Africa.
The 1980s witnessed an enthusiasm for the study of photographic representations of women in Africa. Malek Alloula, for instance, analyzed the colonial representations of Algerian women on early twentieth century postcards, attempting “to subvert the stereotype that is so tenaciously attached to the bodies of women” (1986: 5). There is no doubt that Alloula's work was pioneering for its timely response to the visual...