Diop typified the first generation of the African intelligentsia to emerge from the colonial order, and this dedicated to rebutting colonial constructions of Africa. Their work still inspires African scholars globally, but from today's vantage point it is clear that the first generation countered imperialism by presenting a grand theory of Africa that did not attend to the internal social dynamics, or the historical processes and contradictions that move societies forward (Mkandawire, 2005, p. 6). ${ }^{1}$ As such, it did not attend to the class, gender or other key features of social organization. While the inattention to gender is often attributed to the fact that the first generation of professors were nearly all men, it is important to note that scholarship of the 1950s to 1970s preceded the spread of feminist consciousness in Africa. Without feminist tools of analysis, even the best of Africa's nationalist and pan-Africanist scholars did not have the awareness required to see the manner in which dynamics of gender and sexuality imbued the processes that were transforming the African world. The philosophical importance of feminism and the African-focused feminist praxis it brings to understanding the past, present and future possibilities for Africa, are the subject of this contribution.