Afrofuturism as a Methodological Lens: A Scoping Review of Nigerian Women’s Visions for African Futures (2021–2026)

This scoping review maps the emerging use of Afrofuturism as a methodological lens in African Studies, specifically investigating its application by Nigerian women scholars and creatives to articulate visions for African futures. It addresses a significant gap in the synthesis of how this aesthetic and philosophical framework, centred on reclamation and speculative imagination, is being operationalised to reconceptualise postcolonial futurity. Adhering to the Arksey and O’Malley framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, the methodology details a systematic search strategy across key academic databases and grey literature sources, with clear inclusion criteria and a structured data charting process. The review’s temporal scope encompasses published and accessible works up to 2024. A structured synthesis of the included literature identifies that Nigerian women engage Afrofuturism as a critical praxis to challenge patriarchal and neo-colonial narratives. Their work, spanning fiction, digital art, and theory, consistently foregrounds themes of technological sovereignty, ecological wisdom, and social structures reimagined through indigenous knowledge. This review consolidates a rapidly evolving field, demonstrating how Afrofuturism facilitates a uniquely African-centred futurity that is both deconstructive and generative. It concludes that this lens offers vital tools for decolonising futures thinking, with clear implications for research, policy, and cultural strategy that centre African women’s agency in shaping the continent’s trajectory.