A Decolonial Feminist Reading of Nyuki

In her essay The Glorification of Work in Capitalist Economies: A Decolonial Feminist Reading of Nyuki, Trudy Asiima peels back the shiny facade of capitalism to reveal its brutal core. From the sleep-deprived street vendor to the office worker trapped in a cycle of pointless meetings, Asiima shows how capitalism glorifies labour while dehumanising workers.

She writes with urgency and clarity about the ways African economies have been shaped by colonial legacies and propped up by neocolonial structures that reward a wealthy few at the expense of the many. Her reading of NYUKI: The Bee Story brings these critiques to life, showing how the comic uses allegory to expose wealth hoarding, exploitation, and the systematic erosion of human dignity.

In Nyuki, the hive isn’t just a place of work—it’s a battleground where the struggle for justice, equity, and shared prosperity plays out. Through a Pan-African feminist lens, both the essay and the comic ask us to confront a brutal truth: that productivity, under capitalism, is often a prison dressed as progress.

We must reimagine systems that centre human dignity, collective well-being, and economic justice. And the first step is to question the stories we’ve been told about work, wealth, and worth.

👉🏾 Read the comic here: The Bee Story: A Metaphorical Tale of Wealth Disparity and the Need to Tax the Rich
👉🏾 Download the full essay by Trudy Asiima: The Glorification of Work in Capitalist Economies

It’s time to ask: What would an economy rooted in care, rather than profit, really look like?