Male daughters, female husbands : gender and sex in African society

Bibliographic Information

Male daughters, female husbands : gender and sex in African society

Ifi Amadiume ; with a foreword by Pat Caplan

(Critique influence change, 11)

Zed Books, 2015

  • : pbk

Available at  / 2 libraries

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Note

Bibliography: p. 211-216

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In 1987, more than a decade before the dawn of queer theory, Ifi Amadiume wrote Male Daughters, Female Husbands, to critical acclaim. This compelling and highly original book frees the subject position of 'husband' from its affiliation with men, and goes on to do the same for other masculine attributes, dislocating sex, gender and sexual orientation. Boldly arguing that the notion of gender, as constructed in Western feminist discourse, did not exist in Africa before the colonial imposition of a dichotomous understanding of sexual difference, Male Daughters, Female Husbands examines the structures in African society that enabled people to achieve power, showing that roles were not rigidly masculinized nor feminized. At a time when gender and queer theory are viewed by some as being stuck in an identity-politics rut, this outstanding study not only warns against the danger of projecting a very specific, Western notion of difference onto other cultures, but calls us to question the very concept of gender itself.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the Critique Influence Change Edition Preface to the Critique Influence Change Edition Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: The 19th Century 1. Gender and Economy 2. Women, Wealth, Titles and power 3. Gender and Political Organization 4. The Politics of Motherhood: Women and the Ideology-Making Process 5. The Ideology of Gender 6. Ritual and Gender Part II: The Colonial Period 7. Colonialism and the Erosion of Women's Power 8. The Erosion of Women's Power Part III: The Post-Independence Period 9. The Marginalisation of women's Position 10. Wealth, Titles and Motherhood 11. The Female Element in Other Igbo Societies 12. Gender, Class and Female Solidarity 13. Conclusion Appendixes Bibliography Glossary Index

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