Gendered lives in the western Indian Ocean : Islam, marriage, and sexuality on the Swahili Coast

Author(s)

• Stiles, Erin E.
• Thompson, Katrina Daly

Bibliographic Information

Gendered lives in the western Indian Ocean : Islam, marriage, and sexuality on the Swahili Coast

edited by Erin E. Stiles and Katrina Daly Thompson

（Indian Ocean studies series）

Ohio University Press, c2015

• : pb

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-391) and index

Contents of Works

• Schoolgirls and women teachers : colonial education and the shifting boundaries between girls and women in Zanzibar / Corrie Decker
• The value of a marriage : missionaries, ex-slaves, and the legal debates over marriage in colonial Pemba Island / Elisabeth McMahon
• Two weddings in northern Mafia : changes in women's lives since the 1960s / Pat Caplan
• Pleasure and danger : Muslim views on sex and gender in Zanzibar / Nadine Beckmann
• Sex and school on the southern Swahili coast : adolescent sexuality in the context of expanding education in rural Mtwara, Tanzania / Meghan Halley
• Learning to use Swahili profanity and sacred speech : the embodied socialization of a Muslim bride in Zanzibar Town / Katrina Daly Thompson
• Pleasure and prohibitions : reflections on gender, knowledge, and sexuality in Zanzibar Town / Kjersti Larsen
• Unsuitable husbands : allegations of impotence in Zanzibari divorce suits / Erin E. Stiles
• Forming and performing Swahili manhood : wedding rituals of a groom in Lamu Town / Rebecca Gearhart
• Spirit possession and masculinity in Swahili society / Linda L. Giles
• Being a good Muslim man : modern aspirations and polygynous intentions in a Swahili Muslim village / Susi Krehbiel Keefe
• Understanding gendered lives through Intimate and global perspectives / Susan F. Hirsch

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Muslim communities throughout the Indian Ocean have long questioned what it means to be a "good Muslim." Much recent scholarship on Islam in the Indian Ocean considers debates among Muslims about authenticity, authority, and propriety. Despite the centrality of this topic within studies of Indian Ocean, African, and other Muslim communities, little of the existing scholarship has addressed such debates in relation to women, gender, or sexuality. Yet women are deeply involved with ideas about what it means to be a "good Muslim." In Gendered Lives in the Western Indian Ocean, anthropologists, historians, linguists, and gender studies scholars examine Islam, sexuality, gender, and marriage on the Swahili coast and elsewhere in the Indian Ocean. The book examines diverse sites of empowerment, contradiction, and resistance affecting cultural norms, Islam and ideas of Islamic authenticity, gender expectations, ideologies of modernity, and British education. The book's attention to both masculinity and femininity, broad examination of the transnational space of the Swahili coast, and inclusion of research on non-Swahili groups on the East African coast makes it a unique and indispensable resource. Contributors: Nadine Beckmann, Pat Caplan, Corrie Decker, Rebecca Gearhart, Linda Giles, Meghan Halley, Susan Hirsch, Susi Keefe, Kjersti Larsen, Elisabeth McMahon, Erin Stiles, and Katrina Daly Thompson

Table of Contents

* Glossary* Introduction Katrina Daly Thompson and Erin Stiles*Part One: Historical Transformations of Gender, Sexuality and Marriage*1: Schoolgirls and Women Teachers: Colonial Education and the Shifting Boundaries between Girls and Women in Zanzibar Corrie Decker*2: The Value of a Marriage: Missionaries, Ex-slaves, and the Legal Debates over Marriage in Colonial Pemba Island Elisabeth McMahon*3: Two Weddings in northern Mafia: Changes in Women's Lives in the 1960s Pat Caplan*Part Two: Contemporary Expressions of Coastal Femininity and Womanhood*4: Pleasure and Danger: Muslim Views on Sex and Gender in Zanzibar Nadine Beckmann*5: Sex and School on the Southern Swahili Coast: Adolescent Sexuality in the Context of Expanding Education in Rural Mtwara, Tanzania Meghan Halley*6: Learning to use Swahili Profanity and Sacred Speech: The Embodied Socialization of a Muslim Bride in Zanzibar Town Katrina Daly Thompson*7: Pleasure and Prohibitions: Reflections on Gender, Knowledge and Sexuality in Zanzibar Town Kjersti Larsen*Part Three: Defining Masculinity in Ritual and Marriage*8: Unsuitable Husbands: Allegations of Impotence in Zanzibari Divorce Suits Erin Stiles*9: Forming and Performing Swahili Manhood: Wedding Rituals of a Lamu Town Groom Rebecca Gearhart*10: Spirit Possession and Masculinity in Swahili Society Linda Giles*11: Being "A Good Muslim Man": Modern Aspirations and Polygynous Intentions in a Swahili Muslim Village Susi Keefe* Afterword Susan Hirsch* Notes* Bibliography* Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BB27635274
• ISBN:
  • 9780821421871
• LCCN: 2015026449
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Athens, Ohio
• Pages/Volumes: vii, 406 p.
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : HQ1798.5.Z8
  • DC23 : 305.409678/1
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Women -- Tanzania -- Zanzibar -- Social conditions
  • LCSH : Muslim women -- Tanzania -- Zanzibar -- Social conditions
  • LCSH : Sex -- Religious aspects -- Islam
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BB18041439