Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings

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Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings Female Power and Authority in Northern Igboland, 1900-1960

Nwando Achebe

Book Code: E07079

ISBN: 0-325-07079-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-325-07079-7

DOI:

288 pages, maps; photos

Heinemann

Publication: 7/30/2005

List Price: $99.95 (UK Sterling Price: £57.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Paperback

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: Social History of Africa

Reviews:

[A]chebe's rich field data personalizes the literature on Igbo women, and will be invaluable as a source for others.
—American Historical Review December 2006

Endorsement From Felix K. Ekechi
Professor Emeritus (History)
Kent State University: This is a brilliant and refreshing book, which gives ample and well-deserved voice to women....It is a book that will definitely be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of history, anthropology, political science, religion, and political economy. It is a must read for scholars and students in Women's Studies Programs.
Endorsement From Obioma Nnaemeka
Professor of French, Women's Studies, and African and African Diaspora Studies
Indiana Unversity, Indianapolis: This orginal and insightful work's sensible and balanced view of Igbo women's power and authority is modulated by a profound understanding of the ways in which women negotiated indigenous cultural spaces and at the same time negotiated with and refashioned precolonial and colonial contexts.
Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings is a major event in African gender studies publishing.
Endorsement From Ifi Amadiume
Professor of Religion and African and African American Studies
Dartmouth College: Nwando Achebe's book is rich in accounts of the life histories of recent powerful goddesses that were constructed by the Nsukka Igbo from the late 19th century....She recounts these case studies with passion and fascination. This is another important addition to the growing literature in Igbo studies, gender studies and African historiography.
Endorsement From Isidore Okpewho
Distinguished Professor of the Humanities
State University of New York, Binghamton: A landmark in African historiography. In the best tradition of the discpline, [Dr. Achebe] reminds us after all that history, however academically grounded, should aim to delight as well as educate. Nwando Achebe is ahead of her generation not only in the depth of her sensibility but in the facility with which she represents the structures of feeling of her Igbo society.

Description: There is an adage that the Igbo have no kings. Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings focuses on an area in Igboland where, contrary to this popular belief, Igbos not only have kings, but female kings. It is an area where women served as warriors and even married many wives. Women in Nsukka Division feature as prominent actors in a complex and diverse set of interactions, relationships, and manifestations unmatched elsewhere in Igboland. Thus, the author argues that researchers cannot adequately analyze the political landscape of Nsukka Division (or any other African society, for that matter) without investigating the central place of women and the female principle in the political world of the society. The author examines the political economic and religious structures that allowed women and the female principle to achieve measures of power and determines some of the ways they reacted and adjusted to the challenges of European rule. Such an investigation into the history of this gender dynamic yields important results for both African History and Women's Studies. Achebe explores the politics of gender and the evolution of female power over the first six decades of the 20th century. The time period, approximately 1900-1960, is important because it allows for the exploration of continuity and change in Nuskka women's activities, as well as the female principle, over three periods--late precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial Nigeria. She raises and answers questions relating to scholarship on women, sex, and gender in Africa by uncovering the complexities of the Igbo gender construct. The study argues that sex and gender did not coincide in northern Igboland. Consequently, women were able to occupy positions that in other societies were exclusively monopolized by men, and men, those otherwise monopolized by women. Expanding on this premise, the author calls for a revision of traditional classifications of African women's activities that are defined strictly along sex lines. It reshapes conventional global frameworks by offering new theories that have the capacity to recognize African concepts such as female kings, female fathers, female sons, female husbands, female warriors, female warrant chiefs, and male priestesses.

Table of Contents:

Illustrations
Ekene (Acknowledgments)
Nkwado (The Preparation): The Main Dance Is Yet to Come and the Little Antelope Is Dancing Herself Lame--Self Locating and Research Methods

When Questions Begin to be Asked, then Tales Begin to be Told: Introduction and Review of Literature

Medicines and Goddesses, Priestesses and Prophetesses: Female Expressions within the Spiritual Realm

Farmers, Traders, Potters, and Weavers: Msukka Women as Economic Actors

Women in Community Politics: Colonialism and the Strategies of Female Resistance

"Ochichi Gi Agafego Oke" (You Are Governing Too Much!)--King Ahebi Ugbabe versus the Community: A Case Study of Female Clout, Excess, and Conflict in Enugu-Ezike

Mmechi (The Conclusion): If You Put Your Ear to the Ground You Will Hear the Drumbeats of the Ghosts

Glossary

Appendix

Select Bibliography

Index

LC Card Number: 2005012727

LCC Class: DT515

Dewey Class: 305


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