Challenging the received orthodoxies of social anthropology, Ifi Amadiume argues that in precolonial society, sex and gender did not necessarily coincide. Examining the structures that enabled women to achieve power, she shows that roles were neither rigidly masculinized nor feminized.
Economic changes in colonial times undermined women's status and reduced their political role and Dr Amadiume maintains, patriarchal tendencies introduced by colonialism persist today, to the detriment of women.
Critical of the chauvinist stereotypes established by colonial anthropology, the author stresses the importance of recognizing women's economic activities as an essential basis of their power. She is also critical of those western feminists who, when relating to African women, tend to accept the same outmoded projections.
Male Daughters, Female Husbands
Ifi Amadiume
An early study of queer theory and non-Western feminism, challenging the concept of gender.Rights Sold
All rights availableBook Details
Imprint: Zed Books
Publication Date: 01-01-1987
Format: Hardback | 256 pagesAbout the Author
Ifi Amadiume is a award-winning poet and a political activist as well as an academic. Professor Amadiume is author of the influential Male Daughters, Female Husbands (Zed Books, 1988) which won the Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year award in 1989.
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