Abstract
Signe Arnfred’s book adds valuable material to an expanding transnational feminist scholarship that critiques Western theorizing on gender, African indigenous systems, and development programs often aimed at improving the lives of women. Similar to others, her core argument is that Western cultures should not be perceived as the standard for assessing gender identities and sexualities or for crafting the future. Both colonial devaluations of African cultures and misunderstandings within second wave feminism call for a rereading of African gender systems. Using 30 years of research, Arnfred divides the material into 14 chapters grouped into three sections to explain how the matrilineal, matrilocal, agricultural Makhuwa of northern Mozambique collectively create “a way of being women.” Women control food and land, and household power is vested in “the mother’s mother” who manages granaries supplied by the labor of the younger generation, particularly incoming sons-in-law. The hegemonic form of womanhood among the young is a hardworking individual confident in her sexuality who produces children for her matrilineage. The practice of elongating the labia minora and a series of initiation rites under the control of older women are offered as central components in the creation of sexual competence, knowledge about sexual pleasure, and respect for elders. Women insist on the importance of these practices, which they have been able to retain in the face of many challenges: Portuguese colonialism, the socialist administration of Samora Machel, and liberation wars.
While her material on the initiations will be of interest to many scholars, Arnfred’s main contribution, in my view, comes from her emphasis on African (female) agency: women have their own agendas and are able to resist male domination. Her directive that we uncover strongholds of female gender power cannot be faulted. However, the arguments of some African feminists are not necessary helpful. For instance, Oyewumi’s thesis that the genderless Yoruba evolved into a gendered patriarchal people following colonization remains controversial, and unfortunately Arnfred’s own body of work is strong evidence to the contrary. It is clear that when two or more systems interact there are never linear developments one way or the other. Hybridization engenders complexity. Those with advantage within any social sector strive to retain (as Arnfred shows) or augment their initial advantage, and those with limited power struggle to reach out to those imports they assess as beneficial (Makhuwa men and wage work). Yoruba expressions of patriarchy came up against different (British) expressions in a “collusion of patriarchies”: not a case of the total revamping of a genderless society.
The book raises several issues one wishes the author had addressed. Its format (a collection of essays) resulted in the constant reintroduction of goals, problems, and theorists, leading to repetition. One concern with the book is the disjuncture that appears in women’s life cycles. We have only snapshots of differences between the lives of young and old women. What practical and emotional training exist as women transition from seductive youth to “controlling” grandmothers? What happens to the emphasis on sexual pleasure, and whom may an older female seduce: old men, young men, same-sex? She notes that she found no mother/daughter conflict as exists in European societies. But more information is required. Arnfred discusses the sexual abandon of older women during initiations of the young. Is this sexual play common in everyday life, or are the initiations an escape valve for older women?
Since we are not told much about child care, one assumes that females, as elsewhere, are largely responsible for the daily care of children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and the sick. Even when done communally, it is gendered behavior, is part of gender identity, and may affect a woman’s ability to pursue new economic opportunities. Similarly, given the sexual power and control Makhuwa women enjoy, the issue of violence needs to be broached. One hopes that this is an exemplary case where indigenous “ways of being women and men” resulted in social constructions that others can learn from in terms of violence and rape.
Finally, the issue of money is intriguing and its significance is mentioned in a number of contexts: lobolo, IMF policies, and sex. Postsexual play follows marital sex, “a kind of acknowledgement, as I see it, of her attributes and capacities—after which he closes her legs and gives her some money” (163). Some African societies had precolonial forms of money (cowries), and thus had indigenous constructions (supernatural, secular) that interacted with imported meanings. If the Portuguese introduced money (81), how is money after sex with one’s wife distinguished from money given to girlfriends and prostitutes, as men move around for wage work? Arnfred’s work encourages further study of various dimensions of gender power in Africa.