Male daughters, female husbands : gender and sex in African society / Ifi Amadiume.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Amadiume, Ifi, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women, Igbo.

Women--Nigeria--Social conditions.

Women.

Social conditions.

Nigeria.

Physical Description:

223 pages, 5 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; Atlantic Highlands, N.J. : Zed Books, 1987.

Summary:

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 as 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.

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages 211-216.

ISBN:

0862325943

0862325951

OCLC:

18834771