Matriarchy and Power in Africa This Page Intentionally Left Blank Matriarchy and Power in Africa Aneji Eko
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The Impact of Matriarchal Traditions on the Advancement of Ashanti Women in Ghana Karen Mcgee
The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Listening to the Voices: Multi-ethnic Women in School of Education Education 2015 The mpI act of Matriarchal Traditions on the Advancement of Ashanti Women in Ghana Karen McGee Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.usfca.edu/listening_to_the_voices Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation McGee, Karen (2015). The mpI act of Matriarchal Traditions on the Advancement of Ashanti Women in Ghana. In Betty Taylor (Eds.), Listening to the Voices: Multi-ethnic Women in Education (p. 1-10). San Francisco, CA: University of San Francisco. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Education at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Listening to the Voices: Multi-ethnic Women in Education by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Impact of Matriarchal Traditions on the Advancement of Ashanti Women in Ghana Karen McGee What is the impact of a matriarchal tradition and the tradition of an African queenmothership on the ability of African women to advance in political, educational, and economic spheres in their countries? The Ashanti tribe of the Man people is the largest tribe in Ghana; it is a matrilineal society. A description of the precolonial matriarchal tradition among the Ashanti people of Ghana, an analysis of how the matriarchal concept has evolved in more contemporary governments and political situations in Ghana, and an analysis of the status of women in modern Ghana may provide some insight into the impact of the queenmothership concept. -
Within the Context of Searching for a National Identity, the Search for a Female Identity Also Arises in Don Quijote by Miguel
ENVIRONMENTAL SURROUNDINGS DEFINING NATIONAL IDENTITIES by MEGAN TRENHOLM (Under the Direction of Susan Quinlan) ABSTRACT Throughout this thesis, three books will be discussed: A Bagaceira by José Américo de Almeida, Iracema by José de Alencar, and A Senhora by José de Alencar as well. These works will be interlinked based on their principle female characters and how their feminine characteristics are always in comparison with their environmental surroundings. Because they all deal with the flora and fauna of a specific historic place based on where the specific story takes place, all of them also correspond with the search for a national identity. In addition to the search for a national identity, each female character exemplifies the Persephone – Demeter myth and cyclical events that pertain to fertility. All of these works attempt to center on ecofeminism and the search for a “matrifocal” society rather than a patriarchal society. INDEX WORDS: Brazilian national identity, Persephone – Demeter, Objectification, Environment, Journey, Historic place, Matriarchy, Ecofeminism, Iracema, A Bagaceira, A Senhora, Alencar, Almeida, Woman and Nature, 19th Century Brazil ENVIRONMENTAL SURROUNDINGS DEFINING NATIONAL IDENTITIES by MEGAN TRENHOLM B.A., University of Georgia, 2004 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2006 © 2006 Megan Trenholm All Rights Reserved ENVIRONMENTAL SURROUNDINGS DEFINING NATIONAL IDENTITIES by MEGAN TRENHOLM Major Professor: Susan Quinlan Committee: Robert Moser Betina Kaplan Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2006 DEDICATION I am eternally grateful to my parents, who never lose faith in me…Thank you. -
Submission to the University of Baltimore School of Law‟S Center on Applied Feminism for Its Fourth Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference
Submission to the University of Baltimore School of Law‟s Center on Applied Feminism for its Fourth Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference. “Applying Feminism Globally.” Feminism from an African and Matriarchal Culture Perspective How Ancient Africa’s Gender Sensitive Laws and Institutions Can Inform Modern Africa and the World Fatou Kiné CAMARA, PhD Associate Professor of Law, Faculté des Sciences Juridiques et Politiques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, SENEGAL “The German experience should be regarded as a lesson. Initially, after the codification of German law in 1900, academic lectures were still based on a study of private law with reference to Roman law, the Pandectists and Germanic law as the basis for comparison. Since 1918, education in law focused only on national law while the legal-historical and comparative possibilities that were available to adapt the law were largely ignored. Students were unable to critically analyse the law or to resist the German socialist-nationalism system. They had no value system against which their own legal system could be tested.” Du Plessis W. 1 Paper Abstract What explains that in patriarchal societies it is the father who passes on his name to his child while in matriarchal societies the child bears the surname of his mother? The biological reality is the same in both cases: it is the woman who bears the child and gives birth to it. Thus the answer does not lie in biological differences but in cultural ones. So far in feminist literature the analysis relies on a patriarchal background. Not many attempts have been made to consider the way gender has been used in matriarchal societies. -
Changes and Continuity in Age Grade Practices in Nigeria: a Study of the Igbo Traditional and Modern Administrative System
Journal of Policy and Development Studies Vol. 9, No. 3, May 2015 ISSN: 157-9385 Website: www.arabianjbmr.com/JPDS_index.php CHANGES AND CONTINUITY IN AGE GRADE PRACTICES IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF THE IGBO TRADITIONAL AND MODERN ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM Dr. (Mrs.) Ndukwe, C. Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki Email: [email protected] Abstract This study “changes and continuity in age grade practices in Nigeria: A study of the Igbo traditional society and administrative practices was an attempt to find out how social dynamics in age grade system as a result of modernization has resulted in an improved societal transformation especially in Igbo land. This is because, the Igbo accord great recognition and respect to the age grade practices as a vibrant part of the mainstream of the traditional and modern political and administrative institutions. This paper therefore, took an impact assessment of the activities of the age grade in Igbo land and how far it has changed and continued till date. In doing this, the study employed both historical and descriptive analytic methods, wherein data collected through secondary sources were descriptively analyzed. Modernization theory was adopted as the theoretical framework. The study discovered that age grades in Igbo land before now, operated under unwritten constitution, that changes and continuity in the activities of age grades have resulted in positive transformation and civilization in Igbo society and that many age grades still operate primitively without access to appropriate technologies. the study recommended among others, that government should as a matter of necessity ensure that the modus operandi of all age grades or clubs, are constitutionally defined to avoid some primitive, barbaric and harmful practices. -
The Traditional Age Grades in Discourse
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 3 (2015 8) 366-376 ~ ~ ~ УДК 314.114 Transcending the Eurocentric Development Paradigms in Nigeria: The Traditional Age Grades in Discourse Ernest Osas Ugiagbe* and Ijeoma Ugiagbe University of Benin Benin-City, Nigeria Received 24.12.2014, received in revised form 10.02.2015, accepted 22.02.2015 The quest for sustainable grassroots’ development by Nigerian government calls for the need to look inwards and re-examine and evaluates our indigenous cultural practices in an attempts to attain the desired development goal. This paper evaluates the indigenous age grade systems in Nigerian societies, and how the traits of the age grades can be harnessed for the attainment of the much desired sustainable development in Nigeria. It argues that the cultural bond and unity of purpose between the members of the age grades a priori make them a veritable tool for transformation of the rural areas. This is because the age grades know their communities more than out-siders and the so-called developers, hence what needs to be done is to empower the various age grades and give them the necessary tools and technical know-how. The development of the rural areas will gradually but surely become a reality in the near future. Keywords: Grassroots development, cultural heritage, age grade, community, empowerment. Research area: sociology. Introduction 1982, UNESCO produced a generally accepted Every human society aspires for a better definition of development: wellbeing and this accounts for the constant Development is a complex, holistic and renewal of its livelihood tools and methods. -
Feminist Literary Criticism: a Paradigm of Matriarchy in Literature
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, February 2020, Vol. 10, No. 2, 93-97 doi: 10.17265/2159-5836/2020.02.001 D DAVID PUBLISHING Feminist Literary Criticism: A Paradigm of Matriarchy in Literature Md. Masud Rana Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia Amina Rashid Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia Feminist literary theory underpins literature from matriarchal perspective revolting against prototype patriarchal ritual i.e. established dogmatism, superstition, close-eyed religious propaganda, language engineering and so forth. It questions the textual politics of dissipating womankind in literature. It shatters long-cherishing outlook of gender inequality, gender politics, power relation, sexual objectification, oppression, patriarchy, stereotyping and so on. In this connection, this theory sees women along with their experiences, thinking, language, position and role playing, cultural conditioning, diction, and above all, matriarchal assertion in literature. Feminist literary criticism has been generated from feminism and the basic aim of the theory is to investigate and trace out how female characters have been positioned in literature compared with male characters in terms of social and biological factors of different ages of the past started from antiquity. Feminist literary theory has also deconstructed texts from two different perspectives i.e. text written by men and text written by women. This paper attempts to evalualte feminist literary criticism as a subtle machinery or paradigm of matriarchy not only in avant-garde but also in old texts of literature. Keywords: Avant-garde, feminist literary criticism, feminism, matriarchy, patriarchy, androtexts, gynotexts, psychoanalysis, ecrrture feminine Introduction From antiquity to avant-garde literature, it has been made quite clear that women are directly consumed negatively as mere “Others”. -
Transitions Over the Life Course: Lessons from Age-Set Societies Author(S): Anne Foner and David Kertzer Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol
Transitions Over the Life Course: Lessons from Age-Set Societies Author(s): Anne Foner and David Kertzer Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 83, No. 5 (Mar., 1978), pp. 1081-1104 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2778187 . Accessed: 22/08/2013 18:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Journal of Sociology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 199.17.89.23 on Thu, 22 Aug 2013 18:04:13 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Transitions over the Life Course: Lessons from Age-Set Societies1 Anne Foner Rutgers University David Kertzer Bowdoin College This study examines processes of life-course transitions in 21 African age-set societies, a group of preliterate societies where age is a major organizing principle, and compares processes of transition there with those in the United States today. The analysis challenges some long- held views about the putative smooth course of passage through the life course in "simple"societies and troubled transitions in the United States. -
1 Pagoda, Temple of Love 1977
Pagoda, Temple of Love 1977 - Practice Ground for the Matriarchy First, I want to thank Dr. Goettner Abendroth and Dr.Keller for inviting me to this miracle of a conference. The theme of this conference is TIME IS RIPE – better to build a lifeboat than wait for the patriarch Titanic to listen to reason. In 1977, a group of women in St. Augustine, Florida built a lifeboat. We built an intentional community that is matriarchal at it's base and intention and, matrifocal in it's function. It is a community of Lesbian Feminists who decided to make the personal truly political by immersing themselves in Lesbian culture. Choosing to live in a women only community, with Women's Spirituality at it's base, was (is) nothing short of revolutionary. Exploring the notion of how life could be lived among women, with core feminist ethics and intention, was a cause that was taken up by thousands of women in the 1970s. Most of these communities quickly dissolved, some lasted through the 1980s, and a few, like the Pagoda Community, lasted into this century. Intentional women's communities were and continue to be practice grounds for the matriarchy, glimpses of how life could be lived among women here and now. Pagoda women trudged through murky, treacherous waters to build bridges between women at a time when we were just beginning to find each other. For the Pagoda Community, it meant years of joy in living among women in an idyllic seaside setting, together with the chaos that comes before real 1 change. -
To Wards an Integrative Ecofeminist Praxis
To wards an Integrative Ecofeminist Praxis Duns l'tthique environnementale the feminist claim that women should ainsi que &ns les thtories fkministes have equal opportunity, they resist etpolitiques, l'introduction du terme fundamental restructuring of power kcofkminisme provoque de vives relations (Burt, 192). Liberal femi- controverses.Cet article examine les While men's revolutions have often nists and ecofeminists use traditional difftrentes dkfinitions de been about dying for 0 Cause, lobbying techniques to influence leg- l'tcoftminisme ainsi que son islation and incorporate women fully eficacitk en tant que thkorie. feminist conceived transformation into the mainstream of contemporary is about daring to live society. Liberalism focuses on equal ac- Ecofeminism reinforces a deep and for U cause. very personal understanding of the cess of individuals to resources and connection between the oppression opportunities. This is problematic for of women and nature in patriarchal -Petu~ Kelly environmental issues because it is so society. Although the term highly individualistic, and environ- ecofeminism has been used in many mental regulations can be seen as ways, its basis is an understanding of limiting to individual freedom. Lib- the interconnectedand mutually reinforcingsubjugation of women era1 ecofeminists have argued, however, for environmental regu- and the domination of nature. However, the description and lation and compensation and thus, the implied restriction of explanation for these phenomena, as well as the prescription for individual liberties. change vary considerably. Liberal, socialist, and radical femi- Karen Warren argues, however, that liberalism is inadequate nism all contribute to anecofeminist perspective and policy. This for ecofeminism as it creates inequality through its acceptance of article examines these different concepts of ecofeminism. -
Ateker Generation- Set Systems Revisited – Field Facts and Findings, and a Systematisation
MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY WORKING PAPERS WORKING PAPER NO. 183 HARALD MÜLLER-DEMPF ATEKER GENERATION- SET SYSTEMS REVISITED – FIELD FACTS AND FINDINgs, AND A SYSTEMATIsaTION Halle / Saale 2017 ISSN 1615-4568 Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, PO Box 110351, 06017 Halle / Saale, Phone: +49 (0)345 2927- 0, Fax: +49 (0)345 2927- 402, http://www.eth.mpg.de, e-mail: [email protected] Ateker Generation-Set Systems Revisited – field facts and findings, and a systematisation1 Harald Müller-Dempf2 Abstract Generation-set systems are seldom accepted as full-fledged socio-political systems,3 and the fact that they are often subsumed under the category of age only increases the likelihood that they are misunderstood. Another aspect that is often overlooked in this context is the role of generational alternations. This paper aims to explore Ateker generation-sets and show how they are socio- political systems sui generis. They reflect and at the same time organise people’s lives, and, while they share a common origin, they developed differently in various groups according to emerging needs. The study also provides an update to the basic ethnographic data on the Karimojong, Jie, and Dodoth generation-sets. For reasons of stringency, no reference is made here to related social categories like lineage, clan, stock ownership, etc. 1 Information for this article is based on fieldwork undertaken from 1982 onwards. Research conducted since 2005 was financially supported by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Special thanks go to Günther Schlee and Christoph Brumann, who reviewed the draft of this paper. -
Three Waves of Feminism
01-Krolokke-4666.qxd 6/10/2005 2:21 PM Page 1 1 Three Waves of Feminism From Suffragettes to Grrls e now ask our readers to join us in an exploration of the history of W feminism or, rather, feminisms: How have they evolved in time and space? How have they framed feminist communication scholarship in terms of what we see as a significant interplay between theory and politics? And how have they raised questions of gender, power, and communication? We shall focus our journey on the modern feminist waves from the 19th to the 21st century and underscore continuities as well as disruptions. Our starting point is what most feminist scholars consider the “first wave.” First-wave feminism arose in the context of industrial society and liberal politics but is connected to both the liberal women’s rights movement and early socialist feminism in the late 19th and early 20th century in the United States and Europe. Concerned with access and equal opportunities for women, the first wave continued to influence feminism in both Western and Eastern societies throughout the 20th century. We then move on to the sec- ond wave of feminism, which emerged in the 1960s to 1970s in postwar Western welfare societies, when other “oppressed” groups such as Blacks and homosexuals were being defined and the New Left was on the rise. Second-wave feminism is closely linked to the radical voices of women’s empowerment and differential rights and, during the 1980s to 1990s, also to a crucial differentiation of second-wave feminism itself, initiated by women of color and third-world women. -
Those Who Revise and Those Who Revolt Jo Ann Davidson Andrews University, [email protected]
Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Faculty Publications Theology & Christian Philosophy April 2005 Those Who Revise and Those Who Revolt Jo Ann Davidson Andrews University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/theology-christian- philosophy-pubs Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Davidson, Jo Ann, "Those Who Revise and Those Who Revolt" (2005). Faculty Publications. Paper 50. http://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/theology-christian-philosophy-pubs/50 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Theology & Christian Philosophy at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BY JO ANN DAVIDSON* tions in government, in medicine, in evidence for ancient goddess wor- law, in business, in the arts and, ship, arguing that such hints in the finally, in religion, we will be the end Old Testament occur in the denunci- of Him. We will change the world so ations of Canaanite worship. much that He won’t fit in anymore.’”2 They also cite examples from Feminist writing is often forceful, ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, bitter, and uncompromising. These Greece, and Rome, along with more THOSE WHO women, however, are not issuing minor kingdoms where the Primal impulsive, ungrounded complaints. Matrix supposedly ruled supreme. A They regularly couple their argu- major evidence for them is the thou- ments with accounts of offensive sands of female goddess figurines REVISE AND THOSE personal experiences.