STILL I RISE

[Tracing Womanhood in World Cultures]

by

Dr. Padmore Enyonam Agbemabiese

Drum Publishing, USA

Columbus, USA

2

© Padmore Agbemabiese 1999

Title: Still I Rise: Tracing Womanhood in World Cultures

Cataloguing in Publication data for this book is available from the National Library of America Copyright © Padmore Agbemabiese 1999 Cover and internal design by UNICREATIONS INC

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3 FORWARD

These essays are a potful of gratitude offered lovingly to women scattered all over the world—born and yet unborn. Through their blood women have created the world, made history and through the rites that mark their biological experiences coupled with their feminine traditions they have ventured into a space and integrated, for the world, what we call our body, mind, and spirit—thus, women have become the fountain of human culture. Everywhere in the human society myths surrounding creation are constructed and narrated with emphasis on motherhood. Rituals associated with the female body and other traditions connected with women also tell the story of the beginning of culture. Oral narratives further tell us women developed pottery, weaving, farming, and a protectiveness toward animals and nature. In African cosmogony, attributes to God as the creator of the world are feminine oriented. God is often referred to as Mother-Earth [Asase Yaa], who creates, like earth from her womb, sustenance, hence God is likened to a woman figure. Dating back to ancient times in Egypt where society depended on craftsmen, irrigation, agriculture, herding, and horticulture, earth-protective traditions, rituals and menarchal rites were the center of human mind and spirit. In fact, during this period, society is said to have achieved peaceful farming civilization. What, in later years, inspired Hindu custom of suttee to burn alive a widow on her husband‘s funeral pyre? Why was the popular belief natured, in certain cultures, that women are “by nature so lascivious that chastity is inordinately difficult for them” thus, clitoridectomy [female circumcision] is recommended to protect their reputation for chastity? Is cultural devaluation the answer? Over the decade scholars have unearthed, in almost every culture of the world, the sustained resistance of women to their victimization within interlocking systems of race, gender, and class oppression. The resistance is still on as they continue to use alternative ways of producing and validating knowledge of themselves. These essays are not means to an end in feminist studies in Africa. They aim at re- articulating the contributions and the breaking grounds made on the study of the ‘cult of womanhood’ in world cultures, and in cultures of Africa in particular. It is an exploration than being theoretically based. In fact, it seeks to delve into history to unearth whether theories of

4 social stratification, where gender differences in power and privilege, are basically theological or God centered as we are made to believe. I must be the first to admit that writing about a topic of this nature is a Herculean task and carries a lot of responsibilities and discomforts. At the time of organizing ideas for this book, I got to know of how limited I am in the diversity, differences, and outlines of women issues and the approach to bringing them forward. The experience of being disadvantaged may not be common to many men and women. But I believe that sometimes materials produced by people with little previous knowledge of the culture of the subject under discussion best bring out better comparative ideas. Over the years, I have come to believe that human beings can be miserable and vulnerable without being oppressed. And so it is easy for some people to signal their docility by denying the existence of stresses and frustration of persons in the presence of liberty and freedom. Let us remind ourselves that oppression of persons is hard to see and recognize especially when unwritten customs and traditions governing social relationships sustain the institutions that compose its elements and the machinery which crafts its structure. The inability, of women to cry loud on the streets about their plight must not lead many to assume women do not suffer or that are not vulnerable because there are laws that punish abuses and oppression of women within the society. I gratefully acknowledge the support, skill, and help of many people. I extend special thanks to many, very close to me, who inspired this work. I remember the first time a female professor raised the topic in a literature class and it seemed, when looking into my eyes, she was “accusing me, indirectly, for the restrictions, oppression, and discrimination” women have to suffer just because they are women living in patriarchal societies like Africa. I know she was not accusing me and so I acknowledge the inspiration she gave me. I am grateful for the spiritual and the mental support I enjoy from my Grandmother and the understanding and enthusiasm I always experience from her. I would like to place on record the skilful and generous contribution of many friends in the making of this book. A friend, who wants to remain anonymous spent nights helping to review the collection and offered friendship and support needed to carry out the project. I need to remember my wife, Dr. Yawa Agbemabiese for the unfailingly encouragement she always gives me when it comes to writings of this nature.

5 I also want to acknowledge other works, invaluable resources on the topic: Womanhood by Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1999; Gender and Society by Arlene Tigar McLaren; Blood, Bread, and Roses by Judy Grahn; Feminist Frontiers III by Laurel Richardson and V. Taylor. I owe my daughter, Senam, special thanks for in my bid to be protective of her future I am plunged into hating the social organization of gender in societies. Padmore Enyonam Agbemabiese

6 INTRODUCTION

STILL I RISE

You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like the dust I’ll rise

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?

Into a daybreak that wondrously clear I rise …… I rise I rise

[Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise”]

The above poem, by Maya Angelou, may be employed in various aesthetic senses and here it is used to designate the conduct of one of such senses, the history of womanhood. When talking about the history of women issues two groups of people surface, the optimists and the pessimists. Whereas pessimists bemoan the loss of female Golden age, optimists boldly point out the legal changes, economic improvements, and sexual emancipation of women to be a gain for womanhood. Optimists refer to suffrage amendments in constitutions of the world, the right to divorce, choice of family size and the increase in educational opportunities as a gain to women’s freedom. Technology, optimists further argue, freed women to work outside the home. No matter where we stand we can debate the claim of whether citizenship offered women much political power, appointment to high positions or gained for them the desired equal rights.

7 Pessimists on one hand believe the status of women have declined with the inception of market or wage economy. The concern of pessimists is realized in the idea of mothers leaving home as well as abandoning their beloved children, under the care of nannies or older women, in order to travel elsewhere to work. This is quoted as making it impossible for women to combine their traditional role with modern employment. It is even argued by pessimists that advancement in science has seen women’s control and power over childbirth appropriated by men. And so the debate ranges on between these two groups of people, agreeing and sometimes disagreeing on the definition or concept of womanhood and the varied degrees of their status and role in past and present historical contexts. What is left to argue about concerns who actually controls resources in the community, what is male-sex role, and what is society’s norms about sex roles and sex-ascribed behavior. On my balance sheet the world women have lost and what they have gained leans heavily on the evidence of both the optimists and the pessimists. The argument could be amplified that in preliterate societies, men and women worked together on the field but it is also true that their activities were largely determined by sexes or were divided by sexes. However, it is also a fact that segregation of sexes is not peculiar to pre-industrial society alone. In industrialized societies each sex took on its separate daily task and they moved correspondingly through the world in distinct ways as male and female. There are in the society those who discuss with scholarship vigor the cyclical theory of family and sex-roles in the zeal to replace it with linear models. But, we need to ask consciously whether, when women come to recognize an increase in their status, something that accrues through re-evaluation of their roles, will they [women] appropriate male standards of behavior? When history books are rewritten tomorrow what shall we hear of women? When women write the history books will we read in them that “male gender identity is threatened by intimacy while female gender identity is threatened by separation”? Against all these background is it true that there was once a feminist Eden where society progressed from a matriarchal structure, in which women controlled religion, property, and marriage? According to Merlin Stone, In the beginning, people prayed to the Creatress of Life, the Mistress of Heaven. At the very dawn of religion,

8 God was a woman….In every area of the Near and Middle East, the Goddess was known in historic times……...….the worship of the female deity survived into the classical periods of Greece and Rome. It was not totally suppressed until the time of the Christian emperors of Rome and Byzantium, who closed down the last Goddess temples in about 500 A. D. If life in prehistoric cultures, where society valued home and hearth, women’s role in gathering food, as opposed to men’s role in hunting it, embraced also trade, architecture and art we may want to know what made society to have this paradise lost? We may even ask if a woman’s pendulous breast makes her any longer a goddess, a symbol of puberty or a sign of the community’s concern for sexuality? Many women would go on further to ask for words to qualify womanhood, words, which once described the Amazons, “ a powerful, courageous warrior, a leader in battle”. In the name of hope the answer is unknown. Since the world came into existence women, as individuals, have participated in essentially all of the activities performed in human societies. As a group, however, women have been identified with particular roles ascribed to them by their societies. These roles have commonly been presented as naturally linked to women's physiology, which includes childbearing and infant care. Even in societies where women have been given broader responsibilities and power, men have been known to seriously dominate formal political life of the community. The emergence of class systems throughout the world, the growth of dominant states, and the rise of major religions have universally strengthened male dominance. And to a large extent the rise of capitalism could be said to have furthered this tendency. The following discussions aim at offering an insight into what transpired in world cultures about women with the hope of allowing society to reevaluate the role and status of women in our cultures vis-a-vis their male counterparts. I share the challenge of historian Ann Scott that, to describe the culturally defined image of the lady; to trace the effect this definition had on women’s behavior; to describe the realities of women’s lives which were often at odds with the image;

9 calls for efforts beyond what I have attempted here. I do not intend to enter into discourse on what constitutes true cult of womanhood, wifehood, and motherhood, roles often glorified as the purpose of a woman’s being. Instead, the sentiments are to present for evaluation what have been constructed, by male instincts, as overt and covert sexuality of women. In doing so I have placed women in different cultures from where we could begin the evaluation. Indeed, the word “Women” regardless how you can say it sarcastically, reverently, apathetically, the word produces an image. It conjures the image of a mother, a sister, a daughter. As you read on, you will realize that the sphere in which a woman can express her femininity is narrow to a certain extent, because it is restricted to her marital life where her role as a female is mainly revealed, and to her family and feminine milieu where she can show her feminine traits through wearing ornaments or whatever… not to mention motherhood that is the most important feminine role that a woman is said to fulfill. But motherhood itself is not purely a feminine role; all the more so it is a human role in a woman’s life. Thus, the role of a woman as a human being remains her most essential role in life. She must confirm, in her actions, that she is a person of reason, a person of will, a person of affection, and a person who has a mission to carry out and she should prove that she has the ability to take part in life. So, we must look at women’s humanity as the most important aspect in their personality. He created women to contribute to the existence with the faculties they have, just as He created men to contribute to the existence with the abilities they possess. Therefore, we believe that, while the feminine aspect of the woman’s personality is revealed in a delimited sphere, her human aspect is manifested in her whole existence as a woman. Even more, the human aspect of her personality will indeed be integrated with the feminine aspect of her conduct as a female, whether with her husband or within her own specific sensations of femininity. Verily, the aspect of humanity in her will enrich that conduct turning it into a nobler one, and will expand her giving to the partner that she joins in marriage. In other words, it is an aspect that refines the instinct and humanizes it in deeds as well as in feelings, so that the marital relationship will no longer be a relationship in which the female provides the male with her biological drives. It will rather be a human relationship where each partner, male or female, makes use of his or her distinguishing characteristics in order to give the other what pleases him or her and what satisfies his or her emotional and physical needs.

10 CHAPTER ONE

WOMEN IN PRELITERATE CULTURES

……….in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband; and he shall rule over thee. (Genesis 3:16)

In both hunting and foraging, and early settled agricultural societies, women contributed directly and indispensably to subsistence. They frequently controlled or collected the essentials for survival in the society. However, no known society has acknowledged or entrusted any technological activities specifically to these women. Even though there are well known female activities such as food preparation and cooking, which approximate technology, these have not been acknowledged as technical excels. But we are aware of men being in the monopoly of hunting, butchering, and the processing of hard materials and these have been respected as technologies. What is important to know is that in many preliterate societies kinship provided the basic social organization. In these societies work is, therefore, allocated according to gender and generation. This, in a way, created the superman syndrome, and man became the measure of all things. Some 19th-century scholars, notably Johann Jakob Bachofen, believed that the patriarchal family was the foundation of human society. However, more recent scholarship has discredited this myth of patriarchy. It is now believed that many preliterate societies were matrilineal—–descent was traced through the family of the mother, or matrilocal—newly married couples resided with and worked for the family of the mother. Among the Iroquois, who offer the best-known case of female power, women's influential roles were based on female control of the group's economic organization. As would be observed, in societies in which hunting predominated, there was greater sexual segregation in work and childbearing, greater emphasis on competition, and a masculine cast on which to base creation myths and cosmology (creation accounts) stories. In more settled societies, which relied marginally or not at all on hunting, there was greater sexual integration, less competitiveness, and a feminine cast to relate to in creation, myths and cosmology narratives.

11 WOMEN IN WESTERN CULTURES Between 3000 B. C. and 1200 B. C., Crete was a thriving and successful culture that produced writing and art in many forms mainly depicting women. In Sumer, the first of the Bronze Age patriarchal civilizations of Mesopotamia, recognizable class divisions and royal dynasties emerged and seriously consolidated women's exclusion from politics. According to the position of class system in this society, women could exercise varied roles and enjoy some legal protection for property but not in politics. Interestingly, the early divine role of priestesses was diabolically transformed into the roles of concubines and prostitutes in god's harem. These atrocities were not performed without the knowledge of the aristocracy. Available information indicates that the legal code of the Old Babylonian king Hammurabi (1792-1750) carried the patriarchal tendencies of Sumer to their logical severity. This included draconian punishment for women who dared to challenge the most sacred family tie, basically, male dominance. The Minoan society of Crete, which took shape at about 3000 B. C. contrasts sharply with Sumer. It perpetuated women's preponderant influence in religion and social life. What the Minoans did to reverse the plight of women was to partially raise them from the debris of poverty and social degradation by granting them equal political authority with men. Minoan women, traditionally belonged to a trading rather than a warrior society. Genetically, they drew strength both from their membership in corporate kinship groups and from their institutionalized ties with other women, especially in the Aegean civilization. The classical myths of origin, memorably recorded and shaped by Hesiod during the 8th century, set forth a complex anthropomorphic cosmology in which women figure prominently as disruptive forces. These destructive forces are portrayed in feminine figures such as Pandora and Aphrodite. There is also the asexual virgins, depicted in Athena and Artemis. Hesiod, in his writings, explicitly depicted the progress of civilization as the triumph of male power and principles of justice over the reproductive forces of women. Subsequent authors reinforced his interpretation, especially Aeschylus in the Oresteia and Sophocles in Antigone. In sum, it could be assumed that economics and gender ideologies affect sexuality. By associating women with domesticity and emotion they are gender limited. Beyond the separation of women, the conventional distinction between public and private in the community lies in the differences in social relations where women are regarded

12 as distinct and can only play complementary roles. This is evident in classical Greek civilization. In keeping with its cultural hostility toward women, classical Greek civilization (5th-3d century) severely curtailed women's political participation. This trend reflects the transition from an aristocratic to a more egalitarian commercial society with a growing dependence on slave labor. Just like the Greeks, classical Athens also firmly relegated women, slaves and children, to the household, or oikos. The oikos, which operated like a unitary family setup, had a differential cost to women. It was dominated and represented in the polity by male citizens. By convention the family is ruled by the elements of solidarity, which make it a unitary whole. To eliminate violence, and conflicts of interest in gender and generation certain structures were erected to compensate women. This compensation takes the form of respect in the society. And a married woman can earn this dignity and respect through her ability to manage the household, oikos. The concept of gender, heretofore, highlighted the social construction of maleness and femaleness. The more authoritarian Spartans, however, polarized the gender dichotomies. The Spartans displayed deep misogyny (hatred of women), radically segregated women and men, and allowed women specific or defined public roles. The fear of and hostility towards women that permeated Greek culture was institutionalized in law and indirectly expressed in men's idealization and love of other men, particularly young boys. By this, the idea is born of new reproductive technologies. Since cause and effect are difficult to disentangle individuals developed emotional commitments to individuals of their own [sex] gender. Heterosexuality or gay-lesbian relationship mythology, therefore, is a product of the dynamics of peril between a superior and a subordinate. In an effort to assert the primacy of women’s plight we can agree that, most women’s identities are partially formed by their relationship with society, means of economic survival, identity, and strength, all these are realized in their roles and statuses in their societies. An explicit example of this situation in Greece is Sappho, the outstanding female exiled lesbian poet, who lived and worked with other women. Although different in her social foundations, traditional Judaic society also restricted women's social role and encouraged sexual segregation. Judaism probably also reflected a historic revolt against a prehistoric female-centered cosmology. By historic times, Jewish monotheism was clearly founded upon the worship of a male creator and lawgiver.

13 When the Romans began to rule the world the situation did not alter any better. The Roman State, with its principle of patriapotestas ("right of the father"), granted women even fewer rights than had the Greek states. However, we can credit Romans probably for permitting women a greater personal freedom. In the face of gender differentiation and devaluation the claim could be made that there seems to exist from ancient times a taboo against sameness of men and women, a taboo diving sexes into categories. However, though among the Romans the patriapotestas granted the father extensive rights, including that of life and death, over his wife, Roman culture never expressed deep hostility toward female sexuality, nor a sharp polarity between the sexes. This gain or privilege did not last long. When Christianity emerged in part as a reaction to the perceived laxity of late Hellenistic morals, Roman imperialism, and the internal crisis of Jewish society gender and physical segregation of women became evident. Although women figured prominently among early Christian converts and proselytizers, the architects of Christian orthodoxy, most notably Saint Paul, mistrusted sexuality in general and women in particular. The eminent Christian lawyer, St. Paul has left for us his views on women in almost all his letters to the Christian world saving me time and space. Increasingly, Christianity stressed Eve's responsibility for the fall of the human race from divine grace. There is no guarantee to saying that the furtherance to Eve’s plight is the cause for why women have been denied official religious roles in the Church until, recently, a place was made for them in the religious orders. But how or why is Eve’s story not close to a mere myth employed to legitimize or stigmatize womanhood? I agree with Kessler and McKenna [1978] that, the “gender attribution process” assumes dimorphism and seeks evidence of it to justify classifying people as male and female and treating them unequally. The Germanic tribes that overran the Roman Empire seem to have regarded women largely as property to be exchanged by men. The Roman historian Tacitus, emphasized for us Germanic women's roles as seers and prophets, and how subsequent Christian chroniclers only praised women's efforts to convert their men. A close observation of the situation offers the understanding that although nuns and abbesses worked devotedly to extend the influence of the church, their lay sisters [lay women in the church] remained strictly subordinate to their husbands and families.

14 WOMEN’S STATUS FROM THE 9TH CENTURY ONWARDS

By the 9th century, women's legal position had improved as a result of complex social changes. Women's ability to inherit property eventually strengthened their position within the family and influenced society at large. At this time the Carolinian rulers reinforced the church's policy of the indissolubility of marriage, thus protecting women against repudiation for childlessness. The indissolubility of marriage guaranteed women the property earned or acquired with the husband during the marriage. Property and marital security, therefore, enabled women to play more active roles in the church in the early Middle Ages. From the 11th century on, however, women's freedoms were steadily restricted. First the restriction was by the church, and later by lay society, in fact monarchies. The rise of monarchies strengthened male control of families and increased male opportunities in the public sphere. The rise of courtly love, which simultaneously idealized women as objects of male devotion drew women from religious devotion to romantic love of men. This further provided cultural compensation for declining female independence. The Renaissance period did not reverse the general erosion of women's position that resulted from the growing importance of commerce and centralized states. The individualistic, secular culture that might have invited female as well as male participation self-consciously defined itself as the male mind triumphing over (female) nature. In this situation Renaissance thought portrayed women as dangerous and disorderly. Urban institutions followed the Athenian pattern of associating men with politics and women with the household. Differentiation, of women from men, became the fundamental process in hierarchical systems, which in effect created psychological and behavioral patterns to ensure the differentiation of the subordinate group from the dominant group. The Reformation period, which recognized the importance of women's participation in their own salvation, undauntedly glorified marriage. This made Reformation to benefit extensively from female support; unfortunately, it repudiated the implications of sexual equality. As early as the 15th century, few women, among them Christine de Pisan (1364- 1431) made efforts at winning respect for female intellectuals. But this was without success. As a way out of the segregation and differentiation female initiative was channeled into religious vocation, social promotion through marriage, or family interests. Some upper-class women as a result found themselves in unusual opportunities through their family’s position

15 or relationships: they became queens, such as Elizabeth I, female regents, princesses of the blood, and noblewomen. But peasant and lower-class women had no such fortune than work. They performed requisite functions with and for their families in agriculture, in craft production, and in households. At some levels and in some situations it was only custom and tradition which favored their inheritance rights. Everywhere, there was no way formal institutions could disfavor male dominance. THE PURITAN REVOLUTION PERIOD During the Puritan Revolution of 17th-century, England promoted a close identification of women with domestic life. This gained broad acceptance throughout the 18th century. While the American and French Revolutions offered mixed benefits to women, they strictly restricted citizenship to only men. A study of the Napoleonic Code reveals it approximated the Roman patriapotestas in its subjugation of married women to their husbands. Over time, the individualism of Enlightenment thought combined with the revolutionary defense of individual rights sowed the seeds of modern feminism. Throughout the Western world the gradual development of liberal and democratic institutions encouraged the emergence of a model of womanhood for women of all classes. It developed a dominant doctrine of separate spheres, which hemmed males and females in compartments. From the 17th century, the rise of capitalism, followed by industrialization, was accompanied by the disruption of peasant communities. Consequently, it led to the growth of a wage labor force in which working women participated, although they earned lower wages than their male counterparts. Colonialism, which preceded and accompanied this process, wrenched West African women, like men, into enslavement in the plantations of the Americas. Throughout this period the progress of industrialization and the organization of labor discriminated against women. As a proof of their capabilities women increasingly accepted the challenge, goal of a male wage, and stood the test. The gains of the 19th century made women became more concerned with social reforms and the improvement of their own position. From varied and various angles many women viewed their growing public activities as "social housekeeping". Women consistently argued that their interest in nursing, social work, their temperance, as evidenced in temperance movement, and even the vote, as depicted in women’s suffrage campaigns, was in keeping with true womanhood.

16 Across the globe, especially in the West, the decline in birthrate and infant mortality rate left more and more women with years unencumbered by childbearing. Everywhere, women fought for and won gradual improvement in the property rights of married women. They also won the right to divorce, and child custody. By the 20th century they began to claim full citizenship and control over their own reproductive powers. By the time the new feminist wave broke in the 1960s, women had gained individual rights and opportunities undreamed of by their sisters in other ages and other parts of the world. Male dominance in the household and the public sector still flourished, however. Regardless of this women gained many of the uncertainties and responsibilities of individualism. But, there is one right they still grapple with, equal access to benefits associated with the responsibilities. WOMEN IN EASTERN CULTURES The dominant cultures of the Islamic countries, India, China, and Japan are said to have rested on sharp social distinctions and on the labor of peasants or tribal masses. Many of the older traditions of these cultures are even believed to have favored considerable equality among women and men. However, these patterns might have existed only among the lower classes, which depended on the labor of women and viewed marriage as an economic partnership. Under normal circumstances official ideologies of the ruling elites saw the seclusion of women as essential to social and political order. Women's only alternative to domestic confinement was to join a religious order or become a wandering mendicant like Mirabai, the 16th-century Rajput princess. It is argued that Islam, established in the 7th century, confirmed or strengthened female subordination among the peoples it conquered. In order to firmly structure society and maintain orderliness founders of Islam included women's status in the holy law, or Sharia, and this made subsequent changes very difficult. Islam encouraged polygyny (polygamy), restricting the number of wives to four but refused to compromise on equal treatment of women. Declaring a woman as worth half a man with respect to inheritance and testimony, Islam veiled women and isolated them from all men other than their own relatives. Yet, Islamic women were entitled to full support for themselves and their children from their husbands. The lives of Indian women at a number of levels were shaped by the caste system, which evolved in the 1st millennium. Caste endogamy stressed marriage as the central

17 purpose of a woman's life. Marriage policies and a deep mistrust of female sexuality, especially among the Brahmans (priestly class), resulted in pre-puberty marriage, suttee, banson widow remarriage, and a benign neglect of female children who were considered economic liabilities. Hinduism emphasized the dual nature of women: benevolent wives, and dangerous mothers. The penetration of Islam into northern India in the 13th century introduced the constraints of Sharia, and [at least for aristocratic women, Purdah] the seclusion of women from public observances. In the Chinese Empire strict patrilineal values governed the position of women. Confucianism, which originated in the 6th century, emphasized the importance of the family to social order, gender and the generational hierarchy within families. Marriage allied families, with the new wife totally subject to her husband and, especially, to the husband’s parents. Although there was no polygyny, the husband could take concubines. Upper-class women however enjoyed privileges and lived lives of leisure but did not escape the extreme seclusion. The growth of cities between the 10th and the 16th century in the empire increased female literacy alongside female immorality. In time systematic confinement and oppression reached its height. During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) confinement and oppression, foot binding, prostitution and concubinage, coupled with social pressure called on widows to remain chaste or commit suicide. In Japan, beginning in the 8th century, the influence of Buddhism, Confucianism, and specific clans steadily restricted the image and political roles of women. By the Heinz period (794-1185), women were being secluded and used as pawns in marriage politics. The absence of patrilocality made them more valuable than sons for ambitious clans, such as the Fujiwara, who used their daughters to control emperors. Excluded from official learning, women writers developed special skills in vernacular literature and produced brilliant works of fiction, such as Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji (11th century). During the Kamakura period [1185-1333] women gained a high point of rights to inherit and own property. But they slipped back thereafter under Tokugawa feudalism (1600-1867). During the Tokugawa period women were viewed as inferior to men. They also lost most of their property rights and all-political roles. Men, on the other hand, practiced polygyny, kept concubines, and could repudiate their wives at will. The Meiji Civil Code of 1898 perpetuated much of this subordination.

18 CHAPTER TWO

WOMEN’S STATUS TODAY Since World War II the position of women around the globe began to change at an accelerating rate. Since the war women have gained most in politically progressive or economically developed countries. But there is no single explanation for these gains. At the same time there is no truth is saying in all countries women enjoy full political, legal, economic, social, educational and sexual equality with men. What is evident is throughout the world, women gradually emerged from the millennia of subordination to men and confinement to the family. But progress of this emergence from the confinement and subordination is uneven and has even suffered reversals. In highly developed countries, it is said that, women account for almost 50% of the labor force. But in less developed countries with a large subsistence sector, they constitute less than 20% of the population. The picture is even gloomy in some orthodox Muslim countries, where they are less than 10%. In a majority of countries, especially developing countries, most women remain concentrated in low-paying, low-status, "female" jobs, especially in primary and secondary school teaching, service jobs, and some clerical and sales jobs. Throughout the world women continue to earn less than men for comparable work done. At other instances they are systematically excluded from the best-paid and most- prestigious jobs. With rising male unemployment in recent times, women's participation in the labor force has also declined. This is on the ascendancy in Japan, Italy, Peru, and India. Perhaps, as many as 40% of the world's farmers are women largely bound to a declining and ever less profitable subsistence economy. Yet 38% of the world's women are unpartnered: they are single, widowed, or divorced, supporting themselves and oftentimes others. Women's near exclusion from the highest incomes and most dynamic economic sectors is closely related both to their formal political and legal rights and to the persistence of traditional religious, cultural, and family values. In fact, much of the world is subject to the influence of three traditional legal systems: common law, civil law, and Sharia. Everywhere in the world a legislation that promotes sexual equality has not eradicated the influence of these three legal systems. Only countries that have undergone socialist revolutions have adopted entirely new legal systems. Thus, the legal position of women most closely approximates that

19 of men in such socialist or formerly socialist countries as the former USSR, China, and Cuba. In the United States of America the situation has forced feminists to insist that piecemeal reform, including suffrage and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, does not provide the same protection, as would the comprehensive Equal Rights Amendment. A lot has been written about women and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And everywhere it is believed that though women generally have acquired the vote power, they do not exercise political power in proportion to their numbers. This is inferred from experiences to date, where only few women have attained the highest political office. Some of these women include Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, and a few others. Most of these women, however, attained office because of their membership in ruling political families or intelligentsia. Even in socialist countries, in which women are more heavily represented in governing political bodies, they rarely reach such powerful positions as membership in the politburo of the Communist parties or get to the presidential seat. Women have also failed until recently to gain equal access to higher (especially technical) education. In this sense women's illiteracy has been affected dramatically in the past few decades. Since the 1970s American women have constituted 20% of those in professional training, medicine, business, and law. But in the Third World, where Westerners have shaped educational patterns, the story is not the same. In these Third World countries it has been preferred to educate and train men, not women, for the advanced economic and governmental sectors. Even though women have, of late, struggled to “invade” professional fields the number, who have done so is few. Today, evidence abounds that development and modernization have opened new possibilities and new roles for women around the world. But this same process has also undermined women's traditional resources. In many countries, defenders of traditional family, religious, and cultural values are vigorously opposing what the West terms the liberation of women. They regard it as one or more aspects of the manifestation of Western domination. In this respect the argument in defense of women liberation needs to focus on the diversity of cultures since each culture has its own perception of the role and status of women in their societies. This is so because the needs of women in these different cultures and countries vary. But then, while vouching for increasing numbers of women to recognize their need to be full and equal members of society attempts must not be made at destroying their cultural values

20 through our failure to note the connotations of a woman’s role and status in these various and varied cultures. Once, I told some students this fictional story I created about the importance of women in our communities: By the time the Lord made woman, He was into his Sixth day of working overtime. An Angel appeared and said, "Why are you spending so much time on this one?" And the Lord answered and said, "Have you seen the spec sheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic, have 200 movable parts, all replaceable, run on black coffee and leftovers, have a lap that can hold two children at one time and that disappears when she stands up, have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart, and have six pairs of hands." The Angel was astounded at the requirements for this one. "Six pairs of hands! No Way!" said the Angel. The Lord replied, "Oh, it's not the hands that are the problem. It's the three pairs of eyes that mothers must have! And that's just on the standard model?" The Angel asked about the three pairs of eyes. The Lord nodded. "Yep, one pair of eyes are to see through the closed door as she asks her children what they are doing even though she already knows. Another pair in the back of her head are to see what she needs to know even though no one thinks she can. And the third pair are here in the front of her head. They are for looking at an errant child and saying that she understands and loves him or her without even saying a single word." The Angel tried to stop the Lord. "This is too much work for one day, wait until tomorrow to finish." "But I can't!" The Lord protested, "I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick AND can feed a family on a pound of hamburger and can get a nine year old to stand in the shower." The Angel moved closer and touched the woman, "But you have made her so soft, Lord." "She is soft," The Lord agreed, "but I have also made her tough. You have no idea what she

21 can endure or accomplish." "Will she be able to think?" asked the Angel. The Lord replied, "Not only will she be able to think, she will be able to reason and negotiate." The Angel then noticed something and reached out and touched the woman's cheek. "Oops, it looks like you have a leak with this model. I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one." "That's not a leak," The Lord objected, "That's a tear!" "What's the tear for?" the Angel asked. The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy, her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her loneliness, her grief, and her pride." The Angel was impressed. "You are a genius, Lord. You thought of everything, for women are truly amazing." God looked at the angel and smiled. Women have strengths that amaze men. They carry children, they carry hardships, they carry burdens but they hold happiness, love and joy. They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand up for injustice. They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution. They go without new shoes so their children can have them. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend. They love unconditionally. They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards. Their hearts break when a friend dies. They have sorrow at the loss of a family member, yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left. They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart. Women come in all sizes, in all colors and shapes. They'll drive, fly, walk, run, text or e-mail you to show how much they care about you.

22 The heart of a woman is what makes the world spin! Women do more than give birth. They bring joy and hope. They give compassion and ideals. Women have a lot to say and a lot to give.

In fact, it was my Grandmother, who said to me, when I was a young boy walking with her on the village lanes of Aborkutsime; she said, “There is in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.” Her last words to me before she passed away were “Son, any woman or girl you meet on the road could be your daughter, your wife or your mother. What will you do if you meet a man raping your daughter? I looked at her and said “I will kill him.” She said “What will you do if you see a man beating your mother?” I said “I will fight him to death.” She then looked into my eyes and asked, “What will you do if you see a man cursing and abusing your mother?” I said to her without wincing, “I will wrench his neck from the body.” She smiled and said, “Then, son go and prove that to every woman or girl on the street.” Ever since, I’m willing to die for a woman; I just need her consent to do it.

23 CHAPTER THREE

WOMANHOOD IN CULTURES OF AFRICA Among the Igbos of Nigeria is the proverb, “Yam is King and Mother is supreme”. The values embedded in this proverb share with the world the Igbo knowledge about cosmic relations and what they consider as the concept of human and productive relations in the Igbo society. Among Ewe there is also the proverb “A woman is a beautiful flower in the garden and the man is the fence around her.” There are hundreds of proverbs in African societies that speak to this concept of harmonious coexistence of the male-female gender. They also dramatize for us the society’s ability to exist with the tensions of two opposites [the male and female], and maintain a congenial balance between the male and female principles. Some anthropologists, who visited and wrote about life in Africa, observed certain externals [they themselves being outside-observers] argued that in Africa women exist in the domestic domain while men occupy the public realm. These anthropologists further perceive power and authority to be vested in the public domain, which is occupied by men. And since women operated in the domestic sphere the anthropologists concluded they were accorded lower status in society. What did not surface to be understood is that within these two domains there exists an internal well structured and ordered hierarchy with responsibilities for each personnel and that there were checks and balances or overlapping between these spheres, the domestic and the public. An example of such checks and balances, and overlapping could be found in the role of the Queenmother in some cultures of Africa. In African societies, the role of the Queenmother is sine qua non to the functioning of the community. The Queenmother is not, the wife or the mother of the King nor is she related to the King. She embodies the female voice, power and authority. She has the power to reject a proposed King, sovereign or regent, and can destool a ruling King, sovereign or regent. She could assume the position of the Commander-in-Chief of the traditional army and lead them to war against an enemy. This makes her position supreme and daring. But this does not also mean the queenmother is not accountable to anyone. There is the Council of Elders, who like the Office of the Independent Counsel, checks abuses of power. There are numerous stories or recorded historical facts about queenmothers [and their associates] functioning in this capacity. There were women or queenmothers like Lady Tiya of Nubia, and Nefertiti, Tiya’s daughter-in-law, Nzingha and Fungi of Angola, and the women of Aba in Eastern Nigeria. In

24 Ghana, West Africa, the queenmother of Ejisu, Yaa Asantewa assumed this role and fought the British in 1900 to free her captured King, Nana Agyeman Prempeh. The Amazon queens of Dahomey [Benin], the all-female battalion, also in West Africa have history recorded in songs and epics their daring achievements. For some time now, the image of women in African societies has been firmly grafted on minds to mean different things. The mis-measure of African women has lead to saccharine ideas about their roles and status in the community. According to Ama Ata Aidoo, the African woman is a, descendant from the bravest and innovative women of the world. In precolonial indigenous African societies women enjoyed the status of occasional warriors, queens, queenmothers, queen-sisters, princesses, monarchs, and occupied other eminent positions within their communities. They were noticeable in the economic life of the society and were very efficient, industrious and successful in farming, trading and craft production. From all indications the whole economic sectors, of the society, notably internal trade, agro-business, and healthcare were entirely in the hands of women. At times men and women could be seen as distinct or separate in their daily physical social encounters and activities yet both, in every way, complement each other in their roles. There is a good number of scholars, who believe that since African women fall under the guardianship of their fathers [especially, in the early childhood] and then of their husbands [later in adult life or marriage] they can be referred to as “jural minors”. In view of this they could be said as not possessing any freedom or right of their own. Ama Ata Aidoo [1991] has observed in Changes, that African women struggle to be independent [and articulate] at all times. African women, in the words of Ama Ata Aidoo, formulate clear and critical opinions in order that they would understand their position and be able to deal with it. It is factual that personality traits, abilities, values, motivations, roles, dreams, and desires of men and women: all vary across culture and history, and depend on time and place, context and situation. But, it is worth noting that Aidoo has always reminded the world that “within African societies intelligence and clarity of perception is not gender specific nor does it come with multitudinous gray hairs and wrinkles“. The numerous portraits of African women painted by merely contrasting, wrongfully, role with status and ascribing it a sexual stratification is rather unfortunate. And this inappropriate application of the conceptual meaning of role and status; its use in describing

25 the relationship between males and females has led many to believe that men enjoy better and more eminent status in indigenous African societies. In fact, I will make an effort to demonstrate that among some of the indigenous societies like the Ewe, male and female genders are not statuses, but one of the clusters of statuses of which gender is only one of the defining characteristics. Niara Sudarkasa has saved me time by arguing in the famous article: “The Status of Women in Indigenous African Societies,” that the subordination of women in class societies was their confinement to production within the domestic sphere and their exclusion from ‘social production for exchange.’ According to Sudarkasa, various conditions, including most probably the development of private property and the market or exchange economy created conditions [conditions that were absent in pre-colonial indigenous African societies] where the female and male became increasingly defined as unitary statuses that were hierarchically related to one another. Long ago in Egypt, Isis was the African goddess of the Nile Valley civilization. In Ethiopia, Isis was that venerated deity, whose adoration offered the reason why “the queen should have greater power and honor than the king”. Charles S. Finch summarizes the roles and attributes of Isis as, her name means throne, seat, or abode; she is a great mother embodying all the feminine attribute as gestator, bringerforth, nurturer, and protector and preserver; she is the Virgin Mother of Horus; she is the goddess of corn and grain; a lunar goddess, a star goddess who in her stellar aspect is called the “Queen of Heaven”.

It is said that Isis played a prominent role in the civilization of Egypt. She taught women how to grind corn, weave cloth, and spin flax. She taught men the art of curing disease, instituted marriage and got them acquainted with domestic life. Present in the worship of Isis [or cult of Isis] are the elements lacking in other religions at that time namely, resurrection, promise of a better after-life, and salvation of the soul. All this is a pointer to the fact that womanhood, the elemental power of the female body, is an indispensable element to humanity, especially within the African culture.

26 Cultural historians, the world over, have noted that the principle of separation emerged with the Polynesian word for menstruation, taboo. The Sanskrit word for ritual, r’tu, is also translated to mean menstruation. Among the Polynesians the three common aspects of taboo secluded the menstruant from water, light, and the earth, the three basic elements of nature. Cultural historians also noted that Upper Paleolithic bone calendars had on the bones notches in groups of numbers that often add up to 29.5 or 30 establishing a link between lunar and menstrual observation and counting. And so, according to Judy Grahn, from the menstrual knowledge came the beginning of counting, measurement, arithmetic, and more seclusion/shrine/monastery. Perhaps, it is important to explain, with the notable observation of Charlene Spretnak that, in the Polynesian society the menstruant was made to mark the end of her dark-of-the-moon days by emerging at dawn into the light, the door of the menstrual hut faced east, an orientation that was replicated in ceremonial buildings and dwellings and has been maintained for millennia in diverse native cultures. Since the menstruant’s successful observation of the separation rites carried cosmological significance, her emergence was met with celebration and feasting.

Among the Ewe of Ghana, a similar or comparative festival with feasting is carried out for young females or new menstruants called Amatsratsra. Indeed, Amatsratsra itself is the climax of the society’s rituals for puberty rites. It is an elaborate celebration of feasting, drumming and dancing for which ceremonial food, elaborate dress of beads, gold chains, gold bracelets, gold earrings, and bodily decorations are devised. This celebration is carried out for days starting on Domegbe [mid-market day] and ending on Aborsigbe [Abor market day] near or in Tsaliveme [the shrine of the legendary traditional High Priest, Tsali] at Tsiame. The ceremony is judged by society as emphasizing the essentials of the survival of the cyclical nature of the community which further mark them as a distinct group. It also presents the young girls as having reached a marital age. In the agrarian economy, a marital age approximately between 15 and 18 years. There are some exceptions though.

27 In their social life the Ewe employ images of blood in expressions and activities in the community. The depth and quality of relationships are expressed in terms of how close-blood- related people are. This ranges from blood relation, blood kinship to inheritance through blood relationship. Kinship relationship is one that binds two individuals together either through marriage or birth. But kinship through blood relationship or birth are called consanguine and provide the proper means by which one can inherit, trace the ancestry, a descent or lineage. This is the bedrock on which a clan could be formed and ensures its close-knittedness. I remember my grandmother rebuking us whenever we go fighting, “this village of 300 inhabitants was born out of one womb—of one woman, your great grandmother”. The emphasis is not on the physical womb but that blood in her womb from which we were formed, nourished, nurtured and sustained throughout posterity. Hence, motherhood is surrounded with reverence and devotion. Motherhood is not a passive subject in narratives nor is it treated with myths, symbols, and metaphors of denial, contempt or impurity. The image of womanhood or motherhood is hidden in the name DA-NYE among the Ewe where DA, the Snake, is a symbol of an ancient Egyptian object of worship. Socialization is one other experience carried out on the basis of blood relationship. As a process where the culture and value systems of a people are inculcated in the young the Ewe ensure they live together in their clans to guarantee themselves the right values are transmitted to their young to ensure continuity and persistence. The Ewe are, therefore, noted for the strict observance of the customs and traditions of his forebears. After presenting these images and cameos with which we can reflect on womanhood in Ewe society, I would like to turn to examining roles of Ewe women in their families and society at large. In talking about the family it is not easy for a westerner with roots and firm beliefs in the nuclear family system to easily comprehend the operation of the principles of the African extended family system. Western scholars, who engage in analyses of the African extended family system, often find it difficult to reconcile the conjugal [marital] roles of women with their functioning in the consanguineal [kinship relations] role. I have mentioned elsewhere how precolonial indigenous African societies are constructed around consanguineal relationships and this is hard to determine especially if you are an outside observer. And so there is bound to be distortions and assumptions when one begins to study and analyze the consanguineal and conjugal roles of women vis-à-vis the

28 status of women in African societies. The point is that, one cannot use viewpoints, paradigms or elements of a western nuclear family system to analyze the African extended family system so easily. The African extended family system cannot be approximated to any other family system, as it is different in structure, content and context. Those who do it often misrepresent the situation in African societies. Hence, we cannot employ western viewpoints to analyze the African extended family system and shout, “Eureka, we have the answer”. There are many western students studying African family systems that observe husband-wife relationships and conclude they have studied kinship in African societies. Actually, the concept of husband and wife and the authority attached to each is not gender-specific. This has been dealt with in details elsewhere. But, to call a man, my husband or a woman, my wife does not specifically refer to being spouses. It connotes, among the Ewe, a cluster of affinal relations or jural relations. To call a man, my father or a woman, my mother or others as brothers and sisters does not indicate they are biological parents or relations. It connotes the degree and extent of the affinal relationship; fatherhood and motherhood are a procreative function, a unifying factor that brings trust, love, and confidence into relationships. Women in Ewe community are kinswomen and belong to lineages. As members of a lineage they have roles and responsibilities towards the community, their extended families, and to the husband. This is not restricted to women alone. Men also have same roles and obligations towards the family as well as to the society. These responsibilities could be demanded by the consanguine or conjugal relationship. One important obligation of women towards the community is to participate in all rites and rituals of the community, especially the rites of passage—naming ceremonies, marriages and funerals. Like their male counterparts they must be productive by having children to continue the family line, children, who will defend the community in times of danger. This is exemplified in the rituals of puberty rites. During the rites certain specific dishes are offered the female initiates. In some societies they are given a ‘whole’ cooked egg to eat symbolizing the call to be productive as the hen. The young female initiate is not allowed to bite the egg but to eat is wholly. If she does this perfectly she is congratulated and is believed she would produce children abundantly. This should not blind us to believe that women are forced into over-production of children or that there is no family planning in this society. There is information available in riddles, tales and proverbs warning society [not only women] of the need for family planning. One such proverb

29 states that, “the corn-stem says, she knows her strength that is why she carries only what her weight could bare”. This adage, like any other, provides answers to the society’s stand and sensitiveness to excesses. In the performance of the rituals of the rites of passage women as well as the men have their individual roles to perform. The roles are performed according to whom you are to the one receiving the rites. During funeral celebrations, family relations are the undertakers. The men are potential gravediggers while women, with their knowledge in food preservation or technology, take care of the corpse. The maternal uncles, aunt, grandfather, all have various parts to play during the ritual while the paternal relations also have their different roles or functions in relation to the corpse at the appropriate time. This is the spirit of communalism, kinship, family ties and reminds the living that a human being is a knot of roots while the rites go to enforce the cyclical nature of the community. In the Ewe society, a woman has a conjugal responsibility towards the husband because of her position as a wife, a mother to his children, or a co-wife. In addition she understands that her husband has an extended family to which she owes an affinal responsibility. In this conjugal relationship wife and husband have parallel and complementary control over the decision making process and the resources available in the marriage. A woman’s gift in food technology bestows on her the right to select the best cuisine for the family meal of the day. A husband’s resourcefulness in construction, hunting and fishing enjoins him to provide shelter and place on the table meat from his games. And so personal attributes, especially, the accumulated resources serve as the primary grounds for role-play and not seniority. The roles of both a man and woman, in this community, are therefore seen as complementary. The world they both occupy, in the home and in society, is not populated and controlled by men only. This is because public domain in Ewe thought is not conceptualized as a world of only men; it is one in which male and female have important roles to perform. In precolonial Ewe society, women have been known to occupy high positions in both the public and the private domain. I have talked elsewhere about the queenmother. But the power of the woman to decide what meal is a delicacy for the husband and the family for the day is noble. Since women possess knowledge in seed technology the final decision on the type of seedling to sow in the season is reserved for women. During the planting season

30 women also carry out the sowing of the seed. We may see men setting traps to prevent rodents and pests from destroying the crops but when it comes to harvesting women are consulted or observed closely to determine if it is actually the right time. Before planting and harvesting the men often observe the moon’s curve, appearance, and movement. But at times that the moon does not appear they have their women to observe—something they do more than looking at the moon. According to Judy Grahn, women’s menstrual cycle, in ancient times or agro-based society, helped draw astronomical events, determine periodic rainfall, and other cycles of time and space. This menstrual logo further helped enact religious rites that developed the arts of farming. The status and role of women cannot be limited to planting and harvesting alone. Women in the community are selected to perform psychic and spiritual activities. Women who are selected learn to be mediums between the world of the living and the world of the dead. No matter the attribute of bravery we may ascribe to a man his prowess becomes feeble when asked to meet the spirit of the dead. But the sure courage and fortitude of women are attributes, which gallantly put them forward to face the spirits of the dead. It is not every dead that is contacted however. Often the service entails divining for someone, who wants to know his/her destiny, wants to consult a revered ancestor, or an immediate dead, whose cause of death is obscure. A woman selected and trained for this spiritual task is called amegashie. In my sojourns through Anloland I have not come across a male amegashie. This high office reserved for women indicate how reverend a woman is and the extent to which she is believed to be closer to the gods and the ancestors. During the migration of the Anlos from Notsie it is said that they forgot the Chief’s Sacred Stool. When all men out of fear refused to return to Notsie for it a woman summoned her courage and asked her son to return to rescue the Anlo Chief’s Sacred Stool. The woman’s courage in sending her son to bring back the King’s Sacred Stool won her lineage the right to chieftaincy in Anloland. In addition, women have been known to occupy a line of monarchies or chieftaincies. I have spoken elsewhere of queenmothers, who are the epitome of female power, authority and voice. I mentioned that a queenmother is of a high level position in the indigenous government. She helps take care of women issues and seeks redress for any injury done to females. She is consulted on matters relating to the traditional politics of the community. She has the authority to do and undo dictating autocratic monarchs, to sanction

31 decisions, and nullify whatever she disagrees with. From this illustration it is noteworthy that women’s role overlap in certain situations in the public domain. Oftentimes the roles turn to be complementary to those of their male counterparts and are therefore not subordinate to their men in status. Within the Anlo traditional area men extensively handle external affairs that affect the community. But in moments of crisis such as war, famine, or disaster women are consulted or involved in the decision making process. During war women are tasked with supplies of rations for troops on the battlefield. Further, the safety of the children at homes, the tender caring for wounded soldiers, devotion to the gods to keep their surveillance on the men on the field are all the repositories of women. The exploits of women are recorded in songs that are sacredly sung in Eweland. One of such songs relates to one battle won on behalf of the men by the women. It is said that, when the Anlo men were at war the enemy sneaked into the city and made efforts at razing the city down. First they decided to degrade the community by raping wives and daughters alike. The queenmother, named Mama Dzagba, organized the women, gave specific orders to the women and by the next dawn all these men [the enemy warriors] lay dead in piles by the streets. The women entered into jubilation attracting their Anlo male-warriors home. The battle was won through women. In conclusion, let me say the cultural experiences of women are diverse and voluminous but very beneficial in Eweland. There are many that see women, in part, as a cultural creation. In such context women are called on by these cultures to honor those “mythical aspects of the requisites of womanhood”. This, to a large extent, has determined women’s behavior in their societies. In Ewe society the parameters to true womanhood in almost all communities is only aimed at ensuring that women posses virtue, purity, since they represent or are the Creator symbol. To talk of women having virtue is not to limit the social understanding of womanhood in this society. Among Ewe internal qualities of character reflect or manifest in external physical appearances that provide discernible indicators of the personality and are grounds for functioning. Chastity and purity are, therefore, commodities that women posses. Men are not exempted from the refinement. There are associations aimed at heightening men’s awareness in bravery and the social systems of the clan or community. To achieve this men have secret societies associated with the political activities of the society just as women have associations connected with their trading guilds. A survey of the general

32 terrain of images of women and their roles and status indicate they are efficient in rites related to their occupation—farming, trading, and craft production just as men have deities as guardians of their professions. I have acknowledged elsewhere the challenges in understanding role and status of women vis-à-vis their male counterparts but what we have known now, and can debate with, is that division of labor among sexual lines in the Ewe society promotes reciprocation rather than subordination.

CHAPTER FOUR

MARRIAGE AMONG THE EWE Before I proceed, I want to emphasize that Ewe are NOT a tribe. The term tribe is a derogatory designation of a people coined during colonization from the 1500, when the Europeans came upon massive cultural groups of Africans so diverse but closely knitted. The right word is ETHNIC group. Ewe are an ethnic group found in Africa and not a tribe. Those who study the etymology and ontology of words can expatiate on this more. In fact, Eweland is a vast territory and each segment of the people called Ewe migrated from one source, but under each leader spread to other areas where land was available for their peaceful settlement and economic development. Thus, their marriage rites and certain cultural practices are influenced by their new ways and means available. This means if a group of Ewe do not have gold and diamond in their area, they do not ask for gold and diamond jewelry as part of the bride-price or bride-wealth. They make use of what is readily available. Thus, marriage ceremonies differ from place to place. For example in northern Volta Region, “Deha” features prominently in the marriage ceremony, whereas in the southeast, “Akpeteshie” is widely used. The addition of “Tordziha” or foreign drinks were added after their encounter with Europeans who brought into the society their types of drinks (whiskey, gin etc.), hence the designation TORDZIHA. The value of adding “Tordziha” is two-fold. It adds prestige, value and importance of the lady, and presents the suitor (the man) as a hardworking man, who is able to purchase the expensive European drink. Honestly, the bride’s family has no intention of putting the suitor in debt, but the entire process the ceremony of marriage is to place value on the bride and weigh the capability of the suitor as a man competent enough, not only in raising a family, but also caring for them.

33 A day of marriage among the Ewe of Ghana is a 'bittersweet day' for the families and the community in which the activity is taking place. It is a sweet and merrymaking day for the husband and his family but to the lady's relations and peer groups it is a bitter experience. Among the Ewe marriage itself is a rite of passage in which the couple transit into adulthood or 'mature-hood' and the ceremonies that feed it robes them as a man and wife ready to live the tribal life. At this stage the couple are seen or regarded as emotionally balanced or mature enough to deal with the obscurities of fate. It is also believed that the 'cosmetics' needed for sound and mutual co-existence is present in their physical as well as their psychological frame of mind. It is in this belief that the parents are prepared to let their daughter go into her marriage without the usual rejecting word, "metsi o" [not yet old] to the appealing suitor. To the lady's relations it is a day of giving away of a part of themselves and a severance or separation from one, long regarded as part of them. Ironically, it is a profound day of joy for the husband since through this marriage he will now be called a man according to the construct of their social order. On the other hand, it is for the bride a mixture of tears and joy, bittersweet. It's sweet because she is free from traditional restrictions prohibiting her from having access to her lover with whom she dreams of starting her own family. It provides opportunity for her to possibly raise kids she too, like her mother, would one-day pride in her life as a witness to her meeting the traditional requirements of womanhood. In addition, it is a testimony to her contribution to the cyclic nature of the clan or tribe. But on the other hand, it's bitter not only for the separation from her parents but also for the fear of the unknown in this marriage. Actually, the long ritual of matrimony inducts the groom and bride into marriage, 'the hall of twinning' where they learn [sro] by pairing. Sro, in fact, is explained away as schooling. In altruism, matrimony among the Ewe has no specific word. It is referred to as srodede, which basically is learning, studying or schooling. Hence, for the “studies” to bear fruit [the marriage to work] elaborate signal systems are needed not only to indicate whether the groom is the appropriate mate/man but to test whether he is capable of functioning in the metaform of the culture and the community. This enjoins him to provide proof of his effective position in the Ewe social order. This proof is referred to in some cultures as 'brideprice' and in others as the 'bride wealth'. The bride wealth comprises of drinks, assorted clothing, jewelry, and cosmetics or whatever, that

34 culture prescribes as the bride wealth. Of late, modernity has inherited dynamics from colonization and the Church has almost outlawed traditions, thus things have changed when it comes to marriage. In general, these are some of the items required from the man as a brideprice: FABRICS (6. half pieces of dumas, 6 matching Scarves ‘Taku’). TRINKETS: Necklace, Ear rings, Wrist bangles (Alonugae), African beads for neck and wrist (Alor- nudzonu kple kor-dzonu), a set of undies, (optional). BIBLE: St James’ Version of Engagement Bible (Modern-day additions and not part of the tradition). RING: Engagement Ring (Modern-day additions and not part of the tradition). DRINKS: Whisky – Black Label (1 Litre), Courvoisier, Brandy - Martell or any other good make. Gin (Beefeater:1 Litre), Smirnoff Vodka (1 Litre), Wine (Martini or Cinzano, Irish Cream, Malibu. Beer (1 Carton, Guinness (1 Carton). Minerals (1 Crate each of Coca Cola, Fanta/Sprite and Malta Guinness). Local drink “Akpeteshi” (1 bottle each of Sugar cane and Palm). SUIT CASE for stuffing items therein. In this long ritual of matrimony alcohol [aha sese] features prominently at each stage and carries with it attributes of definitive symbolic meanings beyond the comprehension of the outsider. In reality, there are numerous symbols in the marriage ritual, which subtly inform of role plays, healing and death rites, and acknowledges the individual's ability to empathize, wail and mourn. However, my concern is on alcohol, as a symbol of witnessing and authority. According to Victor Turner, symbols have specific properties of behavior and are regarded burly typifying, representing something by possession of analogous qualities or by association in fact, or thought. It is in this view that I intend to interpret the symbol in alcohol at marriage ceremonies with an eye on it as 'empirically verifiable units'. At every marriage alcohol is one of the sine qua non items included in the bride wealth. When the groom presents the bride wealth, the drinks are divided into three [3] parts. One part is sent to the maternal relations of the bride while another part is sent to the paternal, her father's relations. The third part is used at the ceremony itself not only for merrymaking but also as a seal binding together all present reminding them of their responsibilities in the consanguine kinship relations. The drinks are in themselves of two kinds, the soda or a soft drink made from corn or millet [aliha] and a traditional/local alcohol [akpeteshie] distilled from palmwine [deha] and it is an intoxicant in all ways. In modern times imported drinks are included but it's just a fashion, not the tradition.

35 A close look at the external characteristics or influence of akpeteshie/alcohol reveals it builds in people courage, prowess, and boldness for an exhibition of insisting or persistent behavior. If this could be interpreted it will mean those who drink alcohol are pruned to exhibit or externalize these qualities of fearlessness and insistence behavior regardless of the context they find themselves in. This is what makes alcohol a unique symbol among the Ewe community, as it becomes a means to an end in all rituals and socio-economic experiences. Like other traditional African communities these people were unlettered. In a bid to find the difference between 'holy water and ordinary water' certain symbols were constructed to be associated with their behavior. Alcohol, which looks same as water is only differentiated from water when drunk and its external behavior is noted like wiggling or squeezing the face thus, exhibiting signs of approval or rejection. In same way, truth and lies are identified through externalization of behavior either in agreement or objection. Witnessing to truth or attesting to the validity of a situation or occasion is therefore, evident in how boldly or fearlessly you go out to courageously defend it. By taking the alcohol is attesting to the fact that you are a witness to the occasion and will defend or reject it with the characteristics inherent in alcohol. And so when these drinks are sent to the paternal and maternal relations of the bride who were not present at the function their only way of attestation to it is to drink the alcohol, puff the chest in a ritualistic manner and swear to defend this marriage. If no such drink reaches any of these parties it is assumed they are unaware of the marriage thus, it is customarily/legally not recognized. All this, it must be understood is taking place in an unlettered community, where no knowledge of receipts or documents to which signatures are appended is available. The drinks therefore become a witnessing symbol. In another way the drink empowers any one who partook in it to boldly defend the survival rights of that marriage. It enjoins both the paternal and maternal families and the community to fearlessly defend the marriage from collapsing, resist and boldly report any intruder into it [from the lady's point] to the families or elders of the community for appropriate sanctions and salvation. At child naming ceremonies among Ewe of Ghana drops of same alcohol alongside water is released unto the tongue of the baby to teach him/her to distinguish truth from falsehood. The use of alcohol at a marriage ceremony therefore, brings to the fore how a people's social activity could easily become social force or a mechanism that relates them to their external

36 environment. It goes to confirm the concept of kinship relationship, through consanguinity [paternal relationship] and the affilial [maternal relationship]. It also stresses the idea of tracing one's ancestors through both grandparents [bilateral descent]. This is vital since it determines matters such as them] by insurmountable walls of superstition, customs and traditions. In order to avoid the sterility of the marriage or failure of the marriage, rites and rituals are designed to help the man and woman [about to marry] to learn the mystery of marriage. One of such rituals is the smearing of 'to' often referred to as 'togbagba' [breaking of ‘to’ powder on the young lady]. This is a ritual performed on the bride on the morning after the consummation of the marriage. Marriage among the Ewe takes varied forms. This ranges from free-love or marriage by betrothal, dedication, arranged matches, and hereditary marriages. Marriage by free-love or by betrothal is that in which a young boy and girls would freely chose their own future partners. This young boy and girl might have met at a festival gathering, at a funeral, or at the frequent story-telling sessions of the community. Marriage as arranged matches takes place when parents select partners for their children. The underlining essential here is that there is a long standing friendship and trust between the two parents, which they oftentimes wish to extend to their generations to come. Marriage by dedication is not far from marriage by arranged match. Marriage by arranged matching is done by parents wishing to gain some favor or social prestige from the king or the chief give their daughter into marriage. This is done without the consent of their daughter. Hereditary marriage exists among families where the heir to a deceased relative, or the brother or cousin of a deceased person is asked to marry the widow of his deceased relative. In all situations it is the first two [betrothal and arranged matches] and at times marriage by dedication that attract special rites and rituals to safeguard its stability. Anyone outside this culture would surely count some of these marriages as infringement on the inalienable rights and freedom of women. Its essential to note that marriage in Ewe community can best be understood and interpreted in terms of the unique historical, political, and social factors that do feed and influence its culture. There are, in deed, lost grounds in performance traditions of many cultures, and the Ewe are no exception. If by custom, a heir to a deceased relative, or the brother or cousin of a deceased person is asked to marry the widow of the deceased relative the widow is not obliged to accept. Custom and the tradition of Ewe instituted this marriage to ensure a sense of taking care of a widowed woman, who had toiled with her late husband to

37 build the riches and wealth being inherited by the heir and her fatherless children. This is a sort of social security program put in place by tradition to benefit a woman’s investment in marriage. Through this marriage, the woman still lives with her children in the community, in the house of her late husband and takes control of the property. I have already dealt with the latent and manifest functions of these marriages and marriage ceremonies in Introduction to Performance Culture among Ewe in details with the hope of calling for a focal attention in philosophical literatures on marriage in contemporary times. In reality, there are numerous symbols in the marriage ritual, which subtly inform of role plays, healing and death rites, that acknowledges the individual's ability to empathize, wail and mourn. Marriage ceremony has at least, about four formal stages in Ewe culture. They include vofofo [knocking ceremony], tonana [verbal transfer], tabiabia [presentation of bridewealth] xodede [transfer/consummation rite]. Language we must observe reflects and perpetuates the values of a people. No amount of effort, on my part, to translate or convey the meaning of these words into English can teach or express the true values, or the behaviors and goals they inhabit. A speaker of the Ewe language can easily see the visual images the words create, the cultural messages they export and this shapes the attitude, and influence the behavior. And so the power to understand a word constructs our understanding of the word in its cultural context. Vofofo [knocking ceremony] occurs when a young man see a lady that he is attracted to, he out of respect for his father has to inform his uncle about it. The uncle will then contact his father on his behalf. When the uncle convinces the father to understand that his son is mature to marry and capable to raise a family, the father and uncle would ask an aunt of the boy to set up an investigation team. This team would investigate the background of the girl and her mother. Things they look for include, is the girl hardworking, a social deviant, prostituting herself around? How does the mother treat her husband, and his family? Is the mother a hard working woman, does she has a tongue like a sword? Does she gossip, drink or is she humble, obedient and submissive to her husband. If the investigative team concludes their findings, they will report to the uncle and the father the results. It is after this that the father will send a messenger to the girl’s parents that he was sending an emissary to come and see them. On the appointed day, early at dawn, maybe at 5:00 am, the emissary will arrive with two bottles of local gin, akpeteshie. This is known as Vofofo or knocking ceremony. Fact

38 is, they came knocking at the door of the girl’s parents disturbing their sleep. After the emissary has left, the girl’s parents also would send people to investigate the background of the boy and his father. They have to find out if the boy is a playboy, hardworking, responsible. They also investigate if the father of the boy plays around with too many girls or women. The also find out if there is a disease in the family, if they are thieves. The girl’s parents are satisfied they will send a messenger to the boy’s parents accepting their proposal or desire to win the hand of their daughter. Tonana [verbal transfer] occurs when upon hearing from the parents of the girl that they have agreed for their son to date their daughter, the boy’s parent would formally send drinks to the girl’s parents asking permission for their son to come to the house of the girl. Upon accepting the drinks of Tonana, the boy is allowed to come to house of the girl, visit her and could go out with her. Sex is seriously forbidden at this point. The boy could come to the house of the girl but when he is about to leave the girl can see him off only to the gate. Normally, the girl’s younger sister or brother is asked to be in their company to prevent any sexual contact. It is during or soon after the period of Tonana that the boy and his relations try to find out the kind of dowry, bride-wealth is customary to the girl. Each clan or ethnic group has specific items requested for the bride-wealth. When the boy and his parents are ready with the bride-wealth, a messenger is sent to the parents of the girl to set a date for Tabiabia. Tabiabia [presentation of bride-wealth] is the day of what I will call the wedding. Marriage in Eweland is not a union between two lovers. It is rather the merging of the two families, that of the boy and the girl. This is a festive occasion and everyone from the two families dresses in their multicolor attires. On this day, at the gathering, the bride-wealth is inspected and verified by the girl’s relative and if accepted prayers are said to join the couple in matrimony. I have already specified the items to be submitted. Tabiabia occurs early in the morning. One elegant ritual on this day is the eating of the egg. A fresh chicken egg is boiled and the peeled off the shell. The bride is made to come forward before the crowd, and she is made to eat the egg whole without biting it. On one occasion, the groom is made to stand in the crowd facing the bride and he is the one who inserts the egg into the mouth of the bride. The importance of this ritual is simple. It is the externalization or expression of the fact that the bride will give the groom as many children as the hen does in order to perpetuate and

39 expand his genealogy. Thus, it symbolizes the womb of the bride is fresh and full of eggs waiting for the groom to fertilize. After this, the family of the girl is expected to feed or provide food for the guests. The groom’s family also provides drinks and other items to support the family of the bride. After the festivities, the bride is expected to leave that evening with the groom to his house. Since she now belongs to the groom, she has to pack her things and leave with her husband that very night. It is considered a bad omen if the bride does not leave with the groom. Moreover, there is the ritual of consummation, which is their first encounter in bed that night. In some cultures, this is an elaborate ritual as she is accompanied by singers and drummers to her new home (the husband’s house). In other cultures, after the festive occasion ends, the bride would not leave with the groom. Instead, after the departure of the groom, two aunts of the bride would accompany her with her belongings to the house of the groom where the Xodede ritual is held. Xodede [transfer and consummation rite]. The night of Tabiabia is supposed to be the first night the boy and the girl, now husband and wife, are supposed to spend a night together. It is called the bridal night. They are expected to consummate the marriage on this night. There is an elaborate ritual associated with this. When the new bride arrives with the aunts to the husband’s home, she is welcomed and sent to a special room. The man is not supposed to see her face. Her bridal bed is dressed in white bedsheets. After eating her dinner with her aunts, she then goes for a shower. Special herbs are used in bathing her. Thereafter the aunts of her husband and her own aunts use sheabutter to massage her thoroughly. After that the husband is invited to the bedroom. Both the bride and the bridegroom are made to stand before the bed. They are both counted seven times and upon the seventh count they are sited on the bed. After the bride and the bridegroom are sited on the bed another ceremony begins. The bride is made to sit on the left side of the groom. After a short prayer, one of the aunts reaches out to the left leg of the groom. She lifts it and counts it seven times and on the seventh count places it in-between the legs of the bride. This means no other thigh or leg should enter in-between her legs. The number 7 is an important number in Ewe numerology and cosmology. After this rite they are covered in the white bedsheet and ready to go to sleep. Early the following morning, the aunties of the bride and the groom come in to awake the newlyweds. The aunties would then go for the white bedsheet. If they find blood on it, then it means they found the bride a virgin. This calls for the smearing of To powder on the

40 bride. There are times the bride may be old and her hymen had been broken naturally. Our ancestors know how to reward each person in the community. If no blood is found and the elders know well that she had not been playing around town, a white cock is quickly slaughtered and the blood sprinkled on the white sheet. On the other hand, if she is a young lady and no blood is found, it raises suspicion. It becomes a stigma on the family and her parents could chastise her therein. This is why virginity and self-discipline are much treasured in traditional societies for the girl child. In situations like this, she will not be given the “to” rituals and the special gold earrings and necklace. This elaborate ritual of finding blood on the white bedsheet has been adopted by some Catholic Bishops in East Africa. When Reverend Sisters are professing their perpetual vows, a white bedsheet is spread on the altar and the Rev. Sisters had to pierce their indent fingers and stain the white sheet with their blood. This symbolizes their perpetual commitment to their groom, Jesus Christ. The ‘to’ ritual is part of the transfer and consummation rite. "To" is a red clay or a sedimentary rock found in caves and could be neatly smoothened into a talcum powder. It is held sacred for its reddish color and is believed to be endowed with mystical powers—the clay is buried deep in the crust of caves formed in rocks along riverbeds and waterways, and it's hard to find and mine. The honor associated with ‘to’ ritual is such that it is a pride for a woman to be treated to its rite. It is not a ritual that matches a man with a woman or call on a young woman to adjust herself to the inevitable in marriage. As I will prove later, marriage is a growing-used to each other process, which grows with intensity into beauty of love, into intimacy of marriage. And so ‘to’ as a social fact among an agrarian economy functions on multi-levels, ranging from the social and economic to the political. Marriage itself must be seen as a rite of passage. The function of ‘to’ ritual, as a part of the marriage rite, is to bring distinction between the woman’s past and present position. The Ewe believe that marriage is a fixed office for man and woman and so it has sacred attributes. It is also a high office reserved only for “grown-ups”. And to acquire the sacred component a woman needs to be found pure, and chaste so as to enter into the apex of the structured politico-legal hierarchy of Ewe community and be a model for young girls. It is said that a woman is like a beautiful flower in the garden and the man is the fence around it. In the absence of a fence; goats, deer and horses would crash it under foot.

41 In a locale where the household is the basic unit of society definitive roles in this unit forms the basis for defining and formulating social, economic, and political policies in that society or the larger community. In this notion it’s the preoccupation of this paper to discover the latent and manifest functions of this 'to' ritual and see if there is a conflict or equal partnerships based on relations of gender domination and subordination. The first and main axes for this inquiry will be why the red clay, to-symbol of virginity, and is its function related to a benign sexual division of labor within the household and the community at large? According to Eric Hobsbawm, traditions such as the “to” ritual, functions in three main categories. This include, "establishing or symbolizing social cohesion or membership of groups [real or artificial communities], legitimization of institutions [relation and authority], and ensuring socialization, inculcation of beliefs, value systems and conventions of behavior". To enhance these functions Malinowski states that culture exists to satisfy seven basic human needs in any given society. These include needs of, "nutrition, reproduction, bodily comforts, safety, relaxation, movement, and growth. Cultural beliefs and practices therefore contribute extensively to the harmonious as well as the judicious functioning of the society. According to Malinowski, therefore, culture is a vital tool as it utilizes the various institutions that inform it to deal with the day-to-day challenges of society. Among the Ewe, heretofore, the structure of marriage institution could be said as one of the modes by which society appropriates functions to the male and female, and allocates roles to the young and the old. The “to” ritual is the final formal ceremony in the performance of marriage rites. It is done to declare the young girl, whose marriage is just consummated a veritable virgin. On the first night of her sexual relationship with her husband it is believed that the hymen of the girl is broken and her innocent blood taints the bed. The rich meaning to this is that, she is ripe to bear fruit, to reproduce children. A great deal has been written about pregnancy and mothering and we need not deal too much on them here, even in respect to rites associated with it. However, whereas mothering implies a certain quality of care and concern alongside an ongoing interaction between a mother and child the term ‘father’ has not been thoroughly assessed. As such it does not carry the rich connotative meaning it needs to enjoy in society or social research. If mothering entails a particular relationship, an appropriate female gender behavior towards the child, fathering is also not a mere familial relationship, an interaction between a male adult and his child. Beyond being a family

42 provider the father is a nurturant and a coordinator between his family and the larger society, the lineage. Much as the ‘to ritual’ appropriates the rich and expressive functions of mothering on womanhood it also reminds the man of skills and traditional sensibilities needed in the industry of marriage. The smearing of the red clay, “to” around her neck after the discovery of the blood symbolizes the freshness of the womb to procreate to perpetuate the family lineage. To be a virgin is therefore, a significant manifestation of a woman’s ability to reproduce or recreate abundantly. Socio-culturally, this meets the human needs of the agrarian society, the needs of increasing the lineage, the population for political, economical and social endeavors; provide a heir for inheritance in the family, and children to build the clan. To wake up on the first morning of her marriage with blood on her [not a blood from her biological experience— menstruation] is to remind her, metaphorically, of the blood of suffering, of sacrifice, martyrdom and more of birth. Thus, marriage is held sacred as it provides a means for the insurance of a viable population, advancement of domestic economy and income, the maintenance of social order and the smooth ordering and working of society. It is not easy to explain the significance of this ritual. Some writers have included it in the female reproductive rites while others place it among female pollution rituals. None, I think, can provide us the needed cultural definition. The concept of female reproductive rites refers to prescribed cultural rites or taboos associated with female reproduction cycle [menstruation, pregnancy, parturition, and the postnatal period]. On the other hand, female pollution rituals involve the notion that women, because they menstruate and bear children, are dangerous to others, especially the spirituality of men. As such, society culturally prescribed specific behaviors which include isolation of polluting women from men and prohibiting certain contacts including touching, cooking, and contact with clothing. With all intent this, ritual rather hems women into the conjugal relationship with the husband and not isolate her. It is also easy for an outsider to suggest that it is ambivalence in social positions that give rise to these feminine rituals. Sympathetically, men like their female counterparts have similar rituals to sanctify the roles that society assigns them. Depending on these facts we can conclude hereby, that there are some manifest functions of marriage, into which the Ewe woman is initiated by this ritual and she is expected to advance and maintain its ideals. And

43 so, with this “to” ritual around her neck on the first day in marriage she signs a covenant with her virgin blood witnessed by the people present, who indentures their presence with the "to ritual" mark around her neck. By this ritual a wife’s lifestyle is made up of the concrete details of her day, which is built around her conjugal relationship. On the other hand, there are latent functions that this ritual exerts on womanhood. In the mainstream of culture it has something to do with a woman’s role and social status, the hierarchical nature of the division of labor among sexes, and provides what I will call a 'metaform' of womanhood. In writing about the function of Kula, Malinowski stated among other things that by embellishing Kula in myth, magic and tradition a mere exchange of two articles, results in an institution so vast, complex, and deeply rooted. Among the Ewe of Ghana the mere smearing of ‘to’ powder around the neck of a young girl on the morning after consummating her marriage denotes overtly and covertly, that her role and status has changed and her entire life is a physically embodied metaphor or metaform. It could be argued that the red clay, “to” may be a symbol or a displayed image of death of legitimate rights, the blood of suffering, and more of martyrdom than of child-bearing, and blood of kinship. These ideas seem a priori judgement since from a careful study the abuse of female power is risky in this community as there are customs, traditions and laws safeguarding women’s rights. Indeed, within what is conceptualized as public domain there are women, whose participation in the indigenous administration of the community is paralleled to that of the men. From a symbolical point, the ‘red clay’ like her menstruation begins the process that designates and accords a woman in this community the role and status of womanhood. The concept of womanhood like gender is socially constructed. Gender is an experience that permeates every aspect of social life, constructing values, attitudes, and behaviors that constitute a cultural experience. And so, gender varies from culture to culture. Just as in every culture of the world sex, as a biological product, refers to males and females so does the Ewe regard the biological sexes and appropriate them with signifiers. This, in no way, is aimed at creating “yeo-womanry”, a voyeur or was it to stretch the ideology of ‘separate spheres’ into the bipolar constructs about sexuality and labor. Women in this community are perfect instruments for reconciling opposites and are mediaries between nature and society. The Ewe woman is thus a wife and mother, and nature’s agent in the social realm.

44 Learning about the culture of Ewe begins with life in the family, whose environment is created by women. The cyclic nature of existence in Ewe cosmogony is valued through womanhood. Socio-culturally, women are said to have psychological strength and security than men. And since women have more interactions with their children they are said to establish deep-seated ideas and appropriate behavior in their children. The dynamic attributes to womanhood in this culture reveal a woman’s extraordinary personality as one devoid of all ego always transmitting uncorrupted creative vision. Dramatic physicality at times stretches some scholars to proxy socially constructed gender for biological sex. To some critics the institution of marriage makes a parasite of woman. The contention is that marriage incapacitates a woman for her life’s struggle. According to Emma Goldman marriage “annihilates her social consciousness, paralyzes her imagination, and then imposes its gracious protection, which is in reality a snare, a travesty on human character”. The status of a woman among the Ewe is not equated with her sex. Rather, it is in the nature and quality of the social relationships that she experiences, her energy and maturity into age, exemplary conduct imprinted on children, her virtues which are sources of moral uplift for the community—all are chief objects that not only adorn her but also vivify and enlighten the clan. In every culture expected personality and behavior are not taught formally. Rather, certain features of social structure, supported by cultural beliefs, values and perceptions are internalized in social object-relationships. And so there are positions women enjoy in their menopause [where they are free from childbearing]. The complex nature of traditional polity in Eweland and the nature of political decisions and activities account for reasons why in some traditional areas elderly women normally hold the political power of a queenmother. If a young girl is even earmarked for the position she has to be of age before she wields this title and engage in the politics of the community. This spells out the latent function of the “to” ritual in women physically, psychologically, and spiritually. It is true that in household dynamics a husband is the provider of the house, the father of the kids, the security, but he is not the ultimate power point or decision initiator. The woman is a wife, mother of the kids [she develops the embryo and supplies its nutritive substances] and as her conjugal responsibility she must sacrifice her 'blood' in partnership with her husband to meet the needs of the consanguine and conjugal relations. But she is not regarded the underdog. It is true women in this culture, just like many women in Africa, carry

45 the burden of caring for too many children than could be perceived. And this may account for what many describe as the vulnerability of women in this society, the neglect they suffer unaware of its origin. However, it is my belief that we can conveniently conclude that the “to” ritual initiates female partners into marriage, into the institution of womanhood roles, and a benign sexual division of labor within the community and not latently providing a basis for gender domination and subordination as alluded in order to stultify intellectual debate. In essence, the rich custom and tradition of Ewe offers us an opportunity to understand the role and status of a woman in their culture. Presumably, our effort at understanding the status and role of women in other cultures using the taxonomies from Ewe culture is fragile and controversial. This is because structural conditions that define women’s role and status differ from one culture to the other. Understanding them is like untying the knot of what Ama Ata Aidoo describes as “a sort of riddle”.

46 CHAPTER FIVE

EWE WOMEN IN SOCIETY AND FAMILY “it is mother who teaches...the first pagan songs and chants to her children and teaches them the first dancing steps...it is the mother, as well, who introduces the child to the customs [of the father] …..J. Spieth, a German missionary, 1906.

Depending on where she is found the Ewe woman has a reputation for being trustworthy, and would make all effort at impressing her image. In speaking about women in Ewe society I have limited myself to traditional [precolonial] as well as pre-historic 1679 migration to present Anloland, a migration which over time brought about changes in gender and ethnic relations. Long in history the activities of Ewe women revolved round the household—mothering, and being vital in the family’s survival. She, in addition, integrated farming, weaving, spinning, pottery, craft production and the marketing of crops to her portrait. These functions describe or determine the status and the role of womanhood in the community. There is one element present in the portrait of Ewe woman, which we need to address. This element exists in the status and role of Ewe women in productive activities and the control over resources of the family. In past and present history the Ewe woman provided female labor needed to produce commodities essential to the family’s survival. In addition she worked in a variety of trades— as a pawnbroker, a traditional banker [as moneylender], saleswoman, in fact, the middle- woman between the consumer and the producer. Wives of artisans, fishermen, hunters, and farmers helped in the business. They often kept the account [sometimes memorized it] and paid the bills. The Ewe woman also worked with her male counterparts on planting and harvesting. As mentioned elsewhere the Ewe woman’s devout calling is not only in child caring but how distinguished she is in the functioning of the family. However, it is worth mentioning here that the Ewe woman has distinguished herself devoutly in her mothering. Perhaps, the emblem of a good woman is the influence the husband or the family has on society externally. And so efforts to maintain respect, integrity and honor for the name of her family occupies her

47 dignified hours. One way of doing this is the nurturing of the young ones in the family. At home it is the wife who controls the children. She attempts to mold their minds and souls through the rewarding of proper behavior and punishing the improper. Historians and researchers have often asked post-modern Ewe women how their great grandmothers were able to learn mothering in the absence literatures. This is done during the puberty rites. It is not my intention to delve deep into puberty rites among the Ewe since this forms a large body of writing on its own. Puberty rites initiate a young girl into womanhood. A young girl qualifies for this initiation when she first menstruates. Any time a mother senses or is informed by the daughter that she menstruates, for the first time, the mother informs the aunt of her daughter. The aunt then informs the older women in the clan, family or their immediate relations, who would then gather to begin the rituals. The menstruant is taken out of the home and sent to an existing hut onthe outskirts of the village or town. Menstruation rites and events are of crucial social importance to everyone in the society. It is extremely respected as it is a proof of the girl’s virginity and ability to reproduce in nearby future. And more, that she makes an entrance through the door that opens her into adulthood. One important message encoded in menstruation is the meaning of blood of the menstruant. Connotatively, it signals a reassurance to the world of men, of society that “I am old enough to bleed, as a mother of your child, and I am doing it right now; I am available for marriage though not right now”. Further, it is feared not that it pollutes men or society but that it is believed, at such a moment, a woman assumes a new personality, which is highly spiritual. It is like the gods or God was at that moment performing surgery on the woman to tune all her faculties to be sensitive to procreation or to ensure her restoration to the original God-given state in the feminist-garden. And who are you to interfere [at this moment with God] in the restoration or transformation taking place in a woman? Thus, taboos are constructed to protect mankind from death, illness, impurity, or the wrath of God on those who may interfere or come close to a woman during her reproductive cycle. Elsewhere, I mentioned these reproductive cycle and their rites. The restrictions imposed on a menstruant, and her seclusion in a hut is not a violation of women rights nor does it suggest a reduction in feminine status. It provides an institution from which a woman can graduate, magnum cum laud, and be the pride of her husband, her parents and the society at large. When the young girl is sent to the hut, outside the town, she is

48 introduced to a dossier of lectures. She is secluded in the hut to go through menstrual instructions, take courses on home management, financing, principle of accounts, human relations, how to deal with crisis in marriage, childcare, mothering and what goes to make a beautiful marital home. Instructors are drawn from older respectable and distinguished women. Occasionally, the traditional priests, and men of proven integrity, of strong moral background with adequate knowledge of ancestorship take turns to instruct the girls. A successful completion of the menstrual school sees the girl graduating with an elaborate feast. When the days of the seclusion are over the girl is bathed and is decorated with colorful drawings on her body. These decorations give the girl’s body a cultural significance and makes on her the cosmological statement we call “beauty”. The hair is carefully and beautifully combed and shaped. Some are braided, corn-rowed, plaited, or tied into all manner of significant patterns. The essentials of the elaborate hair patterns are a metaphor needing interpretation by men in the society. The various and varied patterns may show shapes indicating self-control, free spirit, ability to order the chaotic forces in a man’s life. According to Judy Grahn, women of one Mongolian tribe wore their hair in large horn shapes held in place with metal and wood, to represent the fierce independent spirit of their herding people. A man is said to be blessed in his choice of a wife if the woman is discreet, active, and dynamic in her housewifery within and husbandry without; if she shows symbolic behavior and is efficient with the ‘stewpot‘; if she laundered the family clothes and ensured a suitable ‘home’ for the husband and children [including adopted ones] and shows benevolence to relations and friends of the man. The man is labeled rich mostly not because he has physical money but because the wife is laborious, has an industrious adherence to work, upholds the spirituality and ideals of the husband’s family and has a genteel behavior. Once, my grandmother asked me the type of woman I will marry. Summing up what I learnt about what makes a virtuous wife from grandfather and grandmother I said, “I want a woman, who out of my worn-out trousers, a pant would be ready for my son, and out of our washing-bowl my dog would have its fill.” She looked at me from the corner of her eyes and winced. I smiled back. Earlier, I spoke of the dual roles of an Ewe woman in the clan and in the patrilineages as well as in the lager society. Her allegiance to the father and mother, and being a wife of a man makes her to inherit land as a property from her patrilineal and her matrilineal lineages as well as inherit it in her marriage. She has the right to bequeath her inherited land to her

49 children especially daughters. There were occasions where these rights were met with challenges resulting in the lands being taken from them. This could be seen during the frequent wars and battles the Ewe fought with the Adas, the Akans and the Akwamus, whose culture have a tremendous impact on the Ewe polity. The fact that the Ewe object to the single life of a man [bachelor-hood], rejects barrenness, and detests sterility signals the dynamic salvation-mission of woman. It also underlines the inseparability of immortality from life. When a bachelor dies the complaint is often that if he had a wife he could have survived. Or if a man is sick or working alone or goes to the market [grocery shop] all by himself it raises the question: is he not married? The awareness of the cyclic nature of life of the clan or community is further enhanced—man needs a wife to procreate and to perpetuate the family line, for when a tree withers it is the stub that grows instead. And it is women who give the man, the clan the stub, the children that grow in the stead of the dead. Women heretofore become the bridge between life and immortality. The value of women as the bridge between immortality and life makes the Ewe eschew instigating divorce. To the Ewe where there is termination of marriage the family and the procreation of life is brought to an end. Womanhood and life therefore constitute two phases of the same rhythmical wave of existence. Hence, woman is a restorer of life, the savior, and her presence in a man’s life makes the man’s life devoid of all tribulations and diminutions of being. The Ewes are highly religious. Religion permeates all aspects of their lives, ranging from such activities as procreation to social performances such as drumming and dancing. They believe in God [Mawu], spirits [gbogbowo], and ancestors [togbewo]. To them God is the creator of the world and all that it contains. God is believed to be omniscient and omnipresent. In their belief systems spirits are thought of as natural forces that are assigned human powers and attributes. However, spirits differ greatly in strength and attributes. Other phenomena and forces of nature, such as thunder and lightning, are also said to posses human powers and attributes. Very often spirit forces of nature are summoned by men to perform their wishes such as harming their enemies or opponents. In this belief each individual engages in rituals and sacrifices to placard them from those spirits and forces which they

50 cannot control. This is one reason that gave rise to various shrines of worship and healing in this community. Women from the Ewe ethnic group have been said to significantly contribute to the institutionalization of the Anlo deity, Nyigbla [Ewe war god]. According to Sandra Greene this deity was brought into existence by Adas when they established their political authority in Anloland. The women did this through participation in rites and rituals associated with fiasidi, foasi, and zizidzelawo. It brought freedom and other benefits to affiliated wives who suffer abuses and perverse actions from their husbands. Women who had problem with childbirth or the continuous existence of their children and obtained help from the deity had their children take on names like troklu, klu, klutse, koshie, and vodusiwo. According to Sandra Greene, women who associated themselves with the deity gained considerable leverage within their marriages; through this the women took advantage of the opportunity to protect their interests in climates where their natal and marital families were less prepared to do so. To a large extent it could be argued that this accounts for the increased number of women at religious rituals and festivals. So far I have tried to exemplify, not to justify, the place of the Ewe woman within the Ewe society. I have not tried to ignore the fact that classificatory systems have not been subjective to these women. But, evidence abounds that political events as well as historical environment have contributed largely to women losing inheritance rights and participation in decisions that determine their life in the society. In situations of this nature there is an outlet created by the Ewe society, such as the Nyigbla ceremonies in which women found a berth or haven. In many instances it is rather colonialism, the expansion of Christianity, modernity, the market economy, the commercialization of the fishing and farming industries [formerly headed by women] that have brought changes in the women’s right in the society and not a perversity in the culture, customs and traditions.

51 Traditional Conceptions about Ewe Women In the July of 2008, I asked a young girl in Senior High School in Abor what she would like to be if ever she were to be born again. She immediately said “If I were given the choice of being born again, I would prefer to be born a boy.” There is no denying the fact that Africans are notoriously entrenched in their customs and traditions, and incurably deep-seated in their belief systems. The Ewe ethnic group is no exception. Within these traditions and belief systems are metaphors and symbols that predicate on the girl-child and shapes her dispositions and orientations toward the world, and impacts her selfhood. During my visits and stays in Abor, between 2003 and 2008, I have heard some parents justify the denial of girls their rights to education because they want to prevent the girls from bringing shame to their families through early pregnancy. Others also believe that those women who are at the same level of education as the men are a disgrace to the community because more often than not, the educated girls will not get married and if they do, it will be to a distance foreigner; and that means they will lose them forever. For such parents, early marriage closer to home is the best way to prevent the situation they have enumerated and at the same time preserve traditions. In a private conversation, one girl told me: When I was very young, I made to learn to help my mother and elder sisters with the domestic chores. Every day, I swept the large compound at dawn, washed clothes of the family, and fetched water from downstream every morning and evening, and firewood from the forest. Sometimes I see boys playing outside, but I could not join them because I was forbidden by my father saying, “A girl’s place is in the kitchen and not the playground.” Another girl-child said: I was very happy when my mother begged my father to allow me go to school. I made new friends there. I learned to read and write. But when I reached the Junior Secondary School, my father became sick and lost his job. One holiday my father said to me, there was no money to pay my school fees. So, I was made to stop my education whilst my brothers were asked to go on with their education. My father said, I was needed more at home to help my mother and the other children in the family. Stories like these reveal that even in contemporary Ewe communities, it is girls, who are the first to end their education when a disaster strikes the family, spend more time on household

52 chores than boys, thus leaving them with very little or no time to study at home. In case a family member falls sick, girls drop out of school to look after the sick relative. The situation gets worse when a mother dies, forcing the girl to stop her education and take over the responsibilities of motherhood at an early age. Since from colonial times education discriminated against the girl-child. For obvious reasons, the few girls who find themselves in school hardly find role models in their areas of study. Drawing on the above mentioned ethnographic experiences and existing writings on the subject, gender issues in Africa, there is the understanding that issues of the girl-child and women in Africa is a concern in the economic development agenda of African governments (Greene, 1996). In traditional African thought, “the value of a woman begins when she is born, not when she gets married” (Mbiti, 1991, p. 63). Mbiti supports this assertion on the basis of the Lögbara proverb which states that “A baby-girl means beautiful cows” (1991, p. 64). Mbiti concludes in his article on the role of women with the words, “They are truly flowers in the garden. They give beauty, scent, and seed to life” (1991, p. 71). Mbiti's summary gives a subordinate role to women, which is meant to emphasize the important but subordinate role women play, within a given African society. I might also point out that such a reference to “beauty and scent” is of importance because it raises the question of why then should women be repressed or undervalued when viewed from the frameworks of “beauty and scent”? A close look at Ewe society reveals that their collective views and practices are “influenced by the social and the political, and is riddled with contestations” and the community also exists “as a part of shared symbolic universe” (Green, 2002, p. 9). It is from here that one can begin to understand the lineage of Anlo Ewe women's' developmental encumbrance. It is no gainsaying that the position of Anlo Ewe women in pre-colonial Africa was impeded mainly because of cultural aspects of their way of societal existence. This is because Anlo Ewe females are type-cast from birth and instructed in manners of learning subservience, as is the case of human behavior in most societies, as strict and hindering gender roles determined the path of their life (Green, 1992, p. 111). According to Agbemabiese (2003), the history of Ewe women’s experiences have “been written in our riddles, songs, dances, proverbs and folktales by men because, a proverb says, Nyornu kpor ho; medoa agblorvu o. This means that, regardless how rich a woman may be, even above her male counterparts, she is forbidden from owning a talking drum” (p. 101). It is also important

53 to note that among the Ewes, a woman symbolizes many different things, including fertility. Women are responsible for bringing life into the world and having a connection with the earth and this easily fits in with how the men perceive women in the Ewe community. Depictions such as this in Ewe cultures shows that women are just as engaged as the men, which again, suggests that women play a large role in society. For some time now, I have come to believe that it is essential to always locate the various representations of women in their social context to avoid misinterpretation, or even more likely, the failure to notice them at all. Locating women’s representation, such as the Ewe women within the social spaces they occupy permits us to recognize the fact that gender, whatever it entails to us, functions as “an inherent part of a culture’s total ideological complex and must be treated within that context” (Schlegel, 1990, p. 39). A close look at traditional gender roles of women indicates that the belief systems of the community makes them to operate within the private, the domestic sphere of the home and family, while men operate in the public world of politics and economics. The various rites and rituals make the women to be nurturing, passive and subservient; while rites of passage for men makes them aggressive, active and dominant. These gender roles result from society’s interpretation of men and women’s biological differences. These interpretations of the biological differences between men and women have become accepted as normal and natural. The problem is that these roles limit the human potential of both men and women, and create fundamental inequalities within society. Religion and culture as powerful institutions within society play a major role in shaping gender roles and perpetuating gender inequality and are powerful institutions within society. In many ways, gender relations within the religious and cultural communities are a reflection of gender relations within the broader society. Thus, the simple acts of getting water and baking bread, which girls begin to perform from childhood, are resonant with implicit meanings (Boddy, 1988). They are metaphors both in thought and practice which, according to Fernandez (1974), “when predicated upon the inchoate self- contribute to its identity. And in appropriating them, or in enacting them, a girl or woman becomes an object to herself” (p. 122). Such objectification occurs by taking the view of the "other" before she can become a subject to herself (Boddy, 1974). The metaphors and symbols predicated on female in all culture such as the Hofriyat and the Anlo Ewe societies shape women’s dispositions, their orientations toward the world, and their selfhood. They are the

54 means by which women's subjective reality is closely governed by the cultural construction of womanhood, and is not merely expressed but realized and maintained by the belief systems of the people for ages. The place and space of the woman in contemporary Eweland In contemporary Eweland, women carry a double burden of low-wage labor and unpaid reproductive work in the home. In almost every Ewe community, women are the poorest of the poor (Koopman, 1995). Similarly, throughout other Africa communities issues of religion, politics, education, and traditional beliefs impact development of womanhood (Oppong & Abu, 1987). However, in all these issues, gender inequality is evident, because men overwhelmingly dominate in the highest levels of the hierarchy in these institutions (Greene, 2002). In the Millennium Report of the United Nations (2000), the concern has been raised that "Short-changing girls is not only a matter of gender discrimination; it is bad economics and bad social policy. Experience has shown, over and over again, that investments in girls’ education translate directly and quickly into better nutrition for the whole family, better health care, declining fertility, poverty reduction and better overall economic performance" (p. 12). Expanding roles of women in contemporary Eweland It can be argued that religion and culture are powerful institutions within the Ewe society, and they play a major role in shaping gender roles and/or perpetuating gender inequality. It is also no understatement that gender relations within cultural communities could be seen as a reflection of gender relations within the broader Ewe community (Greene, 2002). Believing that present-day global political economy has its roots in the colonial systems of exploitation, which in part includes religion and culture, the challenge to ensure gender equality in contemporary times remains a big one. This is because women, since the dawn of colonialism, have had less political power than men, less economic clout, and less say within the community (Hay & Stichter, 1995). Women in contemporary African society are both politically underrepresented and economically marginalized, because few hold political office or participate in the political arena. Additionally, regardless of the fact that some women play a major role in food cultivation and trade, gain positions of authority in managements, educational fields, ministerial positions, parliaments, etc., it is evident that their percentage and level of influence

55 is far lesser than those of men. In this context, it is not easy for the Ewe girl-child to challenge the dominant patriarchal gender ideology, let alone, her sexual position in the community regardless of her educational background. Such a challenge lies in developing a new understanding of the women’s voice and the rejection of the traditionally imposed perception of the girl-child as a reproductive entity by nature. Within African societies, it is important to note that the interest and position of each family member is defined by gender and always the female gender is subsumed under the authority of the master husband (Pateman, 1998). It is through this framework that the girl-child, a woman and later a wife in a typical patriarchal African society is likely to fall into the subjugated group, as she is repressed by male dominance, controlled by traditional perceptions of a woman, and abused by the time-honored customs of her community (Agbemabiese, 2003). Gender discrimination and patriarchal domination, when it comes to the women, is not limited to Abor alone. In other Ghanaian communities, even educated women carry a double burden of low-wage labor and unpaid reproductive work in the home (Oppong, 1987). Similarly, throughout Africa, even in contemporary times, religious institutions and the culture conspire to inflict gender inequality on the society by making men overwhelmingly dominate the highest levels of the hierarchy of the religious and political authorities (Greene, 2002). In Abor, though formal education had been introduced to the community by missionaries since colonial times, a majority of the women are still underprivileged and still succumb strictly to patriarchal traditions of society. In spite of the women’s contribution towards family income, because they are traders, their position in the family hierarchy still remains subordinate. This phenomenon spills over to the girl-child who is an inheritor of the mother’s legacy. I have observed that to some extent some women or mothers are eager to assist their daughters to have access to formal education, but the society is yet to seriously view education as a tool to develop the overall personality and capabilities of women. Unfortunately, it is evident that tradition has inbuilt biases where a male child is regarded as more valuable to the family than the girl-child; hence, girls are denied the right to life, education, and identity. According to Nukunya (2003), even in our present times, apart from girls being married early in life, kinship bond in marital relationship establishes authority structure within the family which invariably gives a dominant position of the man over the

56 woman. Nukunya further states that “the position of women in the society in general, for the dominance of men is not limited to the domestic unit. Polygyny, widowhood inheritance, the ranking of wives and mortuary rites…all tend to give women a subordinate position in most Ghanaian societies” (2003, p. 48). What is obvious is that traditions and customs of the Ewes serve “as important means of social control” (Nukunya, 2003, p. 59) on womanhood. This accounts for why the girl-child is confronted with a double tragedy—the discriminatory nature of Western education and patriarchal traditions of her community, which established traditional knowledge, the earliest form of education existing before the advent of colonialism. Efforts at focusing on the creation of a progressive educational system that can benefit the girl-child also hardly receives attention as problems of reorganizing of the educational system, increasing learning effectiveness for both sexes, incorporating new modes of curriculum innovation to remove gender biases, developing patterns of political socialization from the family unit to national levels are stifled (Agbemabiese, 2007). I agree with Agbemabiese’s statement that There is something in literacy which is an immaterial item, something that cannot be seen or heard, bought or sold, lent or borrowed. Yet, it pervades a whole society and nation and its influence is so strong that without it none of the schools or the other external forms would be of the slightest use. This supremely important thing we can call the spirit of ‘civilization’. This spirit of civilization can only be cultivated through an effective educational system. (2004, p. 21). It is this spirit of civilization that moved early hunting-and-gathering societies to a more settled, and hierarchically organized communities or technologically advanced economies. The growth of specialized wage labor and economically productive work necessitates that each individual in a family must be remunerated and the need to make the Ewe woman an asset, instead of being a liability, calls for a redefinition of kinship obligations in Africa if not among Ewes (Agbemabiese, 2004). This observation is important, because in the case of Abor it is obvious that as a farming community, members of the family that once engaged in farming in contemporary times cannot survive on food crop products, let alone, coming from a land that is gradually depreciating due to over farming and grazing.

57 References Agbemabiese, P. (2009). Themes in Ghana's educational reform: A comparative analysis of Ghana's educational reforms and that of the United States. Dresden, Germany: VDM Verlag Publishing. Agbemabiese, P. (2003). Why can’t anyone hear me when I cry? Columbus, OH: Zip Publishing. Agbemabiese, P. (2004). “Alcohol, symbol of witnessing and empowerment in Anlo Ewe Social institutions—Marriage among the Anlo Ewes.” A paper presented at the African Studies Association Conference at New Orleans, LA-November 11-14, 2004, on the theme: The Power of Expression: Identity, Language, and Memory in Africa and the Diaspora. Agbemabiese, P. (2003). Polytheism among the Anlo Ewes of Ghana: A study of three Cults— Yewe, Koku and Afa religions. Unpublished manuscript. Agbodeka, F. A Handbook of Eweland: The Ewes of Southeastern Ghana. Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, 1997. Akyeampong, E. K. (2001). Between the sea and the lagoon: An eco-social history of the Anlo of southeastern Ghana. c. 1850 to recent time. Oxford: James Currey. Alcoff, L. (1995). Cultural feminism versus post-structuralism: The identity crisis in feminist theory. In Feminism and Philosophy: Essential Readings in Theory, Reinterpretation and Application (pp. 436-437). Boulder: Westview Press. Amadiume, I. (1997). Reinventing Africa: matriarchy, religion and culture. New York: Zed Books Ltd. Anyidoho, K. (1983). Oral poetics and traditions of verbal art in Africa. A Dissertation Ann Arbor, Michigan: U M I. Awoonor, K. (1974). Guardians of the Sacred word: Ewe Poetry. New York: Nok Publishers. Awoonor, K. (1975). The Breast of the Earth. New York: Doubleday. Boddy, J. P. (1989). Wombs and alien spirits: Women, men, and the Zār cult in northern Sudan. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. Boddy, J. (1988, February . Spirits and Selves in Northern Sudan: The Cultural Therapeutics of Possession and Trance. American Ethnologist, 15(1), 4-27. Medical Anthropology.

58 Bowie, F. (2006). The anthropology of religion: An introduction (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Buckley, T. & Gottlieb, A. (Eds.). (1988). Blood Magic: The anthropology of menstruation. Los Angeles: University of California Press. Collins, P. (2005). Black Sexual Politics. New York: Routledge. Cutrufelli, M. R. (1983). Women of Africa: Roots of oppression (N. Romano, Trans.). London: Zed Books Ltd. Essien, K. & Falola, T. (2009). Culture and customs of Sudan. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Fernandez, J. (1974). The Mission of Metaphor in Expressive Culture. Current Anthropology, 15. 119-146. Geertz, C. (2002). Religion as a cultural system. In M. Lambek (Ed.), A Reader in the Anthropology of religion (pp. 61-82). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Gilbert, V. M. (1982). Mystical Protection among the Anlo Ewe. African Arts XV, 4, 60-66. Greene, S. E. (1993). Gender, ethnicity, and social change on the Upper Slave Coast: A history of the Anlo-Ewe. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Greene, S. E. (2002). Sacred sites and the colonial encounter: A history of meaning and memory in Ghana. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Guerts, K. (2002). Culture and the senses: Bodily ways of knowing in an African community. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hay, M. J. & Stichter, S. (Eds.). (1995). African women south of the Sahara (2nd ed.). New York: Longman Publishing. Hobsbawm, E. J. and Ranger, T. O. (1992). The invention of tradition. New York: Cambridge University Press. Kaplan, F.E.S. (1997). Queens, queen mothers, priestesses, and power: Case studies in African gender. New York: The New York Academy of Sciences Kelley, C. R. (2005). Witchcraft and Sexual relations: An exploration in the Social and Semantic Implications of the Structure of Belief. In M. Lambek (Ed.), A Reader in the Anthropology of religion (pp. 258-274). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

59 Koopman, J. (1995). Women in rural economy: past, present, and future. In J. M., Hay & S. Stichter, (Eds.), African women south of the Sahara. New York: Longman Scientific & Technical. Lambek, M. (2002). A reader in the anthropology of religion. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers. Lienhardt, G. (2005). The control of experiences: symbolic action. In M. Lambek (Ed.), A Reader in the Anthropology of religion (pp. 330-339). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Malinowski, B. (2005). Myth in primitive psychology. In M. Lambek (Ed.), A reader in the anthropology of religion (pp. 176-184). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Mbiti, J. (1991). Flowers in the garden: The role of women in African religion. In J. Olupona & S. S. Nyang (Eds.), Religious plurality in Africa: Essays in honour of John S. Mbiti (pp. 59-72). New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Meyer, B. (2002). Christianity and the Ewe nation: German missionaries, Ewe converts and the politics of culture. Journal of Religion in Africa, 32.2, 167-199. Morris, B. (2006). Religion and anthropology: A critical introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press. Nukunya, G. K. (2003). Tradition and change in Ghana. Accra: Ghana University Press. Ogundipe-Leslie, M. (1994). Re-creating ourselves: African women & critical transformation. Trenton, NJ: African World Press, Inc. Opoku, K.A. (1978). West African Traditional Religion. Accra: FIP. Oppong, C., and Abu K. (1987). Seven roles of women: impact of education and employment on Ghanaian mothers. Geneva: International Labour Office. Parrinder, G. (1961). West African religion. London: The Epworth Press. Pateman, C. (1988). The sexual contract. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Rosenthal, J. (1998). Possession, ecstasy, & law in Ewe voodoo. Charlottesville: University of Virginia. Sarpong, P. Ghana in Retrospect: Some Aspects of Ghanaian Culture. Accra, Ghana Publishing Co.

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61 About the Author

Dr. Padmore Agbemabiese is a Professor of English, Education and African American and African Studies at Tri-C, Metro Campus. He is wry observer, a witty raconteur and his works are a deft portrait of human life experiences. Though a staunch conservative of Ewe traditions, Professor Padmore Agbemabiese is a fresh and talented new voice charting a new course in the field of Ewe literature. In a forward to an anthology of Ewe poems that Padmore Agbemabiese wrote before the age of fifteen and published by Woeli Publishing, Ghana, Kofi Awonoor, Africa’s foremost poet stated inter alia, “Padmore Agbemabiese is the new light chasing the dark clouds that hover over Anlo Ewe poetry.” This reference captures with nuance the degree to which Padmore Agbemabiese’s poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy explore humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization. Readers of works of Padmore Agbemabiese testify that, it carries an oeuvre of universal validity, provides bitter insights into fragile experiences of the individual as well as the society much as it has the flavor of linguistic ingenuity, something which opens new paths in Ewe literature. Prof. Padmore Agbemabiese is therefore a writer with wealth of ideas and artistic power who with uncompromising clear- sightedness voices man’s exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts. And his works indulge in incorruptible scrutiny of humanity that it compels us to see the presence of a suppressed laughter. The Black Art Movement, 1999

62