Hausa Women in the Twentieth Century

by Coles, Catherine; Mack, Beverly

• ISBN13: 9780299130244
• ISBN10: 029913024X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Summary

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa, with populations in Nigeria, Niger, and Ghana. Their long history of city-states and Islamic caliphates, their complex trading economies, and their cultural traditions have attracted the attention of historians, political economists, linguists, and anthropologists. The large body of scholarship on Hausa society, however, has assumed the subordination of women to men. Hausa Women in the Twentieth Centuryrefutes the notion that Hausa women are pawns in a patriarchal Muslim society. The contributors, all of whom have done field research in Hausaland, explore the ways Hausa women have balanced the demands of Islamic expectations and Western choices as their society moved from a precolonial system through British colonial administration to inclusion in the modern Nigerian nation. This volume examines the roles of a wide variety of women, from wives and workers to political activists and mythical figures, and it emphasizes that women have been educators and spiritual leaders in Hausa society since precolonial times. From royalty to slaves and concubines, in traditional Hausa cities and in newer towns, from the urban poor to the newly educated elite, the "invisible women" whose lives are documented here demonstrate that standard accounts of Hausa society must be revised. Scholars of Hausa and neighboring West African societies will find in this collection a wealth of new material and a model of how research on women can be integrated with general accounts of Hausa social, religious, political, and economic life. For students and scholars looking at gender and women's roles cross-culturally, this volume provides an invaluable African perspective.

Author Biography

Catherine Coles, formerly assistant professor of anthropology and African studies at Dartmouth College, is currently studying law.  Beverly Mack is visiting assistant professor at George Mason University, where she teaches African literature and Hausa/Fulani culture in the English Department and the Plan for Alternative General Education.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Note on Foreign Terms	p. xi
Women in Twentieth-Century Hausa Society	p. 3
Hausa Women in Islam
Islamic Leadership Positions for Women in Contemporary Kano Society	p. 29
From Accra to Kano: One Woman's Experience	p. 50
Islamic Values, the State, and "the Development of Women": The Case of Niger	p. 69
Hausa-Fulani Women: The State of the Struggle	p. 90
The Power of Women
Royal Wives in Kano	p. 109
Women and the Law in Early-Twentieth-Century Kano	p. 130
The Role of Women in Kano City Politics	p. 145
Women in the Changing Economy
Hausa Women's Work in a Declining Urban Economy: Kaduna, Nigeria, 1980-1985	p. 163
Hausa Women in the Urban Economy of Kano	p. 192
Women's Voices: Feminine Gender in Ritual, the Arts, and Media
Gender Relationships and Religion: Women in the Hausa Bori of Ader, Niger	p. 207
Marriage in the Hausa Tatsuniya Tradition: A Cultural and Cosmic Balance	p. 221
Women's Roles in the Contemporary Hausa Theater of Niger	p. 232
Ideology, the Mass Media, and Women: A Study from Radio Kaduna, Nigeria	p. 244
Glossary of Hausa and Other Foreign Terms	p. 255
Bibliography	p. 261
Contributors	p. 289
Index	p. 291
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