ABSTRACT

Gendering Knowledge in Africa and the African Diaspora addresses the question of to what extent the history of gender in Africa is appropriately inscribed in narratives of power, patriarchy, migration, identity and women and men’s subjection, emasculation and empowerment. The book weaves together compelling narratives about women, men and gender relations in Africa and the African Diaspora from multidisciplinary perspectives, with a view to advancing original ways of understanding these subjects.

The chapters achieve three things: first, they deliberately target long-held but erroneous notions about patriarchy, power, gender, migration and masculinity in Africa and of the African Diaspora, vigorously contesting these, and debunking them; second, they unearth previously marginalized and little known his/herstories, depicting the dynamics of gender and power in places ranging from Angola to Arabia to America, and in different time periods, decidedly gendering the previously male-dominated discourse; and third, they ultimately aim to re-write the stories of women and gender relations in Africa and in the African Diaspora. As such, this work is an important read for scholars of African history, gender and the African Diaspora.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African Studies, Diaspora Studies, Gender and History.

chapter |16 pages

Introduction

Gendering knowledge in Africa and the African Diaspora

part I|247 pages

(Re-)writing gender in African and African Diaspora history

chapter 1|24 pages

The Bantu Matrilineal Belt

Reframing African women’s history

chapter 2|21 pages

REMAPping the African Diaspora

Place, gender and negotiation in Arabian slavery

part II|179 pages

Gender, migration and identity

chapter 5|16 pages

Beyond disability

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and female heroism in Manu Herbstein’s Ama

chapter 6|14 pages

Reverse migration of Africans in the Diaspora

Foregrounding a woman’s quest for her roots in Tess Akaeke Onwueme’s Legacies

part III|23 pages

Gender, subjection and power

chapter 7|21 pages

Queens in flight

Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat Queens and the performance of “Black” feminist Diasporas

chapter 10|35 pages

Contesting the notions of “thugs and welfare queens”

Combating Black 1 derision and death