Part 1: African Patriarchy has always existed
There are common narratives that always associate patriarchy with colonialism. Somehow every societal ill on the African continent can be attributed to the arrival of white people on our shores. While colonialism had its impact on the African continent, we shouldn’t paint pre-colonial Africa as some heaven for women. Patriarchy is as old as the earth gets and its origins really matter less because its roots are what must be abolished.
One of the biggest critics of the feminist movement is how white it is. And that’s not a lie. The mainstream feminist heroes are white women most of the time, even though black women shaped different movements. On the African continent, we are told a lot about how feminism is a western struggle, very not relatable to African women. Every African feminist has dealt with such narratives. My biggest issue is how it erases African women’s movements. It denies us the agency that we indeed are aware of our liberation and what we fight for but mainly it confines us in a box of not thinking for ourselves other than to follow western agendas. I am very much aware of the white gaze and colonialism impacts on our continent and on our lives as Africans. But Pre-colonial Africa was not perfect. We had our ways of living. Kingdoms were not paradise and we surely weren’t kings and queens.
The historical status of pre-colonial African women has been romanticized, making it easier to blame anything on colonialism. Many studies focus on the authority of queen mothers, or founders of settlements but they were not the norm. Women of other classes in their respective roles and communities did their part and contributed to their societies. However, there has been a huge documentation issue of pre-colonial Africa compared to other parts of the world. The African continent relied on oral history, hence the shortage of writings on the pre-colonial economic, social, religious history of the African continent. Oral history was also very patriarchal dominated. Men occupy most narrated stories as they dominated politics and military affairs since African kingdoms are also known for their imperialism. These chronicles that focus on African men as the sole contributors to the society, were also met over the years with the rising narratives celebrating African women as the heroines we all should know. Before I get into the body of this essay, just be clear that this isn’t another feminist study to show women as victims during pre-colonial Africa. it’s more complex than that. the effect of patriarchy is way deeper than women being victims but a whole system built on one gender thriving on the oppression of the other. It’s also way more complex because pre-colonial Africa had other gender identities ( this is for another essay). African patriarchy just like many other parts of the world shaped our heritage.
This essay isn’t erasing the fact that in some African societies women had access to some power. I am just consciously and historically aware that pre-colonial Africa was indeed patriarchal across different societies. The continent is huge and there are significant differences between countries. Therefore, I will be using different examples across the continent to highlight African Patriarchy. But note that the status of the pre-colonial African woman remains collectively indecisive because some chose to believe that since a category of women who were lucky enough to be born into the right families, privileged enough to rule; then the pre-colonial African woman was also a dominator. For others like myself, privilege analysis is crucial when referring to pre-colonial Africa so we can all realize that Queen Makeda didn’t represent every woman.
In this essay, we are taking it back to moments of history like the life of Queen Anna Nzinga Mbanda from the kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba. Her resilience journey should be taught generation through generation but mostly the part where the Imbagala people sided with the Portuguese for her downfall. So yeah, patriarchy is as African as it gets and even privileged women couldn’t escape.
- Akarwa k’ abakobwa ( Burundi and Rwanda)
Feminism has always been African. I mean the community organizing of African women to fight for their humanity and maintain their dignity through generations for the wellbeing of the communities. Yes, the term feminism is definitely Western-imposed or imported, like every other term of any Western language used today on the continent. But simply because the ancestors who fought to end the killings of teenage pregnant girls, didn’t call themselves feminists, doesn’t change that their fight was feminist and we can name it that today since we have the language.
I grew up hearing about a place where teenage girls who got pregnant before marriage would be thrown and stoned to death. Akarwa k’ abakobwa was a place on an island in the middle of Lake Kivu where girls who were pregnant outside of wedlock were thrown and stoned to death. Having sex outside of marriage was forbidden, let alone getting pregnant. The irony is that most of these cases were rape, child molestation but still the girl child was the one to carry the blame. It was in the Kingdom of Urundi-Ruanda. I am Burundian so this reality was even more shocking when I visited the island where the girls were thrown in the middle of Lake Kivu.
The kingdom of Urundi-Ruanda was very patriarchal and polyamorous for men who had the social capital to afford more than one woman. Women were properties to be exchanged between men. The father would marry his daughter at a good price to a man who could afford her. Other factors came into play as the social class of the family and the girl’s reputation. It was very important that the girl remains a virgin, briefly never know another man besides her husband. Virginity was very crucial in a young woman’s life. Child marriages were also the norm. For the Kingdom of Burundi and Ruanda, a girl with her periods was already a woman no matter her age. My grandmother was married at 15 so was her mother and the women before her. On the day of the wedding, there were rituals that had to happen to confirm a girl was indeed a virgin : (1) the husband would have sex with the girl on new sheets and try to break the hymen. (2) There had to be blood so the man’s family could take the stained sheets to the girl’s family to confirm they indeed received a new sealed package. In case there was no blood, radical measures had to occur. They would assume he was unable to break the hymen thus the lack of blood. Therefore, they would invite the husband’s brothers to rape the girl. In case the brothers were unable to get blood from the girl’s vagina to confirm she was indeed a virgin, the girl would be sent back to her parents. The latter would dishonor her and sometimes shame her into exile or get her killed as she would be worthless. If that isn’t patriarchy at its peak, I don’t know what is. This was the reality of many women who lived in that kingdom. These practices even continued during colonialism.
There was another ritual that annoyed me when I learned about it. Since women were considered as properties, the bride could never leave her husband. Even when he was dead, the husband’s family would give her to another man in their family. In a few words, once her dowry was paid, she was the property of her husband’s family. Imagine how it was being a woman in pre-colonial Burundi/Rwanda
2. Merina Kingdom ( current Madagascar)
The Merina Kingdom started as a group of individual people and evolved into a thriving nation. Madagascar today is inhabited by different indigenous groups. Two of these groups, the Hova and the Vazimba, lived peacefully in the central highlands of Madagascar since the beginning of the kingdom. Not so much is known about this kingdom but the few written stories highlight it as the famous kingdom that was ruled by queens for quite a long time. The First king of the Merina Kingdom was Adrianerinerina during the 15th century. Legend says he fell from heaven. Eventually, that’s the common lie about the founders of most Kingdoms in Africa.
After his death, the kingdom was ruled by queens up to the 17th century until men in Merina complotted that women shouldn’t be allowed to rule. It started when the second male ruler came to relieve his mother, Queen Rafohy. King Andriamanelo carried his mother’s vision and expanded the kingdom thus the reason he is considered today as the founder of the Kingdom. When Andriamanelo died, his only son took over. Ralambo became the third King of the Kingdom. For a kingdom that was once ruled by women, it was becoming actually normal for men to also be kings. After king Ralambo’s death, his son Andrianjaka took over. Note that Ralambo was the first king to start polyamory in the Merina Kingdom. With power, he made it a reality to be polyamorous. He had four women with whom he had three sons and twelve daughters.
King Andrianjaka, quickly tasting power, fully institutionalized patriarchy. It made sense growing up as a prince with a father accessing women as properties then ending as the one to access the throne. He ordered that women were not allowed to become kings, erasing the possibility that power could be equal and shared between the genders. And Merina kingdom fully embraced patriarchy and this was before the Europeans discovered Madagascar. It was even before the Indians started trading in Antananarivo. Men became the heads, the kings and the ones to have as many wives as money and wealth would allow them.
3. Queen Anna Nzinga
The Kongo Kingdom, the biggest in West Africa, covered the current DRC, all the way to Gabon. It was founded between 1365-1380 by Lukeni Lua Nimi after he conquered the southern kingdom of Mwene Kabunga in 1360. The kingdom had various states, operating as little kingdoms. Ndongo, one of the states, was established in the East of Luanda between Cuanza and Lucala rivers. The kingdom grew all the way to the Atlantic Coast. The Mbundu people were Bantu people who lived in the Ndongo Kingdom. Their origin is drawn to northwest Africa. Ndongo Kings had the title “Ngola” which later led Portuguese to name the kingdom ” Angola”.
Ana Nzinga Mbande was born to Ngola Kia Samba in 1583. King Kiluanji Kia Samba was the worst dictator of all time. But Sia Samba had the best relationship with the Portuguese ( they were already trading on the continent) since 1453. Note that the Portuguese Colonial empire is one of the largest and longest in the world’s history. During the 15th century, Portugal was already getting slaves from the Ndongo kingdom. The demand became high for slave labor in new colonies such as Brazil. Therefore, the relations with Ngola Kiluanji Kia Samba were destroyed as he couldn’t afford to provide as many people as needed.
In 1610, Mbandi ( Nzinga’s brother) dethroned his father. History records that he was the most ruthless and chaotic King like his father. Different sources claim that Nzinga fled right after her father was killed, while other sources record that she stayed and served her brother. But In 1621, Nzinga attended a peace treaty with the Portuguese on behalf of her brother. She was meeting a Portuguese governor. The Colonizers had only prepared one chair for the meeting, which meant Nzinga was going to stand during the whole meeting of negotiations. Nzinga, instead of standing, had one of her male servants get down on his hands and knees and served her as her chair. The negotiations were a success and the Portuguese agreed to limit the slave-raiding activities. Nzinga, on the other hand, was forced to become Christian, get baptized and took ” Ana De Sousa” as her new name. Her Godparents were the Portuguese governor she negotiated with, Joao de Sousa and his wife. As always colonizers stayed colonizing, the Portuguese did not keep up their promises. A few years later, they were back at taking men from the Ndongo Kingdom to be slaves. Mbandi, the king, tired of the Portuguese increase in his kingdom, committed suicide.
In 1626, Nzinga became the ruling Queen right after her brother’s death. It was unusual for a woman to rule not only in the Ndongo Kingdom but even in the neighboring kingdoms. Women were either wives, briefly housekeepers. That same year, Portugal as the biggest slave provider, decided to use war and totally control the Ndongo Kingdom. They hired the Imbagala (most and best-militarized tribe) to fight with the Mbundu people. Nzinga fought with the Imbagala and the Portuguese for over three decades. She completely stood in the ways of their slave-trading by freeing all the slaves she would come across. She also welcomed runaway slaves. Nzinga is also known as a queen who knew how to negotiate power for herself. She many times used the Europeans trivialities for the survival of her people. She used Deutsch alliance to fight against the Portuguese
In 1652, Nzinga tired of on top of Portuguese, fighting as well with other kingdoms, mad that she was a ruling queen, she got herself another peace treaty with the Portuguese. Nzinga was getting old and tired of fighting. But mostly the Ndongo Kingdom was in pieces because of constant war. In the new treaty, she agreed to convert again to Catholicism and promote churches in her Kingdom. Nzinga spent the year 1657 rebuilding the Ndongo. She focused on commercial power as her kingdom was on the African coast. She made Matamba a trade center and welcomed Indians. In her last years, she focused on training her niece Francisco Ngola Kanini to succeed her. Nzinga then died peacefully at the age of 80 on December 17th, 1663. Chaos followed her death as the Portuguese fought Francisco and started to control the kingdom of Ndongo.
However, when talking about Queen Nzinga and her fight with the Portuguese, we should always remember that she was able to resist until the Portuguese made alliance with the Imbagala people from the Kasanje Kingdom who were against the ruling of a woman. They helped the Portuguese defeat Nzinga because they couldn’t fathom a woman ruling the Ndongo Kingdom and Matamba. So, patriarchy is African as it gets every day.
Stay with me for Part 2 as we unpack African Patriarchy through different kingdoms of Pre-colonial Africa .
Read more about these kingdoms here :
http://africanfeminism.com/akarwa-k-abakobwa/
https://www.madamagazine.com/en/die-anfaenge-des-koenigreichs-der-merina/