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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Swahili Women since the Nineteenth Century: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations on Gender and Identity Construction |
Authors: | Gower, Rebecca Salm, Steven Falola, Toyin |
Year: | 1996 |
Periodical: | Africa Today |
Volume: | 43 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 251-268 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | East Africa |
Subjects: | social inequality Swahili women Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Women's Issues History and Exploration Cultural Roles Historical/Biographical Sex Roles |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/4187108 |
Abstract: | This article analyses and updates the theoretical discussion on the link between gender and identity and shows how a group of Swahili women on the East African coast dealt with this link in practice. Feminist scholars now realize that it is simplistic to universalize the position and experiences of women. The status of women is not determined solely by sex; diverse other factors are also important in the analysis of gender identity. Consequently, it is important to recognize that Swahili women have not occupied a static identity in terms of spatial and temporal factors. The socioeconomic position of Swahili women is the result of the complex interaction of many factors including class, ethnic, religious and geographic variables. Social dynamics - such as the gender relations within Islam, urbanization and colonialism - have not had a uniform impact on all Swahili women. Scholars should also be wary of labeling all actions by women as resistance to oppression. For example, spirit possession cults are more symbolic of religious beliefs than of insurgency against male domination. Swahili women possess a certain amount of indirect and hidden power, even though Swahili culture has limited their participation in public life. Ref. |