Education in Africa 
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| Title: | La Revolte des Femmes: Economic Upheaval and the Gender of Political Authority in Lome, Togo, 1931-33 |
| Author: | Lawrance, Benjamin N. |
| Year: | 2003 |
| Periodical: | African Studies Review |
| Volume: | 46 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Period: | April |
| Pages: | 43-67 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Togo France |
| Subjects: | gender relations Ewe resistance colonialism market women History and Exploration Women's Issues Politics and Government Education and Oral Traditions Labor and Employment Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Historical/Biographical Cultural Roles economics |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1514980 |
| Abstract: | In 1932, the governor of French Togoland announced an increase in taxes on Lomé market women because of the economic downturn caused by the Depression. Both the indigenous city council and a clandestine resistance movement opposed this fiscal plan, warning of social unrest. The strain triggered a protest by market women that spread beyond the colonial capital. This article offers a new explanation of the explosive tension by arguing that an organized male political campaign conjoined with a socioeconomic protest led by market women. It explores women's resistance as a performance of voodoo ritual as a vehicle of shame and protest. Ultimately, the violent, culturally marked protests marked the gendered perimeters of political authority for both Ewe women and men and further defined Ewe market women's conception of an Ewe self and the emergence of conflicting and contested notions of 'Eweness' as a prelude to the independence struggles. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract] |
