Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change

This collection of papers-all but one previously unpublished-presents the results of recent field research in the disciplines of history, political science, anthropology, sociology, and economics. The chief emphasis here is on change: on viewing African women as agents of change from the first arrival of Europeans to the present; and on seeking to change the perspective from which African women have been studied in the past. The papers encompass settings as diverse as eighteenth-century Senegal and contemporary Mozambique. Politically and socially, too, the local settings are various, including an Igbo village, the marketplaces of Abidjan and Accra, a development scheme in rural Tanzania, the churches of Freetown, and the streets of Mombasa. The contributors are Iris Berger, James L. Brain, George E. Brooks, Jr., Margaret Jean Hay, Barbara C. Lewis, Leith Mullings, Kamene Okonjo, Claire Robertson, Filomina Chioma Steady, Margaret Strobel, and Judith VanAllen. Frontmatter Contributors (page ix) Introduction (NANCY J. HAFKIN AND EDNA G. BAY, page 1) The Signares of Saint‐Louis and Gorée: Women Entrepreneurs in Eighteenth‐Century Senegal (GEORGE E. BROOKS, JR., page 19) The Dual‐Sex Political System in Operation: Igbo Women and Community Politics in Midwestern Nigeria (KAMENE OKONJO, page 45) 'Aba Riots' or Igbo 'Women's War'? Ideology, Stratification, and the Invisibility of Women (JUDITH VAN ALLEN, page 59) Luo Women and Economic Change During the Colonial Period (MARGARET JEAN HAY, page 87) Ga Women and Socioeconomic Change in Accra, Ghana (CLAIRE ROBERTSON, page 111) The Limitations of Group Action Among Entrepreneurs: The Market Women of Abidjan, Ivory Coast (BARBARA C. LEWIS, page 135) Rebels or Status-Seekers? Women as Spirit Mediums in East Africa (IRIS BERGER, page 157) From Lelemama to Lobbying: Women's Associations in Mombasa, Kenya (MARGARET STROBEL, page 183) Protestant Women's Associations in Freetown, Sierra Leone (FILOMINA CHIOMA STEADY, page 213) Women and Economic Change in Africa (LEITH MULLINGS, page 239) Less Than Second-Class: Women in Rural Settlement Schemes in Tanzania (JAMES L. BRAIN, page 265) References Cited (page 285) Index (page 299)