{"product_id":"conjugal-rights-marriage-sexuality-and-urban-life-in-colonial-libreville-gabon-9780821421208","title":"Conjugal Rights: Marriage, Sexuality, and Urban Life in Colonial Libreville, Gabon","description":"\u003cp\u003eFinalist for the 2015 Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize for outstanding book on African women's experiences\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eConjugal Rights\u003c\/i\u003e is a history of the role of marriage and other arrangements between men and women in Libreville, Gabon, during the French colonial era, from the mid-nineteenth century through 1960. Conventional historiography has depicted women as few in number and of limited influence in African colonial towns, but this book demonstrates that a sexual economy of emotional, social, legal, and physical relationships between men and women indelibly shaped urban life. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Bridewealth became a motor of African economic activity, as men and women promised, earned, borrowed, transferred, and absconded with money to facilitate interpersonal relationships. Colonial rule increased the fluidity of customary marriage law, as chiefs and colonial civil servants presided over multiple courts, and city residents strategically chose the legal arena in which to arbitrate a conjugal-sexual conflict. Sexual and domestic relationships with European men allowed some African women to achieve a greater degree of economic and social mobility. An eventual decline of marriage rates resulted in new sexual mores, as women and men sought to rebalance the roles of pleasure, respectability, and legality in having sex outside of kin-sanctioned marriage. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Rachel Jean-Baptiste expands the discourse on sexuality in Africa and challenges conventional understandings of urban history beyond the study of the built environment. Marriage and sexual relations determined how people defined themselves as urbanites and shaped the shifting physical landscape of Libreville. \u003ci\u003eConjugal Rights\u003c\/i\u003e takes a fresh look at questions of the historical construction of race and ethnicity. Despite the efforts of the French colonial government and society to enforce boundaries between black and white, interracial sexual and domestic relationships persisted. Black and \u003ci\u003emétisse\u003c\/i\u003e women gained economic and social capital from these relationships, allowing some measure of freedom in the colonial capital city.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-8669289\"\u003eRachel Jean-Baptiste\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Ohio University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/15\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.85lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780821421208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0821421204\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-SOC\"\u003eSocial Science\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-SOC032000\"\u003eGender Studies\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS001000\"\u003eAfrica | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-SOC\"\u003eSocial Science\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-SOC026010\"\u003eSociology | Marriage \u0026amp; Family\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRachel Jean-Baptiste\u003c\/strong\u003e is an associate professor of African history at the University of California, Davis. Her articles have appeared in \u003ci\u003eJournal of the History of Sexuality, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eJournal of Women's History, \u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eJournal of African History.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ohio University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44566444802285,"sku":"9780821421208","price":58.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_9e7058b0-96f4-4a8d-82be-790bafad6585.jpg?v=1701879230","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/conjugal-rights-marriage-sexuality-and-urban-life-in-colonial-libreville-gabon-9780821421208","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}