Description
In 1952, a woman named Hadija was brought to trial in an Islamic courtroom in the Cameroon Grassfields on a charge of bigamy. Quickly, however, the court proceedings turned to the question of whether she had been the wife or the slave-concubine of her deceased husband. In tandem with other court cases of the day, Harmony O'Rourke illuminates a set of contestations in which marriage, slavery, morality, memory, inheritance, status, and identity were at stake for Muslim Hausa migrants, especially women. As she tells Hadija's story, O'Rourke disrupts dominant patriarchal and colonial narratives that have emphasized male activities and projects to assert cultural distinctiveness, and she brings forward a new set of women's issues involving concerns for personal prosperity, the continuation of generations, and Islamic religious expectations in communities separated by long distances.
Author: Harmony O'Rourke
Publisher: Indiana University Press (Ips)
Published: 03/01/2017
Pages: 266
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.57d
ISBN13: 9780253023834
ISBN10: 0253023831
BISAC Categories:
- History | Africa | West
- Social Science | Islamic Studies
- Social Science | Women's Studies
About the Author
Harmony O'Rourke is Assistant Professor of History at Pitzer College.