Women of Tropical Africa

Denise Paulme

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136533044
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book is unique in its approach in that each chapter covers women in their everyday lives and the problems, which concern them. Until now, ethnographic research has almost always been carried out with the help of the male population and as a result the picture that has emerged has been largely the image, which the men, and the men alone, have of their society.
Originally published in 1963.

ANALYTICAL
BIBLIOGRAPHY

M. Perlman and M. P. Moal

THE FOLLOWING BIBLIOGRAPHY is an analytical one, since it is our belief that a compilation of this kind is of little use unless it gives some information, however brief, about the content of the works listed. Consequently, it is selective rather than exhaustive, and we have purposely excluded very short articles and those without any scholarly interest. We have also, to our regret, had to omit most of the monographs in which chapters occur dealing with women under one aspect or another (education, work, special rites, beliefs concerning their magic powers, or the female deities in African pantheons) where these are not the exclusive, and indeed where they are not the main, topics of the publications in question. It would have been impossible for us to go through the entire Africanist literature.

The choice of headings may cause some surprise. For one thing, the absence of one on Marriage or on Bridewealth is sure to be remarked upon, since such matters clearly concern women. But they concern the men of a society just as much. And how could we have included works dealing with marriage—with permitted marriage partners, preferential marriages, rules concerning exogamy, rules concerning residence of the married couple—and excluded those discussing kinship structure, embracing topics such as the role of the maternal kin or relations between affines, which come within our field of study? A line had to be drawn somewhere, and this could only be done arbitrarily. Selection was an arduous task. We would not care to claim that we had carried it out entirely successfully.

An asterisk indicates works which could not be consulted, being absent from the shelves of Paris libraries. The date limit for publications was fixed at 1st January, 1960.

JOURNALS, CONGRESSES, CONFERENCES

A journal to consult: African Women. Published by the Department of Education in Tropical Areas, University of London, Institute of Education.

This journal contains articles principally concerned with the education and training of women and girls, with their new activities, and with social work, mainly in British African territories. The articles are followed by book reviews and by notes and a Personal Column, giving statistics and detailed information about teachers and appointments of women to official posts.

Conférence Inter-Africaine du Travail, 5^e Réunion, Lusaka, 1957, Rapports delà Conférence tenue par la Commission de Coopération Technique en Afrique au Sud du Sahara (C.C.T.A.).

Appendix III, pp. 131–55, “Emploi des femmes” [Employment of women]: This report summarizes briefly the replies of the governments taking part in the Conference to a series of questions on this topic. Introduction: the sociological, economic and educational factors determining the position of African women wage-earners. Three accounts follow concerning the number and type of occupations in which women are employed, the questions of legal protection and of maternity welfare, and future prospects of employment and training, in British, French, Portuguese and Belgian territories of Africa. Conclusion: except in South Africa, there has been very little advance in the employment of women. [See also Inter-African Labour Conference].

Congrès Colonial National, 12^e Session, Brussels, 1956, La promotion de la femme au Congo et au Ruanda-Urundi. Rapports et Comptes rendus des Assemblées Générales des 23 et 24 novembre 1956, 528 pp. map, bibl.

Reports and communications following upon an enquiry conducted by questionnaire in the Congo, bearing upon four points: Legal and customary status of women; social work as a means of education; education in schools; the training and role of European women.

Congrès constitutif de l’Union des Femmes de l’Ouest Africain (U.F.O.A.), Bamako, July 20–23, 1959.

The aim of this Congress was “to form groups and to unite the women of Africa in the fight for freedom” in order to carry out the following programme: Defence of the rights of women; child welfare; cultural and social activities; the fight for peace and for the independence and unity of Negro Africa. (La Vie Africaine, IV (Paris, 1959), 7).

*General Missionary Conference of South Africa, 7th, Lovedale, 1928, The Realignment of native life on a Christian basis, Lovedale Institution Press, 1928, 166 pp.

Contains two articles on women: “The reintegration of the social life of native women and girls”, by Mrs. Hofmeyr; “Social and medical work for native women and girls in urban areas”, by Mrs. Bridgman.

Inter-African Labour Conference, 5th meeting, Lusaka, 1957, Reports of the Conference held by the Commission for Technical Co-operation in Africa South of the Saraha (C.C.T.A.), pp. 28–32. [See also Conférence Inter-Africaine ...]

International Institute of Differing Civilizations (INCIDI), 31st meeting, Brussels, 1958, Women’s rôle in the development of tropical and subtropical countries. Report of the 31st meeting held in Brussels 17–19 September 1958, Brussels, 1959, 543 pp.

This compilation contains contributions dealing with the following themes as they concern localities: the legal, the social and cultural, the political, and the economic aspects of the role of women; by: Sister Marie-André du Sacré-Cœur (French West Africa [A.O.F.]); F. J. Amon d’Aby (Ivory Coast); E. Mills Scarborough (Liberia); T. Baker (Nigeria); G. A. Costanzo (Italian Somaliland); M. J. Salema (Portuguese African provinces); D. Soyer-Poskin (Belgian Congo); S. Naigisiki (Ruanda); R. Apthorpe (Rhodesia and Nyasaland); E. S. Nyendwoha (Uganda); M. Horrell (Union of South Africa); and Saad Ed Din Fawzi (Sudan).

Louvain, Semaine de Missiologie de Louvain, 20^e Session, 1950, Le rôle de la femme dans les missions, Rapports et Comptes rendus, Brussels, Éd. Universelle, 1951, 274 pp.

Four reports concerning African women, by: Dom Gilles de Pélichy, Mother Suzanne Van Roye, the Rev. Father Cornet, Sister Françoise-Marie.

United Nations Organization, Commission on the Status of Women, 6th meeting 1952, Renseignements sur la condition de la femme dans les territoires sous tutelle, roneo, 69 pp. (E/CN6/182).

The general condition of women, their legal and political status, opportunities for education and employment ... in the Cameroons, Somaliland, Ruanda-Urundi, Tanganyika, Togo.

United Nations Organization, Commission on the Status of Women, 11th meeting, 1957, Le statut de la femme en droit privé.

Report in African Women, II, 4 (1958), 81–2.

SOCIAL AND LEGAL STATUS

General

ATANGANA, N., “La Femme africaine dans la société”, Présence Africaine, n.s. XIII (Paris, 1957), 133–42.

The African woman and the literature produced by the Colonial Powers (criticism of the writings of Sister Marie-André du Sacré-Cœur). The African woman in traditional society: marriage, bride-wealth, polygyny; these concepts are given their true value in terms of their social context. The African woman and colonization: the disparity between the education of boys and of girls does great harm.

*Aus dem Leben schwarzer Frauen [On the lives of negro women], Bethel, Verlagshandlung der Anstalt Bethel, 1939, 15 pp.

BAEGE, B., Die Frau im Leben der Naturvölker, Jena, Thüringer Verlagsanstalt und Druckerei G.m.b.H., 1931, 78 pp. ill.

The life, position and activities of women . . . among certain [primitive] peoples. Refers to South Africa, Transvaal, West Africa.

BRIFFAULT, R., The Mothers. A Study of the origins of sentiments and institutions, Allen & Unwin, 1927, 3 vols. bibl.

Various references to African women.

“La Femme dans l’Union Française”, Tropiques, No. 379 (Paris, 1955), 2–91, ill.

A series of notes and articles on African women, their occupations, rites, dances, etc. Numerous illustrations.

La Femme noire dans la société africaine. Lectures given at the Institut Catholique de Paris, 1938–39, by Sister Marie-André du Sacré-Cœur, J. Wilbois, M. R. Randau, the Rev. Father Mazé, M. Dan...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Contents
• Plates
• Translator's Preface
• Introduction
• Coniagui Women (Guinea)
• The Position of Women in a Pastoral Society (The Fulani WoDaaBe, Nomads of the Niger)
• The Role of Women in the Political Organization of African Societies
• Nzakara Women(Central African Republic)
• Women of Burundi: A Study of Social Values*†
• Women of Dakar and the Surrounding Urban Area
• Map
• Journals, Congresses, Conferences
• Index of Authors Cited in the Analytical Bibliography
• General Index