A History of African Motherhood
The Case of Uganda, 700–1900

This is the first book-length treatment of the history of motherhood in pre-colonial Africa.

Rhiannon Stephens (Author)

9781107547193, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 August 2015

248 pages, 1 b/w illus. 3 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.37 kg

'This study provides a fascinating analysis of language regarding the nature of marriage and matrilateral relationships in patrilineal societies. It makes a convincing case for seeing marriage and motherhood as lying at the heart of alliance-building in precolonial Africa. This is the most readable and comprehensible text available based on African historical linguistics.' Shane Doyle, University of Leeds

This history of African motherhood over the longue durée demonstrates that it was, ideologically and practically, central to social, economic, cultural and political life. The book explores how people in the North Nyanzan societies of Uganda used an ideology of motherhood to shape their communities. More than biology, motherhood created essential social and political connections that cut across patrilineal and cultural-linguistic divides. The importance of motherhood as an ideology and a social institution meant that in chiefdoms and kingdoms queen mothers were powerful officials who legitimated the power of kings. This was the case in Buganda, the many kingdoms of Busoga, and the polities of Bugwere. By taking a long-term perspective from c.700 to 1900 CE and using an interdisciplinary approach - drawing on historical linguistics, comparative ethnography, and oral traditions and literature, as well as archival sources - this book shows the durability, mutability and complexity of ideologies of motherhood in this region.

Introduction
1. Writing pre-colonial African history: words and other historical fragments
2. Motherhood in North Nyanza, eighth through the twelfth century
3. Consolidation and adaptation: the politics of motherhood in early Buganda and South Kyoga, thirteenth through the fifteenth century
4. Mothering the kingdoms: Buganda, Busoga, and East Kyoga, sixteenth through the eighteenth century
5. Contesting the authority of mothers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], National liberation & independence, post-colonialism [HBTR], History: earliest times to present day [HBL], African history [HBJH]