Mother Is Gold, Father Is Glass: Gender and Colonialism in a Yoruba Town PDF
Preview Mother Is Gold, Father Is Glass: Gender and Colonialism in a Yoruba Town
Mother Is Gold, Father Is Glass Mother Is Gold, Father Is Glass Gender and Colonialism in a Yoruba Town Lorelle D. Semley Indiana University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis This book is a publication of Manufactured in the United States of America Indiana University Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication 601 North Morton Street Data Bloomington, Indiana 47404- 3797 USA Semley, Lorelle D., [date]– iupress.indiana.edu Mother is gold, father is glass : gender and colonialism in a Yoruba town / Lorelle D. Semley. Telephone orders 800-8 42-6 796 p. cm. Fax orders 812- 855- 7931 Includes bibliographical references and index. Orders by e- mail [email protected] ISBN 978-0-253-35545-4 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-22253-4 (pbk. : alk. © 2011 by Lorelle D. Semley paper) 1. Women—Benin—Kétou—History. 2. All rights reserved Women, Yoruba—Political activity—History. 3. Mothers—Political activity—Africa, West— No part of this book may be reproduced History. 4. Sex role—Africa, West—History. or utilized in any form or by any means, 5. Kétou (Benin)—Social life and customs. electronic or mechanical, including 6. Kétou (Benin)—History. 7. Africa, West— photocopy ing and recording, or by any History—1884–1960. I. Title. information storage and retrieval system, HQ1811.Z9K487 2010 without permission in writing from the 305.420966—dc22 publisher. The Association of American 2010020121 University Presses’ Resolution on Permis- sions constitutes the only exception to this 1 2 3 4 5 16 15 14 13 12 11 prohibition. > The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Ameri can National Standard for Informa- tion Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992. For my grandmother, Olga Wanda Semley (1909–2005), as promised Contents Preface: “You Must Be From Here”—An Intellectual and Personal Journey · ix Acknowledgments · xiii Note on Orthography and Language · xvii Prologue: “Mother is gold, father is glass” Power and Vulnerability in Atlantic Africa · 1 1 Founding Fathers and Metaphorical Mothers History, Myth, and the Making of a Kingdom · 13 2 How Kings Lost Their Mothers Politics of the Atlantic Slave Trade · 32 3 Giving Away Kétu’s Secret Wives on the Eve of War · 53 4 “Where women really matter” The “Queens” of Kétu and the Challenge to French Imperialism · 71 5 “Without family . . . there is no true colonization” Perspectives on Marriage · 91 6 “The Opening of the Eyes” The Politics of Manhood on the Eve of Independence · 115 7 Mothers and Fathers of an Atlantic World · 134 Epilogue: A Rebirth of “Public Mothers” and Kings · 153 viii / Contents Essay on Sources and Methodology · 167 Notes · 173 Bibliography · 201 Index · 221 Preface “You Must Be From Here”— An Intellectual and Personal Journey Félix Iroko, a history professor at the University of Bénin, who is originally from Kétu, liked to introduce me to his colleagues and friends in Bénin by asking where they thought I was from. Hearing my accented French and look- ing me over, they would guess that I was “definitely” from the north, or from the central part of the country, or maybe from Cameroon. Iroko would laugh heartily at their mounting uncertainty and say triumphantly, “She is an Ameri- can.” There would be momentary surprise and then recognition, none of us thinking about the implications of my “universal” appearance as Béninois, Cam- eroonian, or Ameri can. Though I was born in New York City, being mistaken for Nigerian, Sene- galese, or Liberian had become normal to me and almost a source of comfort since my first trip to Ile- Ifẹ, Nigeria, for a Yoruba language course in the sum- mer of 1994. During one of our outings, to a blacksmith’s workshop, an elderly man was shocked and seemingly upset when he realized that I was not Yoruba after all. I became proud of my ability to blend in, and I made use of it; once I claimed to be Nigerian, rather than Ameri can, in Senegal, and Béninois, in- stead of Ameri can, in Brazil. Though I sometimes spoke French in France, re- jecting my relationship with loud Ameri can tourists, I adamantly displayed my Ameri can passport upon arrival in Amsterdam on a flight from Lagos, Nige- ria, to avoid harassment by the authorities. Drawing on Iroko’s guessing game, I sometimes asked people where they thought I was from, if they hesitantly asked whether I was from “around here.” My favorite was a French man in Aix- en- Provence, who was certain I was from the Indian Ocean island of Réunion. Early in my research in Kétu, Bénin, Akande Olofindji, head of a cultural insti-
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