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Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey
"Wives of the Leopard" explores power and culture in a pre-colonial West African state whose army of women and practice of human sacrifice earned it notoriety in the racist imagination of late nineteenth-century Europe and America. Tracing two hundred years of the history of Dahomey up to the French colonial conquest in 1894, the book follows change in two central institutions. One was the monarchy, the coalitions of men and women who seized and wielded power in the name of the king. The second was the palace, a household of several thousand wives of the king who supported and managed state functions.
Looking at Dahomey against the backdrop of the Atlantic slave trade and the growth of European imperialism, Edan G. Bay reaches for a distinctly Dahomean perspective as she weaves together evidence drawn from travelers' memoirs and local oral accounts, from the religious practices of vodun, and from ethnographic studies of the twentieth century. Wives of the Leopard thoroughly integrates gender into the political analysis of state systems, effectively creating a social history of power. More broadly, it argues that women as a whole and men of the lower classes were gradually squeezed out of access to power as economic resources contracted with the decline of the slave trade in the nineteenth century. In these and other ways, the book provides an accessible portrait of Dahomey's complex and fascinating culture without exoticizing it.
Looking at Dahomey against the backdrop of the Atlantic slave trade and the growth of European imperialism, Edan G. Bay reaches for a distinctly Dahomean perspective as she weaves together evidence drawn from travelers' memoirs and local oral accounts, from the religious practices of vodun, and from ethnographic studies of the twentieth century. Wives of the Leopard thoroughly integrates gender into the political analysis of state systems, effectively creating a social history of power. More broadly, it argues that women as a whole and men of the lower classes were gradually squeezed out of access to power as economic resources contracted with the decline of the slave trade in the nineteenth century. In these and other ways, the book provides an accessible portrait of Dahomey's complex and fascinating culture without exoticizing it.
392 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 24, 2016
Когда читала книгу, подумала о том, что "всемирная история", которую мы учим в школе, не такая уж всемирная. На самом деле она очень европоцентричная. Допустим, что рассказывает курс истории об африканских странах? Помню про Египет (Древний) и англо-бурские войны, вот, пожалуй, и всё. И, хотя я училась уже в 90-х годах, в постсоветское время, все равно схемы подачи материала не изменились: все тот же марксистский подход, в соответствии с которым история человечества - это последовательная эволюция общественных формаций от первобытно-общинного строя через рабство и феодализм к капитализму, а далее - к светлому коммунистическому будущему. В реальности всё не так однозначно. Скажем, рабство вполне уживалось с капитализмом (период рабовладения в обеих Америках мне и тогда казался нарушающим эту стройную концепцию). Вот, например, Дагомея - африканское государство, построенное на работорговле и дожившее почти до самого конца 19-го века.
Эдна Д. Бэй, исследовательница из США, написала эту книгу об истории Дагомеи в 18-19 веках, начиная с того времени, как в страну попали первые европейцы и заканчивая французским завоеванием в 1890-х годах. Источники, увы, довольно скупые, так что есть простор для трактовок, интерпретаций и даже, прямо скажем, домыслов :) Впрочем, Бэй старается оговаривать, где факт, где мнение, а где ее собственное предположение, пусть даже и очень вероятное и красиво вписывающееся в общую картину. Особое внимание Бэй уделяет роли женщин в дагомейской истории (а точнее, женщин, связанных с королевским кланом), но ею не ограничивается.
Эдна Д. Бэй, исследовательница из США, написала эту книгу об истории Дагомеи в 18-19 веках, начиная с того времени, как в страну попали первые европейцы и заканчивая французским завоеванием в 1890-х годах. Источники, увы, довольно скупые, так что есть простор для трактовок, интерпретаций и даже, прямо скажем, домыслов :) Впрочем, Бэй старается оговаривать, где факт, где мнение, а где ее собственное предположение, пусть даже и очень вероятное и красиво вписывающееся в общую картину. Особое внимание Бэй уделяет роли женщин в дагомейской истории (а точнее, женщин, связанных с королевским кланом), но ею не ограничивается.
January 6, 2016
A wonderful history of the African Kingdom of Dahomey using the role of women and showing how their roles reflected the prosperity, ascension and decline of the kingdom. It's a case study of a society not able to adjust to the changing world and the reasons why it couldn't and wouldn't.
It ends with the story of Gbehanzin (Behanzin to the West), his ascent to the top of a kingdom already breaking apart, and his forced departure from it.
As a descendant of one of the millions exported from the "Slave Coast" it was a difficult read but I couldn't put it down. If the Dahomeans hadn't existed they would've been created by the forces behind the trade of human beings.
It also shows how the already existing system of slavery in West Africa was perverted and became the monster the Atlantic trade became. You also see how the rise of Imperialism in the West turned the people the British, French and Portuguese had been dealing with for centuries into "others" a betrayal of not on the Dahomeans but all of the kingdoms that were in that part of the world.
I wish Ms Bay was doing a book on Gbehanzin in exile. I wonder what he thought about the life he'd condemned so many too.
It ends with the story of Gbehanzin (Behanzin to the West), his ascent to the top of a kingdom already breaking apart, and his forced departure from it.
As a descendant of one of the millions exported from the "Slave Coast" it was a difficult read but I couldn't put it down. If the Dahomeans hadn't existed they would've been created by the forces behind the trade of human beings.
It also shows how the already existing system of slavery in West Africa was perverted and became the monster the Atlantic trade became. You also see how the rise of Imperialism in the West turned the people the British, French and Portuguese had been dealing with for centuries into "others" a betrayal of not on the Dahomeans but all of the kingdoms that were in that part of the world.
I wish Ms Bay was doing a book on Gbehanzin in exile. I wonder what he thought about the life he'd condemned so many too.
August 4, 2019
While the book provided a comprehensive history of Dahomey, I wish there’d been more information about women, given the book’s title. It seemed to me more of a historical book rather than an in-depth analysis of the role of gender. There was also one phrase that irked me: on page 279, Bay writes, “Sadly, in the years leading up to the French conquest, Dahomey contributed to these racist stereotypes...” Excuse me, as the victimized group, they can’t contribute to stereotypes because, as pointed out, they’re RACIST. Stereotypes are social constructs created by a majority group, and the stereotypes group can or be blamed for “contributing” to stereotypes. That’s like saying I contribute to the model minority stereotype by getting straight As or by being good at math.
May 31, 2015
Just a delight; really nuanced and well-written history, with a great deal of complexity. Definitely recommended.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews