Women's Voices in A Man's World: Women and the Pastoral Tradition in Northern Somali Orature, c. 1899-1980

by Lidwien Kapteijns

Two questions dominate this ethnographic, literary, and historical study of Somali society through its orature. First, in what ways do Somali oral texts provide information about women and gender relations in Somalisociety? Second, how do these oral texts present the concepts of "tradition" and an authentic cultural heritage and identity, particularly as these concepts affect women and gender relations? In seeking to answer these questions, Kapteijns has gathered a considerable number of Somali oral texts and popular songs. The firstpart of the book focuses on the texts from the colonial period and develops a critical ethnography of women and gender relations while the second part considers contemporary love songs as important cultural sites for debate about women and "tradition." Kapteijns' book will enlighten readers unfamiliar with the wit and spirit of Somali culture. Somali readers will find the book essential for critically engaging the received notions of their past and traditions.

Genres: Somalia

248 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 1999

Reviews

[Kavita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lidwien Kapteijns is an American historian specialising on Somalia and Sudan. In Women's Voices in A Man's World, Kapteijns pores over the songs collected over the years by German and British anthropologists and analyses them to get information about gender norms in North Somalia.

The songs are mostly work songs sung by women while doing their various chores. Some songs by men are also included, especially when it comes to their dealings with women. In the second half of the book, the author has also included pop culture songs, duets in which both the man and the woman go back and forth, making their points.

But my favourite part of the book was the absolutely crazy stories. For example, this story of how men would pay married women to come and spend time with them - no, not for sex, but to ask them how women wrangled a bit of freedom. Then they would go on to marry a 10 year old. Another crazy story goes: A young woman's husband has two penises and she puts up with it until she realises that it's not the norm and starts refusing his attentions. The husband complains to his father who then helps him out by talking about their friends - so and so with six penises is dead, the one with four penises is in Egypt, etc. The woman thanks her stars for her good luck and goes back to work in bed.

And then there are the proverbs. A popular saying goes - there are three things that are a disgrace in men but laudable in women: not to answer back, to be miserly, and to be afraid of one's spouse. All this was fun because I kept telling these stories to my very disgusted friend. But it doesn't seem to be a very nice society, which could only have been exacerbated by war and instability. But honestly, nothing that didn't exist in most parts of the world at some point or the other.

My question is whether the songs really reflect the society as it is or whether it is just an escape into wishful thinking for men and women alike. If, for example, we analyse Bollywood songs over the 60s to 90s, it's full of romance and love winning over, but the reality of Indian society during this period was that almost everyone had an arranged marriage, most people did not date, and youngsters had very little choice in their partners. Love often did not conquer all. Could the 'rebellion' of Somali women's songs be something similar? Or the love songs, which eschewed male ownership and promoted companionship in marriage merely be catering to youth who, after a suitable period, would revert back to tradition? I personally think Kapteijns gives too much importance to these songs in terms of societal changes, which makes the entire premise for this book kind of shaky.

That said, I really enjoyed learning about these songs and the stories and narrative gave a very detailed glimpse into Somali culture.