What do you think?
Rate this book
Re-Inventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture
This extraordinary book issues a clarion call for a new understanding of Africa. The author of the best-selling Male Daughters/Female Husbands here issues a challenge to western anthropologists to recognize their own complicity in producing a version of Africa that is often little more than a reflection of their own class-based, patriarchal thought.
Professor Amadiume calls instead for a new history of Africa, made and written by Africans. This is such a book.
The book
* explores how imperialism, violence, patriarchy and class-based social structures - originally imposed by colonialism - have become internalized to result in a contemporary Africa cursed with neo-colonial states.
* uncovers the hidden matriarchal history of Africa which continues to empower women in political struggle throughout the continent
* looks at the masculinization of indigenous African religions, effected largely by the imposition of Christianity and Islam
* provides a guide to the main Afro-centric social theorists, writing a new social history of their continent.
Dedicated to the diasporic African communities in their struggle to construct alternative, anti-racist and anti-imperialist epistemologies of self-representation and self-generated ideals, this is the beginning of a new vision of Africa, from the powerful voice of an African woman.
Professor Amadiume calls instead for a new history of Africa, made and written by Africans. This is such a book.
The book
* explores how imperialism, violence, patriarchy and class-based social structures - originally imposed by colonialism - have become internalized to result in a contemporary Africa cursed with neo-colonial states.
* uncovers the hidden matriarchal history of Africa which continues to empower women in political struggle throughout the continent
* looks at the masculinization of indigenous African religions, effected largely by the imposition of Christianity and Islam
* provides a guide to the main Afro-centric social theorists, writing a new social history of their continent.
Dedicated to the diasporic African communities in their struggle to construct alternative, anti-racist and anti-imperialist epistemologies of self-representation and self-generated ideals, this is the beginning of a new vision of Africa, from the powerful voice of an African woman.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1997
About the author
Ifi Amadiume
14 books23 followersDr. Ifi Amadiume (born 23 April 1947) is a Nigerian poet, anthropologist and essayist. She joined the Religion Department of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, U.S. in 1993.
Born in Kaduna to Igbo parents, Amadiume was educated in Nigeria before moving to Britain in 1971. She studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, gaining a BA (1978) and PhD (1983) in social anthropology. Her fieldwork in Africa resulted in two ethnographic monographs relating to the Igbo - African Matriarchal Foundations (1987), and the award-winning Male Daughters Female Husbands (Zed Press, 1987). A book of theoretical essays, Reinventing Africa, appeared in 1998.
She is on the advisory board of the Centre for Democracy and Development, a non-governmental organisation that aims to promote the values of democracy, peace and human rights in Africa, particularly in the West African sub-region.
(from Wikipedia)
Born in Kaduna to Igbo parents, Amadiume was educated in Nigeria before moving to Britain in 1971. She studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, gaining a BA (1978) and PhD (1983) in social anthropology. Her fieldwork in Africa resulted in two ethnographic monographs relating to the Igbo - African Matriarchal Foundations (1987), and the award-winning Male Daughters Female Husbands (Zed Press, 1987). A book of theoretical essays, Reinventing Africa, appeared in 1998.
She is on the advisory board of the Centre for Democracy and Development, a non-governmental organisation that aims to promote the values of democracy, peace and human rights in Africa, particularly in the West African sub-region.
(from Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 7, 2026
Un libro necessario per superare dei pregiudizi sul tema del "gender" nell'Africa precoloniale. L'ho trovato lessicalmente impegnativo, il tema mi ha tenuta incollata a ogni pagina, capitolo dopo capitolo viene smontata la struttura patriarcale propria degli studi antropologici occidentali condotti sul continente. Apprezzo anche che nella conclusione ci siano domande riflessive dirette al lettore.
November 23, 2025
Follow/Subscribe: YouTube, Patreon, Instagram
4.5 Stars
Feelings about the book:
- This is one of those important books that I knew I'd love as soon as I discovered it. It's not flawless, but it has more than enough brilliance.
Premise/Plot:
- In this book Ifi Amadiume challenges Western assumptions about African gender systems.
Themes:
- Colonialism, cultural distortion through Western scholarship, gender roles; power, identity and more.
Pros:
- I like that Amadiume is so clearly able to see through the masculine bs of some of these male scholars.
- I agreed with a lot of her findings about European ideals being the main analytical tool to explore complex African cultures and communities. Ifi rightfully notes that the male scholars totally miss vital aspects (basically half of a culture because it’s about women) due to only focusing on the men.
- Amadiume explores the Nnobi – an Igbo community in eastern Nigeria.
- This book is vital in reclaiming African history and cultures. Whilst how deep colonialism reshaped gender, power and more in Africa.
Cons:
- This book is way too short, it's so good but I needed more.
- Islam’s role, is mentioned but not delved into.
- There isn’t any great critique about the matriarchal structure even though there are glaring problems with it.
Quotes:
‘Diop (1989) postulated four cradles or histories of kinship and gender: Africa as the agricultural matriarchal south, Europe as the nomadic patriarchal north, the Mediterranean basin as the middle belt where matriarchy preceded patriarchy, and Western Asia as the zone of confluence.’
‘Perhaps because European women never had a history of matriarchy, it was impossible for them to see oppositional systems to patriarchy, hence their focus on class – that is, workers as the opposers of the bourgeoisie.’
‘The Western ‘sisterhood’ of the 1960s and 1970s was a false and baseless fabrication, with neither a material nor historical basis.’
4.5 Stars
Feelings about the book:
- This is one of those important books that I knew I'd love as soon as I discovered it. It's not flawless, but it has more than enough brilliance.
Premise/Plot:
- In this book Ifi Amadiume challenges Western assumptions about African gender systems.
Themes:
- Colonialism, cultural distortion through Western scholarship, gender roles; power, identity and more.
Pros:
- I like that Amadiume is so clearly able to see through the masculine bs of some of these male scholars.
- I agreed with a lot of her findings about European ideals being the main analytical tool to explore complex African cultures and communities. Ifi rightfully notes that the male scholars totally miss vital aspects (basically half of a culture because it’s about women) due to only focusing on the men.
- Amadiume explores the Nnobi – an Igbo community in eastern Nigeria.
- This book is vital in reclaiming African history and cultures. Whilst how deep colonialism reshaped gender, power and more in Africa.
Cons:
- This book is way too short, it's so good but I needed more.
- Islam’s role, is mentioned but not delved into.
- There isn’t any great critique about the matriarchal structure even though there are glaring problems with it.
Quotes:
‘Diop (1989) postulated four cradles or histories of kinship and gender: Africa as the agricultural matriarchal south, Europe as the nomadic patriarchal north, the Mediterranean basin as the middle belt where matriarchy preceded patriarchy, and Western Asia as the zone of confluence.’
‘Perhaps because European women never had a history of matriarchy, it was impossible for them to see oppositional systems to patriarchy, hence their focus on class – that is, workers as the opposers of the bourgeoisie.’
‘The Western ‘sisterhood’ of the 1960s and 1970s was a false and baseless fabrication, with neither a material nor historical basis.’
Want to Read
February 16, 2011Electronic (pdf.)
July 12, 2013
If you are a student and reader of Cheikh Anta Diop, read this.
February 10, 2022
hands down one of the best, most informative & well written books i’ve ever read
paused
April 25, 2022might pick up again when i have more time
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews