Enriching Gender Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Two new books enrich our understanding of women and gender in sub-Saharan Africa. Brimming with empirical, historical detail, they would be useful in a wide variety of Africa and/or women and gender or sexuality oriented courses. They should also, once and for all, preclude the argument that gender, or indeed “women,” are Western concepts of little applicability in Africa. Wicked Women comprises fifteen essays that are united by the theme of black African women’s transgressions against sundry patriarchal norms — running away from husbands and fathers and fields, accumulating bank accounts, publicly criticizing men, having sex with whomever they choose, and more. The introductory chapter reviews the historiography of women and gender in sub-Saharan Africa in a non-controversial manner, beginning with Denise Paulme’s 1960 collection of essays and stretching to a few recent titles that make masculinity their main focus of attention. It praises African women’s contributions to debates around gender. It defines “wicked” as an analytic concept in an open-ended, ironic way that invites us to regard the different chapters as talking to each other about female agency rather than trying to dictate a new agenda. It concludes with the argument that women’s transgressions of