The terms “African females” and “(wo)men” also encourage an investigation into the place and power of gendered females and males in African societies. These “gendered females” include biological males who transform themselves into women. “Gendered males” include biological females or (wo)men who transform themselves into men. These transformations are encouraged by a milieu that recognizes that biological sex and gender do not coincide; that gender is a social construct and is flexible and fluid, allowing biological women to become gendered men, and biological men, gendered women. This phenomenon gives rise to distinctive African categories such as female husband, male priestess, female headman, female king, and female pharaoh.
In political matters (chapters 1 and 2), as in African cosmology, Africans recognize two political constituencies—the human and the spiritual. The gods and goddesses, or put differently, spiritual monarchs, were the real rulers of African communities and towns, and human beings were merely there to interpret the will of the spirits.12 These spiritual monarchs occupied the spiritual political constituency and wielded supernatural power in the human world over human beings. Conversely, the female principle of (wo)men leaders, including queens, queen mothers, princesses, merchant queens, and female kings, are highlighted in my discussion of African (wo)men’s leadership roles in the human political constituency. Throughout the narrative, the connection between African worlds and political constituencies is documented.
In economic matters (chapter 3), African women owned the marketplace. They controlled it and defined its rules and regulations. The marketplace, although physically located in the human world, is connected, in important ways, to the spiritual world, in the sense that most African markets have a market deity in charge of the market. Thus, whether African women engage in local or long-distance trade, pottery making, weaving, or farming, the most accomplished of these women, otherwise known as merchant or market queens, understand, nurture, and subsume the power inherent in upholding the interconnectedness between the physical and spiritual worlds, often translating these connections into powerful expressions of economic power.
Let me now say a word or two about my conceptualization of power, influence, and authority. What are the differences among them? In this book, I use the term “power” to mean the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. “Influence” means the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. And “authority” means the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. It is my contention that African females, (wo)men, and the female spiritual principle have always held power, influence, and authority. And it is the myriad ways in which the totality of elite African (fe)male expression and manifestation has held power, influence, and authority that is the subject of this book.
The African Worldview: A Case for African Centeredness and Balance
Where one thing stands, something else will stand beside it.
—Igbo proverb
The African world is a world of dualities. African people identify two worlds: The human or physical/visible world is made up of the heavens, earth, and waters. It is the world of human beings and of natural forces and phenomena. The nonhuman or spiritual/invisible world is a world of divine beings, of good and bad spirits, and of departed ancestors. It is the unseen world, the world that we cannot see. These worlds are not separate, but like two halves of a kola nut, they are connected, and make up one continuous, complete, and whole African world. The visible and invisible worlds commune and interact with each other.
The African world is cyclical. This is why most Africans believe in reincarnation—the never-ending cycle of life. A person is born, grows old, dies, and is reborn, and the cycle continues. The pouring of libation to the ancestors in Africa symbolizes the establishment of a connection between the physical human world (where libation is poured) and the spiritual nonhuman world of ancestors and spirits who inhabit the bowels of the earth. Ancestors (the reborn) also appear in the human world during periods of crisis or celebration. They are able to influence the fortunes of the living. They appear as masked spirits who protect the society as community guards or police; as courts of arbitration, which provide binding spiritual justice in trials among human beings; or as entertainers, enthralling viewers with the beauty of the masquerade dance during celebratory periods in the life of the community, such as festivals.
Figure I.1. The African worldview. Diagram by Nwando Achebe.
Africans believe that the human and nonhuman worlds are too big to contemplate. They believe that there are spirits all around them. There are too many for one to even know; therefore, they have mediums to help explain the universe. These mediums—diviners, priests, priestesses, and spirit mediums—are special human beings. They are born into the human world but are endowed with spiritual abilities.
At the zenith of the spiritual world is God. The African God is neither male nor female (see chapter 1). God is a supernatural force that balances both male and female principles. There are as many African names for God as there are peoples—over three thousand. For instance, the Acholi of Uganda call God Jok; the Asante and Fante of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, Nyame; the Azande of Sudan, Mbori or Mboli; and the Lovedu of South Africa, Mwari.
God is too great to behold. Thus, She/He is assisted by a pantheon of more accessible lesser gods and goddesses. These lesser gods and goddesses are autonomous yet interdependent. They are personifications of natural phenomena. Their jurisdictions are localized. Africans have gods and goddess of land, lightning, thunder, streams, rivers, and so on. Some of these deities are neither totally male nor totally female but embody the duality of male and female forces that African cosmology so commonly elevates. For instance, the rainbow snake ayida-weddo god(dess) of the Fon people of Benin is believed to possess this balance of male (the red part of the rainbow) and female (the blue part of the rainbow) principles.
Oracles are forces that explain the past and predict the future. Like gods and goddesses, oracles can be either male or female. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin orare (to speak). Oracles, through their priests and priestesses, “speak” their predictions and explanations.
As alluded to earlier, priests, priestesses, diviners, and spirit mediums are human beings who have been endowed with spiritual abilities to decipher, interpret, and communicate the worlds of the spirits. In general, priests and priestesses are attached to a given deity and serve to articulate the pronouncements of that deity. African cosmology typically calls for a balancing of male and female principles in the relationships between mediums and spiritual forces. Thus, when there is a god, that god is most likely served by a priestess; and when there is a goddess, the goddess is most likely served by a priest. For instance, among the Igbo of Nigeria the goddess, ani, is served by the priest, ezeani; and the Egyptian goddess of fertility, nature, and animals, serket, is served by a priest. It is this same balance that is also witnessed in African constructions of the Great God as both male and female.
Diviners, unlike priests and priestesses, are not attached to particular deities. They are special human beings who work for society at large, casting beads or cowrie shells (Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria) or copper lances (Burundi), practicing invocation (Nyole, Uganda),