Spirit mediums are human beings who mediate communication between the spirits of the dead and human beings. They do this through actual possession, in a trance or spirit channeling. The spirit of the deceased speaks through these mediums, relaying important information and messages of support. Taken collectively, these special individuals that inhabit the in-between worlds are the human voices of the unseen world, a world that they explain to human beings.
The physical visible world is the world of human beings: men, women, and children. This world, like the spiritual world, is hierarchical, and depending on the kind of society—centralized or egalitarian—is led either by kings and queens, or male and female elders, in a dual-sex or complementary fashion. Women in Africa have authority and influence because of their own achievements, not those of their husbands. Thus, a queen or queen mother is powerful in her own right as a ruler, and not because she is married to a king or is his birth mother. In fact, queen mothers in the African system are not necessarily mothers of a sitting king.
Next in rank to these leaders of their societies are the titled men and women. Like the queens, queen mothers, or female elders, titled women are recognized for their own achievements and not those of their husbands. All African societies have male and female warriors, whose job it is to protect their societies from their enemies. The Amazons of Dahomey, an all-female regiment of warriors, who operated in the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, were particularly powerful and led their kingdom from victory to victory.
In Africa, all able-bodied individuals regardless of gender are expected to contribute to society by working outside their homes. African women have always worked, and can be seen, even today, carrying their babies on their backs while going back and forth between the farm and marketplace.
Indigenous “slavery” can be both empowering and disempowering for the enslaved. “Slavery” in Africa is not a permanent condition. Enslaved persons work for their masters, for a given period of time, after which they are able to manumit themselves and either stay in the community of their masters or find their way back to their natal communities. African “slaves” who are attached to the spiritual world either as wives, daughters, or sons of deities find their station in society elevated because of their relationship to the said deity. In many ways, this relationship serves to empower them in relation to mere mortals.
At the very bottom of the physical world’s hierarchy are useless people. These are able-bodied men and women who refuse to work. They are deemed useless because they are not contributing to society in meaningful ways.
Chapter Outline
Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa highlights the similarities and differences in (fe)male leadership experiences in various geographical spaces, times, and settings in Africa. From centralized to small-scale egalitarian societies, patrilineal to matrilineal systems, North Africa to Africa south of the Sahara, this book provides an overview of a representative group of remarkable African (wo)men and/or female spiritual principles who occupied, and continue to occupy, positions of power, authority, and influence.
This introduction serves to place the authority, influence, and power of African women and the female principle in proper context. What does it mean to be influential or powerful? Why is it important to frame our conversations about female power, authority, and influence around realities in both the spiritual and the physical worlds? This chapter presents these and other questions, while setting up the trajectory of the rest of the book.
Chapter 1, “Spiritual Monarchs: God, Rain Queens, Spirit Mediums, and Goddesses,” locates the sources of female spiritual and ritual power within various African communities. I also consider the ritual leadership of female gendered spiritual forces such as goddesses, oracles, and female medicines and their human helpers (e.g., priestesses, diviners, spirit mediums, and prophetesses). Case studies of Lovedu rain queens; Nyamwezi and Shona spirit mediums, including Nehanda; Igbo and Yoruba priestesses of gods, male priestesses of goddesses; and South African sangomas are highlighted.
Chapter 2, “Queens, Queen Mothers, Princesses, and Daughters,” documents the lives and times of a representative sample of African princesses, queens, and queen mothers from different parts of Africa at different times, including queens Nefertiti of Egypt and Amina of Hausaland; queen mothers Labotsibeni Mdluli of Swaziland (now Eswatini) and Yaa Asantewa of Ejisu, Asanteland; and princesses Inikpi of the Igala Kingdom and Magogo of Zululand. These women exerted considerable influence over men’s offices. It also documents the place that daughters in egalitarian societies occupy. The chapter poses the questions: To whom were these women accountable? On whose behalf did they exercise power?
African women were known for their economic acumen, and they often formed complex socioeconomic networks with other women and used these networks to empower themselves. Chapter 3, “Merchant Queens,” explores the power and influence of women commodity leaders, association leaders, and leaders of market organizations, courts, and police forces. Case studies of West African merchant queens like Madam Efunroye Tinubu, Omu Okwei, other Omus (Nigeria), and market ahemma (Ghana) are highlighted. So are the life histories of some West African Mama or Nana Benzs.
Chapter 4, “Female Headmen, Kings, and Paramount Chiefs,” highlights the flexibility and fluidity of the African gender system that allowed women to become men, and men, women. It does this through the lens of (fe)male leaders who transformed themselves into gendered males and achieved political power and clout, occupying positions that were traditionally regarded as male. The lives and times of female kings like Hatshepsut, who dressed and ruled as pharaoh; Ebulejonu, the first female king of the Igala monarchy; Headman Wangu wa Makeri of Gĩkũyũland, colonial Kenya; and Paramount Chief Mosadi Seboko of the Balete people of Botswana are highlighted.
Chapter 5, “African Women Today,” brings the narrative of women’s power, influence, and authority to the present. It does this by exploring women’s leadership at the highest levels, be they presidents or vice presidents, legislators, senators, or ministers; high-profile women business entrepreneurs; or leaders of megachurches and in the Islamic faith.
1
Spiritual Monarchs
God, Goddesses, Spirit Mediums, and Rain Queens
The modjadji or rain queen of Lovedu, South Africa, is1 believed to be the living embodiment of the rain goddess. She has special powers. Also referred to as the Khifidola-maru-a-Daja (transformer of clouds), the modjadji guarantees the seasonal cycle and controls the clouds, rainfall, and fertility of the crops. Like rain queens, spirit mediums are believed to be embodiments of the spirits or the ancestors. It is a form of possession in which a person serves as an intermediary between the gods and society. In hierarchical societies, such as the Nyamwezi, spirit medium societies provide women with the most-direct avenues for active participation in politics and religious life. Spirit mediums can achieve measures of power that place them above men and all mortals.
In African societies, deities, the most powerful of whom is the Great Creator God, serve as the true political heads or spiritual monarchs of their communities. Next in rank to God are the lesser gods and goddesses. Personifications of natural phenomena, the most influential are gendered females, deities in charge of the waters and the land. These deities are the moral judges of conduct and wield power indiscriminately.
Starting with the African Great Creator God, this chapter locates