Rethinking African Gender Histories: Time, Change, and the Deeper Past in Northern Mozambique

Project Information

GENHIS-AFRICA

Grant agreement ID: 797440

DOI

10.3030/797440

Project closed

EC signature date 6 March 2018

Start date 1 February 2019

End date 31 January 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 172 800,00

EU contribution

€ 172 800,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT GENT
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GENHIS-AFRICA (Rethinking African Gender Histories: Time, Change, and the Deeper Past in Northern Mozambique)

Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2021-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project ‘Rethinking African Gender Histories: Time, Change, and the Deeper Past in Northern Mozambique’ looks into new ways of reading and writing change in African gender history. It questions the current ways in which gender is connected to a teleological notion of history. This teleological single narrative categorizes African gender history into three stages: an idealized monolithic precolonial past, a disruptive and oppressive colonial period, and a postcolonial present that is centered on ‘liberation’. Focusing on the practices of Yaawo oral historians in Niassa in northern Mozambique, in this project I study the gendered ways in which deeper historical knowledge is passed from generation to generation. As my research shows, examining deeper histories and the ways in which these relate to the present allows for a more complex understanding of historical time; moreover, it offers alternative ways of thinking about gender and change in African history.

The promotion of gender and social equality are cross-cutting objectives in EU development policy and co-operation. Yet contemporary understandings of gender equality and agendas for change in Africa are strongly framed by presentism. Through insight into deeper gender history and especially the relation between gender and historical change, my research can contribute to nuancing the public debates about gender and development and thus impact upon societal challenges. These issues are also of public interest to EU citizens. By bringing new perspectives into societal discussion, my research adds to the available narratives and thus enhances people’s awareness and understanding of the global gendered world around them. Moreover, this research is of relevance to the source communities and broader Mozambican society. It enriches people’s understanding of the history of the Niassa region, enhances knowledge about women and gender in Mozambican history, and furthers interest in the study of oral traditions and history.

The project has a two-fold objective: (1) on the basis of the Yaawo case-study, to contribute to our understanding of female political and spiritual power in Africa’s precolonial past and the historical processes of change in the colonial and postcolonial contexts; and (2) to study how these deeper histories also echo and are reworked in the present, and thus constitute the contemporary historical experience in interaction with, for instance, more recent socialist ideas of women’s emancipation and the current development discourse on gender equality. Overall, my research proposes to open new routes in the theoretical thinking as well as the methodologies of African gender history.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The aims of the project were carried out through 6 integrated work packages (WPs). Archival research in Maputo and oral history interviewing in northern Niassa constituted the core of this project. The fieldwork was designed to be conducted in two phases. While the first fieldwork was successfully conducted in 2019, the second fieldwork has been postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has caused some delays in the activities of the WPs 3-5. Still, many results have been realized: below I provide an overview of the main results of the WPs (also including expected results) as well as of the uses and dissemination of these results.

WP1 focused on the methodology of studying oral sources. This WP resulted in a keynote lecture, conference presentations, and an article manuscript. WP2 focused on the gendered practice of history-telling and resulted in an article manuscript. WP3 focused on gendered temporalities of history. A manuscript is underway, though work has been delayed due to the pandemic. I also presented the research at conferences. WP4 was dedicated to methodological questions in African gender history. An international workshop, postponed due to travel restrictions, will be held in 2022. A special issue is also planned for 2022. WP5 was dedicated to actions for communication of the project results. So far I have shared core research findings with broader audiences of stakeholders through a research blog; a three-part photo essay series; and preparations for a research-based online oral history exhibit are in progress. Other popular articles are also underway. These final communication activities have been delayed by the pandemic. The project was managed under WP6.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This research brings us new understanding about the deeper history of gendered power in northern Mozambique. It also opens new routes in the theoretical thinking as well as the methodologies of African gender history.

The following three article manuscripts (two in review and one delayed by COVID-19 but underway) are the culmination of this research and highlight the progress that this project has made beyond the state of art:

Taking ‘voice’ as its analytical focus, Article 1 explores the gendered history of women’s spiritual and political power in northern Mozambique. Methodologically, it bridges the study of oral traditions and oral history. Through an analysis of the relation between past and present voices, I explore a deeper past in which male spiritual-political leadership was not the norm and also women spoke with authority. Moreover, by studying the ways that the relationship between the deeper past and the present is performed in the oral history encounters, we gain a better understanding of the changing shape of gendered authority in northern Mozambique.

Article 2 focuses on the gendered practices of history telling, and how these practices shape historical narratives of gendered power. More specifically, I seek to deconstruct the ‘male mythologies’ that have thus far underpinned understandings of this history. Focusing on oral historical narratives of women of authority, I explore how male elders talk about masculinity and how masculinity in turn shapes the narratives they tell. This analysis, moreover, helps to critically re-evaluate the early written sources and make visible the different and competing ways that masculinity shapes the various ideas of gendered power, also showing how these ideas about masculinity are part of historical processes of change.

Article 3 explores the gendered temporalities of history. It challenges the linear temporal models that underpin much research on gender in African history. Analytically, I focus on the temporal gesturing that takes place in oral history telling, and the ways that the time of our lives (or lived time) and deeper time (or the times of our ancestors) intertwine and interact in these narrative events. This brings together the study of gender in Africa’s deeper pasts in dialogue with a cultural analysis of the contemporary historical moment. Combining the study of the contemporary historical moment with the study of the deeper past, as I argue, allows us to better capture the multiplicity of gendered times.

The international workshop (‘Rethinking Time and Gender in African History’), rescheduled to 24–25 March 2022 due to the pandemic, promises to open further new routes by bringing together researchers working on gender history in different temporal and geographical contexts in Africa to discuss and collaboratively rethink methodologies. Keep an eye for the special issue also!

Finally, preparations for a research-based online oral history exhibit on the history of women, gender, and power in northern Mozambique are in progress.

Flyer of workshop Rethinking Time and Gender in African History, 24–25 March 2022, Ghent University