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Title:Islamisation and changes in social arrangements among the Mafa of North Cameroon
Author:Santen, José C.M. vanISNI
Book title:Negotiation and social space: a gendered analysis of changing kin and security networks in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
Year:1998
Pages:324-345
Language:English
Geographic term:Cameroon
Subjects:Islam
gender relations
Mafa
Abstract:After a description of the main features of Mafa society (north Cameroon) and an overview of the history of Islamization, followed by a discussion of gender and kinship relations, the author reviews the different roles men and women have in traditional religion and rituals in terms of their influence on relations within the family and between genders. She then analyses the alterations in gender and kinship relations after adaptation to Islam. Within Mafa society, the relations of mothers with sons and fathers with daughters are far more important in the formation of support networks than the relations between husbands and wives. In particular women without sons do not have a 'safety net' in Mafa society and an underlying reason for many elderly women without sons to convert to Islam is the safety net the Islamic community provides. The changes in marriage prestations and the bridewealth system following the introduction of Islam are an important key to understanding the changing network relations consequent on Islamization. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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