Elite Women in the Kingdom of Kongo: Historical Perspectives on Women's Political Power

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Periodical article

Title:	Elite Women in the Kingdom of Kongo: Historical Perspectives on Women's Political Power
Author:	Thornton, John K.
Year:	2006
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	47
Issue:	3
Period:	November
Pages:	437-460
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Central Africa
Subjects:	female elite power political history Kongo polity Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Women's Issues History and Exploration Politics and Government Historical/Biographical Cultural Roles Sex Roles
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/4501072
Abstract:	Discussions of women's power in Africa often focus on how much the role of senior women is symbolic and how much is real. Studying the Kingdom of Kongo reveals that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries women initially exercised power indirectly through influence on male relatives. However, following the beginning of the civil war after 1665 women began to exercise more open and overt power, taking effective control of some sections of the country and working less through male relatives. However, elite Kongo women never took formal control of the State as they did in Ndongo and Matamba. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]