Table Of ContentWHAT GENDER IS MOTHERHOOD?
GENDER AND CULTURAL STUDIES IN
AFRICA AND THE DIASPORA
Series Editor : Oy èr ó nkẹ ́ Oy ě w ù mí, Stony Brook University
Series Advisers:
Adeleke Adeeko, Ohio State University
N’Dri Assi é- Lumumba, Cornell University
Ayo Coly, Dartmouth College
Carolyn Cooper, University of Western Indies, Mona
Godwin Murunga, University of Nairobi
Filomina Steady, Wellesley College
This book series spotlights the experiences of Africans on the continent and in its
multiple and multilayered diasporas. Its objective is to make available publications
that focus on people of African descent wherever they are located, targeting innova-
tive research that derives questions, concepts, and theories from historical and con-
temporary experiences. The broad scope of the series includes gender scholarship
as well as studies that engage with culture in all its complexities. From a variety of
disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary orientations, these studies engage
current debates, address urgent questions, and open up new perspectives in African
knowledge production.
PUBLISHED BY PALGRAVE:
Spatial Literacy: Contemporary Asante Women’s Place-making
by Epifania Akosua Amoo-Adare
Folklore, Gender, and AIDS in Malawi: No Secret Under the Sun
by Anika Wilson
Democracy at Home in South Africa: Family Fictions and Transitional Culture
by Kerry Bystrom
What Gender is Motherhood?: Changing Yor ù b á Ideals of Power, Procreation,
and Identity in the Age of Modernity
by Oy è r ó nkẹ ́Oy ě w ù m í
WHAT GENDER IS
MOTHERHOOD?
CHANGING YORÙ B Á IDEALS OF POWER,
PROCREATION, AND IDENTITY IN
THE AGE OF MODERNITY
Oy è r ó nkẹ ́ Oy ě w ù m í
WHAT GENDER IS MOTHERHOOD?
Copyright © Oy è r ó nké ·Oyě w ù m í 2016
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DOI: 10.1057/9781137521255
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Oyěwùmí, Oyèrónké·, author.
Title: What gender is motherhood? : changing Yorù bá ideas on power,
procreation, and identity in the age of modernity / by Oyèrónké·
Oyěwùmí.
Other titles: Gender and cultural studies in Africa and the diaspora.
Description: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. | Series: Gender and
cultural studies in Africa and the diaspora | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015023978
Subjects: LCSH: Motherhood—Nigeria. | Ifa (Religion) | Gender
identity—Nigeria. | Oyo (African people)
Classification: LCC HQ759 O95 2015 | DDC 306.874/308996333—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015023978
A catalogue record for the book is available from the British Library.
In Praise of Iya
Mo f ‘ire f ú n Ọ̀ṣ un
Mo f ‘ire f ú n Ọ ya
Mo fọ ire f ú n gbogbo à w ọ n ì y á
Af ì mọ ̀ f’ob ì nrin, Iye wa t á a p é n í mọ ̀
Af ì mọ ̀j ẹ t’ Ọṣ un o, Iye wa t á a p é n í mọ ̀
Ǹ j ẹ́ , ẹ j ẹ ́k á w ó l ẹ̀ f’ob ì nrin
Ob ì nrin l ó b í wa
Ka wa to d èn ì y à n
Ẹ j ẹ ́k á w ó l ẹ ̀f’ob ì nrin
Ob ì nrin lọ ́b’ Ọ́ ba
K’ ọ́ ba ó t ó d’ Ò r ìṣà
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments i x
A Note on Orthography x iii
Introduction: Exhuming Subjugated Knowledge and Liberating
Marginalized Epistemes 1
1. Divining Knowledge: The Man Question in I f á 9
2. (Re)Casting the Yor ù b á World: If á , Ì y á , and the Signification
of Difference 3 5
3. Matripotency: Ì y á in Philosophical Concepts and Sociopolitical
Institutions 5 7
4. Writing and Gendering the Past: A kọ ̀ w é and the Endogenous
Production of History 9 3
5. The Gender Dictaters: Making Gender Attributions in
Religion and Culture 1 17
6. Toward a Genealogy of Gender, Gendered Names, and
Naming Practices 1 51
7. The Poetry of Weeping Brides: The Role and Impact of
Marriage Residence in the Making of Praise Names 1 71
8. Changing Names: The Roles of Christianity and Islam in
Making Yor ù b á Names Kosher for the Modern World 1 93
Conclusion: Motherhood in the Quest for Social Transformation 2 11
Notes 2 21
Glossary 2 47
Bibliography 2 51
Index 2 59
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The completion of this book represents another stage in my intellectual
journey. During the long process of producing it, I drew on the gen-
erosity and support of a number of individuals and institutions. First, I want
to thank my colleague Ad é l é k è Ad éẹ̀ k ọ́ for reading drafts of the evolving
manuscript from the very beginning of the project to its completion. He
has always patiently read anything I sent him, and his comments prompt me
to refine my ideas. I am especially grateful to him for making available to
me his expertise in Yorù b á language, offering his translations of words and
phrases and applying diacritical marks to my Yor ù b á -language texts.
I thank Tolulope Idowu, my friend from youth, who read numerous
versions of the manuscript from the very beginning of the process. She
was always willing to read the crudest of my drafts, offering helpful sug-
gestions and applying her strong editorial skills. My friend Diana Cassells
listened patiently on a daily basis to my ideas, read various parts of the man-
uscript, and was especially helpful in providing insightful comments about
the Yor ù b á Diasporic experiences in Cuba and Brazil.
I am grateful to Filomina Steady, friend, mentor and colleague, who read
a draft of the manuscript and shared her considerable knowledge and expe-
rience unstintingly throughout the writing process. In addition, the follow-
ing friends and colleagues read all or parts of the manuscript and offered
useful comments: Tushabe Tushabe, Abosede George, Abena Asare, Olakunle
George, and Marame Gueye. Olasope Oyelaran also gave me the benefit
of his knowledge of Yor ù b á society and letters. My colleague Akintunde
Akinyemi drew my attention to recent studies on oriki and Oyo oral tradi-
tions including his own. Thank you for your insights and the book. Farooq
Kperogi and Muhammad Shakir Balogun read chapters of the manuscript,
shared their extensive knowledge of Islam, and gave insightful comments
on the impact of Islam on the naming practices of various ethnic commu-
nities in Nigeria including Hausa, Yorù b á , and Batonum. To them both, I
offer my gratitude.
I owe a load of thanks to my friend and colleague Jimi Adesina for his
encouragement and unwavering support over the years. I appreciate my
