FEMALE MONARCHS AND MERCHANT QUEENS IN AFRICA

224pp., illus., paperback, Athens, 2020

“This brilliant, insightful, and accessible work by a highly gifted historian superbly maps a continent-wide articulation of women’s power, influence, and authority in Africa. Achebe’s African-centered and culturally grounded work mandates a rethinking of African historiography and unveils a deeper understanding of the gender question in Africa.” Obioma Nnaemeka, Chancellor’s Professor, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, and author of Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power: From Africa to the Diaspora

“A brilliant, thoroughly engaging and accessible book … a fascinating and quick read that shows the many, many ways that women across the African continent have always led and continue to lead. It lays permanently to rest the notion of African women as passive or powerless and shows that women play key roles in every sector of society. It also makes a powerful case that African societies have more in common in this regard than differences, despite the continent’s size and diversity. Finally, Achebe makes a welcome contribution to efforts to bring analysis of queer identities to African Studies, showing definitively that notions of gender and sexuality have long been fluid and adaptable on the continent.” Laura Seay, Washington Post

Nwando Achebe, the Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professor of History at Michigan State University, is the author of six books, including Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings: Female Power and Authority in Northern Igboland, 1900–1960 and The Female King of Colonial Nigeria: Ahebi Ugbabe.