The Adventures of Cosmic Yoruba
& Her Flying Machines too
If you thought concubines are a legacy of the past, guess what? When the British came with their colonialism, they imposed prohibitions on slavery in Northern Nigeria. This was only halfhearted though, as the British policy implicitly accepted the patriarchal nature of concubinage. Colonial courts had to deal with cases involving slave women, some of…
In the days past, in parts of “Western Sudan”, a female slave was worth two male slaves. In the slave markets of Kano, the worth of a female slave was measured by her breasts. Girls with developing breasts could be sold for 100,000 cowries. Women with firm, fully developed breasts cost 80,000 cowries. If their…
If there’s one thing that came out from reading about Nana Asma’u, it’s more women who we will probably never know more about outside a few sentences in diverse literature. Let’s share this frustration together. Nana Asma’u wrote in 1837 of “Joda Kawuuri, Quranic scholar who benefited people in many towns…Yar Hindu the Quaranic scholar…
A Month in Western Sudan Beginnings: Degel and the Hijra Nana Asma’u was just one among other women who wrote in her time. Five of her sisters, and her cousin were writers and their works remain today but there may be countless others whose works have been lost in time. Nana Asma’u’s name is remembered…
Did you know that “Sudan” was the term used by Arabs historically to refer to lands south of the Sahara? Ah, it seems this north/south divide is older than I thought. “Western Sudan” refers to north of the river Niger. In this context “Western Sudan” will be the area in what is now Northern Nigeria.…
‘Who was…?’ a new series that explores the African women who pop up in history yet remain mysterious. History. When I look into it, what I see is men, men, men, oh here’s a woman, men and more men. This pattern repeats itself when one investigates that part of history that is even less popular…
Another one from the drafts. In an earlier post I shared what I had read from Renee Pittin’s research on gidajen mata in Katsina, Northern Nigeria. Here I will share another aspect of these houses of women, that of the connection between ‘yan daudu, karuwai and the bori “cult”. Unfortunately, bori is often described as…
‘Who was…?’ a new series that explores the African women who pop up in history yet remain mysterious. After Mansa Musa, the most famed Malian king, came Mansa Maghan I and after him, Mansa Suleiman. Suleiman assumed the throne in 1341, he was described as miserly, forgetful or a liar by ibn Battuta the medieval…
In this cosmic space, there is no denying that we love history. Yet history is not just about what has happened in the past, it is also what is being created now. Life stories to me are like time capsules. They are important tools through which women can record their stories in their own words,…
If you thought Ahebi Ugbabe was the only woman to befriend colonial agents and possibly help expand their hold on her community, think again. I present Alaba Ida, a royal wife of Ketu (a Yoruba kingdom in present day Benin Republic) who later in her life became a “queen” to the French. Born around 1854,…