Negotiated spaces and contested terrain

Men, women, and the law in colonial Zimbabwe, 1890-1939

Bibliographic Data

ID4604124
AuthorsElizabeth Schmidt (0000-0001-8056-1534, Loyola University Maryland, corresponding author)
Year1990
Volume16
Issue4
Pages622-648
Publication date1990-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03057079008708254
OpenAlexW2009670959
LanguageEN
Citations received45
References cited27

During the early years of European occupation in Southern Rhodesia, people on the margins of African society took advantage of the erosion of indigenous authority structures. Women, in particular, challenged male control over their mobility, sexuality, and productive and reproductive capacities. Initially, a degree of female 'emancipation' was encouraged by European missionaries and the colonial state, who considered such customs as child‐pledging, forced marriage, and polygamy to be 'repugnant' to European concepts of morality. During the first three decades of colonial rule, legislation was enacted that outlawed child marriages, set limitations on bridewealth, and prohibited the marriage of women without their consent. The resulting crisis of authority in the rural areas, foreshadowing the possibility of a total breakdown in law and order, forced state officials to reconsider their earlier policies. By the 1920s, a backlash against female emancipation was well under way, intensifying under the pressures of the Great Depression. By the 1930s, the colonial state and rural African patriarchs were engaged in full‐scale collaboration, determined to reassert control over the mobility and sexuality of African women. This article explores the dynamics of the struggle over female 'emancipation', as it was waged between generations of Africans, between African women and men, and between missionaries, who generally welcomed female refugees, and the colonial state, intent upon upholding the authority of senior African men, and by extension, the entire system of indirect rule. One of the primary terrains of contest,. the power to create and implement 'customary' law, is a central focus of this investigation

Child marriage · Colonialism · CONTEST · Emancipation · Forced marriage · Indigenous · Legislation · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Gender Studies · Law