Independence Comes to the Chief's Daughters
A Gabonese Family Story of Marriage and Decolonization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4819360 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J Rich (0000-0002-5117-1657, corresponding author), Jeremy M Rich |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 26-42 |
| Publication date | 2009-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Africa Today (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-9887 • E-ISSN: 1527-1978 |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2979/aft.2009.56.2.26 |
| OpenAlex | W2038758471 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 23 |
This essay explores Gabonese understandings of decolonization and marriage through oral narratives about Felicien Endame Ndong (ca. 1890–1971), a Fang-speaking Gabonese chief. Many historical studies of marriage in Africa have focused on the colonial period, but Ndong’s failed efforts to arrange marriages for his daughters indicate how drastically gender relations could change in the 1960s, after the achievement of national independence. These changes are particularly striking in Gabon, where scholars have contended that France’s continued influence ensured continuities between the colonial and postcolonial era. This case illustrates the challenges of interpreting oral narratives. Endame Ndong’s daughters noted how their father had forced their mother to marry him, but their presentations of his later life reflected their individual concerns: one daughter presented him as the victim of corrupt officials and deceitful family members; the other contended he was a tyrant who had forced her into an unhappy marriage. Such different portrayals denote women’s agency through the resistance of Endame Ndong’s daughters, and how differently sisters with similar experiences present their lives
Agency (philosophy · Art · Colonialism · Daughter · Decolonization · Independence (probability theory · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Resistance (ecology · Social science · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African Studies and Ethnography · Gender Studies · History · Law · Migration, Identity, and Health · Psychology
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Politics of the Womb
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Peasant Intellectuals
A Workman Is Worthy of His Meat
“My Daughter…Belongs to the Government Now”
I Will Not Eat Stone
A Workman Is Worthy of His Meat
Gabon
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Politics of the Womb
Blood Enemies
Manhood, State Power and Scandals in the Gabon Estuary, 1940-1946
My Matrimonial Bureau
Working with Gender
Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan
Colonial Rule and Crisis in Equatorial Africa
Cruel Guards and Anxious Chiefs
The Option of the Judicial Path
African Words, African Voices
Expectations of Modernity
Translating the Devil
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,18 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2021 (7) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |