Women in Colonial Resistance in West Africa: A Comparative Study of Asante and Dahomey
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study examines the role of women in colonial resistance in West Africa through a comparative analysis of the Asante and Dahomey societies. Whereas the application of traditional historiography has tendered to sideline the contributions of women in the anti-colonial movements, the most recent scholarship has started appreciating the roles of women in political leadership, mobilisation, and military opposition. The research approach is a qualitative historical study design which will utilize secondary data, such as scholarly literature, historical data, and written case studies. It provides a comparative analytical approach to understand how the role of women in resistance during the precolonial political structures and how they changed during the colonial rule. The results demonstrate that women in both societies were the key and varied participants of the resistance movements despite the fact that their participation was not similar. Women in the Asante Kingdom were able to exercise power in essence by institutional political authority and symbolic leadership as shown by Yaa Asantewaa. Women on the other hand in the Dahomey Kingdom were directly incorporated into military organization and they were actively involved in warfare with the use of the Agojie. The paper also reveals that the involvement of the women was firmly embedded in the precolonial systems of governance which gave them a recognised power. The interventions by colonials however transformed these structures by excluding women in formal power and this saw their form of resistance change. It is concluded that the role of women in colonial resistance was very important and situational, as it is important to have a gendered and comparative approach to understanding African history. It helps get a more detailed picture of the resistance movements with the focus on the agency of women and the interactions between the indigenous frameworks and the colonial changes.
Downloads
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The International Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS) adopts the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows for the free distribution and modification of published work, provided that the original author and source are appropriately acknowledged. The CC BY 4.0 licence is intended to encourage the wide circulation of scholarly work while safeguarding authors’ rights.
Author rights
Under the CC BY 4.0 licence, authors retain broad rights to their work, including but not limited to the following:
Ownership of copyright: Authors retain copyright ownership of their work, allowing them to deposit it in institutional repositories, share it as they consider appropriate, and publish it elsewhere, provided that the original publication in the International Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS) is properly cited.
Use and distribution: Authors may use and distribute their own work without limitation for educational and scholarly purposes, as long as proper citation of the original publication is provided.
Adaptation and derivatives: Authors may adapt, modify, or create derivative works from their original publication, provided that the original work is correctly cited and that any changes do not misrepresent the original content.
User rights
In line with the CC BY 4.0 licence, users (including readers, scholars, and researchers) are granted the following rights:
Access and distribution: Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles published in IJSS without seeking prior permission from either the publisher or the author, provided that the original work and authorship are properly acknowledged.
Creation of derivative works: Users may adapt or create derivative works based on articles published in IJSS, provided that appropriate attribution is given and that the derivative work is distributed under the same CC BY 4.0 licence.
Responsibilities and restrictions
Attribution: Users must give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the International Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS), include a link to the original work, and clearly indicate whether any changes have been made.
No additional restrictions: Users may not apply legal terms or technological measures that restrict others from exercising the rights permitted by the licence.
Commercial use: The CC BY 4.0 licence allows for commercial use of published works, provided that proper attribution to the original author(s) and source is maintained.