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The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses Paperback – October 1, 1997

by Oyeronke Oyewumi (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 113 ratings
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Considers the meaning of gender in an African context.

The “woman question,” this book asserts, is a Western one, and not a proper lens for viewing African society. A work that rethinks gender as a Western construction, The Invention of Women offers a new way of understanding both Yoruban and Western cultures.

Author Oyeronke Oyewumi reveals an ideology of biological determinism at the heart of Western social categories-the idea that biology provides the rationale for organizing the social world. And yet, she writes, the concept of “woman,” central to this ideology and to Western gender discourses, simply did not exist in Yorubaland, where the body was not the basis of social roles.

Oyewumi traces the misapplication of Western, body-oriented concepts of gender through the history of gender discourses in Yoruba studies. Her analysis shows the paradoxical nature of two fundamental assumptions of feminist theory: that gender is socially constructed and that the subordination of women is universal. The Invention of Women demonstrates, to the contrary, that gender was not constructed in old Yoruba society, and that social organization was determined by relative age.

A meticulous historical and epistemological account of an African culture on its own terms, this book makes a persuasive argument for a cultural, context-dependent interpretation of social reality. It calls for a reconception of gender discourse and the categories on which such study relies. More than that, the book lays bare the hidden assumptions in the ways these different cultures think. A truly comparative sociology of an African culture and the Western tradition, it will change the way African studies and gender studies proceed.

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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Minnesota Press
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 1997
  5. Dimensions
    5.88 x 0.8 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0816624410
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0816624416
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Oyeronke Oyewumi is assistant professor in the Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Minnesota Press; First Edition (October 1, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0816624410
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0816624416
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.88 x 0.8 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 113 ratings

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Oyèrónkẹ́. Oyěwùmí

Oyèrónkẹ́. Oyěwùmí

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
113 global ratings
An appreciation of the work, " Invention of Women"
5 Stars
An appreciation of the work, " Invention of Women"
Dr. Oyeronke Oyewunmi's investigation into gender constructs is an important investigation. It is important in terms of how people of color see themselves as before Western Hemisphere influence, well as, understanding how gender was applied to African people particular African women. This is a game-changing conversation and one that is not an uphill battle but a battle won not only in name but in application. I congratulate her on this wonderful work and we'll push the idea and conversation as far as I possibly can. Particular, in the diaspora aspect of African traditional religions of which I am a priest Iyanifa.
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Top reviews from the United States

Oloye, Fayomi Falade Aworeni
5.0 out of 5 stars An appreciation of the work, " Invention of Women"
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2017
Verified Purchase
Dr. Oyeronke Oyewunmi's investigation into gender constructs is an important investigation. It is important in terms of how people of color see themselves as before Western Hemisphere influence, well as, understanding how gender was applied to African people particular African women. This is a game-changing conversation and one that is not an uphill battle but a battle won not only in name but in application. I congratulate her on this wonderful work and we'll push the idea and conversation as far as I possibly can. Particular, in the diaspora aspect of African traditional religions of which I am a priest Iyanifa.
Customer image
Oloye, Fayomi Falade Aworeni
5.0 out of 5 stars An appreciation of the work, " Invention of Women"
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2017
Dr. Oyeronke Oyewunmi's investigation into gender constructs is an important investigation. It is important in terms of how people of color see themselves as before Western Hemisphere influence, well as, understanding how gender was applied to African people particular African women. This is a game-changing conversation and one that is not an uphill battle but a battle won not only in name but in application. I congratulate her on this wonderful work and we'll push the idea and conversation as far as I possibly can. Particular, in the diaspora aspect of African traditional religions of which I am a priest Iyanifa.
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12 people found this helpful
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mondiat seriki
5.0 out of 5 stars The invention of women
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2002
THis is an excellent book for anyone who wants to understand the importance and the view of yoruba women. This book is an eye opener for me. It allows me to be able to understand the truth about Yoruba view of arabinrin the anafemale.The book makes me proud of my origin as a omo Yoruda(a yoruba Child).
6 people found this helpful
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Bonam Pak
4.0 out of 5 stars Yoruba visions of Western Feminism
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2009
I read the 2003 edition of the 1997 book. It is about the Europeanization of African gender thought after direct colonialism, taking mostly the Nigerian Yoruba as an example. The author disposes of the Western standards of history, state and philosophy including the supposed African lack of all of that. She analyses the differences of Western feminism and pre- and post-colonial African matriarchies (or what's left of it). African hearing instead of European seeing at the top of the senses and the consequences of that; and mostly genderless Yoruba names. And why there is a sisterarchy between European and African feminists. While critizising the Western gender dichotomy, she is also not so fond of too radical homogenizing of female and male. A fresh light on polygamy will challenge the Western feminist.

She avers homosexuality as a foreign concept to Africa, which clearly is a half-truth at best. The word and literal/direct concept is European, the fact that females and males developed various cultural norms of love, sexuality and sociability among themselves isn't exclusively so. Read for example  Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities . In that context she fails to elaborate on the preclusion of sexuality when women may "inherit" other wives. Her neglect of this topic, turning it into a taboo, is clearly one of the weaker points of this book. I am also astonished to read vocabulary like "race" in THIS book, as the concept of races is even more European and in fact racist.

Overall, however, this book is recommendable for those interested in the subject. Who may also be interested in  Re-Inventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture , Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy , Return to the African Mother Principle of Male and Female Equality , When Men Are Women: Manhood Among The Gabra Nomads Of East Africa , and more generally in  The Mismeasure of Woman  and  Myths Of Gender: Biological Theories About Women And Men, Revised Edition .
56 people found this helpful
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Desike
5.0 out of 5 stars Intellectually elevating
Reviewed in Canada on April 30, 2024
Verified Purchase
This book is a must read for all Africans the world over
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Marcela fall
5.0 out of 5 stars Maravilhoso!
Reviewed in Brazil on December 5, 2020
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Este livro é fundamental para a descolonização dos conceitos de gênero e para a compreensão das relações sociais na sociedade yoruba.
One person found this helpful
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Anynomous
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read - brilliant
Reviewed in Canada on November 21, 2018
Verified Purchase
Absolutely Excellent book - changed my life as an academic
One person found this helpful
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