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Gendered Ritual Dualism in a Patrilineal Society: Opposition and Complementarity in Kulere Fertility Cults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Barbara Frank
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Abstract

Although a favourable position for women is usually anticipated where they occupy important economic roles in the context of matrilineal descent, such a position may well exist in a patrilineal society, especially if women organise as in West Africa. Here there exist well-organised women's cult associations which are well known from Liberia and Sierra Leone and occur also in western Cameroon and south-eastern Nigeria. The present article demonstrates the existence of a comparable women's association in middle-belt Nigeria among the Kulere. The article focuses mainly on the manner in which through the cooperation of certain men's and women's associations ‘gender symmetry’ was ritually expressed in the sphere of agriculture and fertility. The practical foundation of this symmetry in fertility cults was a relatively even division of labour between the sexes and a favourable position for women in marriage, since they could decide independently whether to stay with a husband or leave him. Cult associations were predominant in public life. Women were strictly excluded from men's associations which held political–ritual offices and channelled advantages in ritual consumption to men. Notwithstanding this exclusion, women had their own association in which they could regulate their own affairs as well as pass decisions for the whole community including the men. The women's organisation held major responsibilities for the protection and the fertility of the fields, both practically as well as ritually. In this responsibility the women's association cooperated with a men's association which otherwise intimidated women. This association of males protected the fields through the presence of supernatural guardians which was sometimes staged in masquerades. The corresponding duties and cooperation of both associations were enacted ritually through the use of common shrines and when the women contacted water spirits to increase the harvest under the protection of male masqueraders. The Kulere case shows a patrilineal society where women had a relatively independent position which was publicly acknowledged through gender dualism in the ritual organisation of agriculture in which their special capabilities with respect to fertility and sustainability were recognised.

Résumé

Même si l'on peut généralement supposer que les femmes jouissent d'une condition favorable lorsqu'elles assument un r ôle économique important dans le cadre d'une descendance matrilinéaire, on peut très bien observer une telle condition dans une société patrilinéaire, notamment si les femmes s'organisent, comme en Afrique de l'Ouest. On y trouve des associations féminines de culte bien organisées, qui sont bien connues au Liberia et au Sierra Leone, mais aussi dans l'ouest du Cameroun et le sud-est du Nigeria. Cet article révèle l'existence d'une association comparable de femmes chez les Kulere, dans la ceinture centrale du Nigeria. L'article porte essentiellement sur l'expression rituelle d'une «symétrie des genres» dans le domaine de l'agriculture et de la fertilité, à travers une coopération entre associations d'hommes et de femmes. Le fondement pratique de cette symétrie dans les cultes de fertilité était une division du travail relativement égale entre les sexes et une condition féminine favorable au sein du mariage, puisque les femmes pouvaient décider de façon indépendante de rester avec leur époux ou de le quitter. Les associations de culte étaient prédominantes dans la vie publique. Les femmes étaient strictement exclues des associations d'hommes qui exerçaient des fonctions politiques et rituelles, et canalisaient les avantages des rituels vers les hommes. En dépit de cette exclusion, les femmes avaient leur propre association au sein de laquelle elles pouvaient régir leurs propres affaires et prendre des décisions affectant l'ensemble de la communauté, y compris les hommes. L'organisation de femmes assumait des responsabilités importantes en matière de protection et de fertilité des champs, tant en termes pratiques que rituels. Dans le cadre de ces responsabilités, l'association de femmes coopérait avec une association d'hommes qui par ailleurs intimidait les femmes. Cette association d'hommes protégeait les champs par la présence de gardiens surnaturels parfois mis en scène dans des mascarades. Les responsabilités des deux associations et leur coopération s'exprimaient rituellement à travers l'utilisation de lieux de prière communs et l'invocation des esprits de l'eau par les femmes pour favoriser la récolte sous la protection des participants aux mascarades. Le cas des Kulere montre une société patrilinéaire au sein de laquelle les femmes jouissaient d'une relative indépendance affichée publiquement à travers un dualisme des genres dans l'organisation rituelle de l'agriculture, dans laquelle leurs compétences spécifiques en matière de fertilité et de pérennité étaient reconnues.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , May 2004 , pp. 217 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2004

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