by Carmeliza Rosário
Editorial
In this article, I discuss gender with a focus on kinship, language and relationality. Based on fieldwork conducted in Zambezia, Mozambique, I argue that concepts such as gender fluidity and performativity, which were developed by Judith Butler and which remain hegemonic in feminist and queer theory, are inadequate for making sense of non-sexual, non-queer, heteronormative socialities. Building on the work of Ifi Amadiume and Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, this article critiques the continued marginalisation of the frameworks these authors have advanced, which help make better sense of gender relations beyond sex and sexuality. Drawing on archival and ethnographic data on the cases of male ‘wives’ of Karanga kings and a female mwene (ruler) who inherited a putative male position, the paper showcases apparently gendered naming that is not tied to sex or identity but to relational roles within kinship structures, elucidated through the terminology used to name the social roles. These examples illustrate gender fluidity understood differently, allowing for the coexistence of social and biological genders that shift according to social, political and kinship relations. Rather than queering gender, these cases showcase how gender can exist through a multitude of interactions, attributions and understandings other than binary opposition or sexual identity. This critique upsets hegemonic feminist theoretical frames and underscores the emancipatory possibilities that a deeper engagement with African kinship and relational terminologies can provide for understanding and theorising about gender relations on the continent.
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