Matriliny, Islam and Women’s Cultures on the Swahili Coast

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapportBidrag til bog/antologiForskningpeer review

Abstract

With a point of departure in Makhuwa matrilineal culture of northern Mozambique – in coastal areas co-existing with Islam – the paper shows, how coastal women’s cultures also further north along the Swahili coast (examples being Mombasa and Zanzibar) carry matrilineal characteristics, in spite of non-matrilineal inland cultures. The paper suggests this influence to be due to enslaved women from Makhuwa areas brought to the coast during the 18th and 19th centuries, working as domestic slaves in patrilineal Islamic households. Particularly sexual and erotic aspects of Makhuwa women’s culture seem to have appealed to coastal women, including to women of the elite, thus showing the potential of women’s sexual cultures in terms of transcending religions, and of bridging class and ethnic divides.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TitelCustomizing Islamic Law: Matrilineal Muslims of the Indian Ocean,
RedaktørerMahmood Kooria
ForlagAmsterdam University Press
Publikationsdato2025
StatusUdgivet - 2025

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