Masculinities, New Forms of Religion, and the Production of Social Order in Kaduna City, Nigeria

Harris, Colette

doi:10.1163/15700666-12340083

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…While today the male-breadwinner norm has become crucial to African, as also Asian, manhood, only a tiny fraction can ever achieve this (Harris, 2016(Harris, , 2018. Even in the west, few families can meet their needs on one income alone, so this norm has been stretched in practice by the high levels of women in the labour force, while many men hide their failure as breadwinners by explaining away their wives' earnings as pin money (e.g.…”

Section: The First Normative Elementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neither was acceptable to the missionaries who tried unsuccessfully to stop the latter and made monogamy a condition of baptism. Moreover, although children are essential to marriage and lineage continuation, in this sub-continent, unlike most other societies, social largely trumps biological fatherhood (Dube, 1997;Harris, 2016Harris, , 2017Silberschmidt, 1999). Since virility cannot be directly observed, it is demonstrated by begetting children, while becoming pregnant shows women's compliance with family expectations (Mumtaz et al, 2013).…”

Section: Marriage and Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the absence of relevant government programmes, in the global south children are essential for old-age support (Harris, 2016(Harris, , 2019Mumtaz et al, 2013). Many Asian societies embrace patrilineality and patrilocality, so parents rely on sons for their future survival.…”

Section: Marriage and Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The functioning of gender, with special reference to the global south

Harris

2022

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This paper proposes theorising gender through complementary sets of behavioural prescriptions or norms rather than by a focus on women (and men). It posits the idea that gender is integral to a disciplinary regime aimed at producing social order, with masculinity at its centre. What appear as advantages to men simultaneously pressure them into conforming to their cultural and socio-economic group’s notions of masculinity including exerting control over wives and offspring. Four complementary foundational norms for both sexes are identified. They evolved during the nineteenth-century in industrialised Europe and were spread to the global south first through Christianisation and colonialism and later through gender and development programmes and mass/social media. These norms are first economic support for sustaining material life versus social reproduction and caring; secondly, male disciplining of (submissive) wives and children; thirdly heterosexuality, marriage and the biological production of children; and fourthly men’s protection of vulnerable women and their ascriptive (ethnic/religious) group for the context, as also the state. These do not determine behaviour but oblige everyone to consider them in negotiating their own conduct, with the most insecure interpreting them most narrowly. The ideology of masculinism supports the regime at the macro level, while also influencing individual behaviour at grassroots. Drawing on cases from my work in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, I show how this functions in practice in relation to how men treat each other and how it impinges on familial gender relations, with particular emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa, and especially Kaduna, Nigeria. I also discuss how supporting men to delink their behaviour from the norms of masculinity (thus defying masculinism) can make a positive contribution to family life and I posit the importance of further research on the effects of the norms for both sexes to improve our understanding of the functioning of gender.

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Section: The First Normative Elementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Marriage and Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The functioning of gender, with special reference to the global south

Harris

2022

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“…Nonetheless, opposition to Jonathan's proposed petrol price hike in January 2012 united the country during widespread "Occupy Nigeria" protests (Alhassan et al 2012). The situation in Kaduna since 2012 has been relatively quiet (see SAIS 2017 for Kaduna State), partly as a result of the efforts of religious leaders and government officials to contain controversies and intermittent conflict (Harris 2016).…”

Section: Kaduna After 100 Yearsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Death and the Textile Industry in Nigeria

Renne¹

2020

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This book draws upon thinking about the work of the dead in the context of deindustrialization-specifically, the decline of the textile industry in Kaduna, Nigeria-and its consequences for deceased workers' families.The author shows how the dead work in various ways for Christians and Muslims who worked in KTL mill in Kaduna, not only for their families who still hope to receive termination remittances, but also as connections to extended family members in other parts of Nigeria and as claims to land and houses in Kaduna. Building upon their actions as a way of thinking about the ways that the dead work for the living, the author focuses on three major themes. The first considers the growth of the city of Kaduna as a colonial construct which, as the capital of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, was organized by neighborhoods, by public cemeteries, and by industrial areas. The second theme examines the establishment of textile mills in the industrial area and new ways of thinking about work and labor organization, time regimens, and health, particularly occupational ailments documented in mill clinic records. The third theme discusses the consequences of KTL mill workers' deaths for the lives of their widows and children. This book will be of interest to scholars of African studies, development studies, anthropology of work, and the history of industrialization.

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“…10 These were later combined with the newly introduced notion of gender to form what I have termed a gender-age system (Harris 2012a). 11 This does not mean there was no sexual division of labour in Africa but rather that it was not based on an understanding of human physiology as inherently biologically fixed and dictating social performance, as by this time had come to be the case in Europe (Harris 2016). 12 As does Lawrance for the Iteso of eastern Uganda (Lawrance 1957). own customary practices.…”

Section: Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some Gender Implications of the ‘Civilising Mission’ of the Anglican Church for the Acholi Peoples of Northern Uganda

Harris

2017

Religions

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Anglican missionaries arriving in Uganda's Acholiland in 1903 saw the local peoples as in need not just of Christianisation but also of civilising. This last consisted primarily of inculcating western notions of gender identities for both men and women, with an emphasis on the wearing of gender-appropriate clothing and terminating the practices of polygyny and bride-price payment. The first missionaries considered the Acholi to have high levels of gender equality but they still believed conversion would improve women's status through domesticating them and instilling the notion of male superiority, despite the fact that local customary rituals did not distinguish on grounds of gender. Over decades, the population gradually converted to various Christian denominations, mainly Anglicanism and Catholicism, but without abandoning their customary rituals, using them as and when required, to ward off evil or ask for rain, for instance. The most significant impact of the civilising process was arguably the institutionalisation of the notion of masculine superiority now legitimised by appeals to what happened in the Garden of Eden. The paper is based on historical documents, both published and from the missionary archives, as well as on ethnographic research into gender in the region today.

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Masculinities, New Forms of Religion, and the Production of Social Order in Kaduna City, Nigeria

Cited by 5 publications

References 24 publications

The functioning of gender, with special reference to the global south

The functioning of gender, with special reference to the global south

Death and the Textile Industry in Nigeria

Some Gender Implications of the ‘Civilising Mission’ of the Anglican Church for the Acholi Peoples of Northern Uganda

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