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The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses by Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí
bahareads's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Oyeronke Oyewumi’s The Invention of Women is a highly theoretical book. Oyewumi engages with many theorists and scholars from different aspects of academia. She challenges the conclusions many of these scholars have reached in their own studies. Throughout the work, she names over twenty scholars with whom she is conversing in the historiography, especially when it comes to ‘Africa’ and Nigeria at large and then the Yoruba region in a more contained manner. She uses their own words to break down their conclusions, seeing in what ways a Western viewpoint created assumptions that caused the conclusions the scholars have come to. Oyewumi continually hammers her arguments into the text, and while her writing might be considered dogmatic by some it is refreshing to see such conviction on the page.
The Invention of Women raises the question of whether it is possible to do “independent research questions and interests given the western origins of most disciplines and the continued Western dominance of the world” (179). Oyewumi investigates the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of how gender came to be constructed in the south-western Yoruba society and how gender is constituted as a fundamental category in academic scholarship on the Yoruba (xi). While The Invention of Women could be considered a ‘study of gender’ (or lack thereof), it is also a study of the sociology of knowledge. Oyewumi does not shy away from clearly stating her biases in her work, she lays out clearly that she believes social identity, personal experiences and the nature of one’s research impacts the work that one does. She names her social identity, major personal experiences, and how it affects the nature of her own work. She clearly states that events and processes of her life were significant in shaping the questions for this book (xvi). By doing so she allows readers to see clearly the idea of scholarly ‘unbiases’ that many claim to hold is unattainable by academics. Oyewumi limits herself to Oyo-Yoruba culture in the process of this (xii).
Oyewumi recognizes that she is fighting a vast scholarship to show that gender was not an organizing principle in Yoruba society. The focus on patrilineage by anthropologists are significant in deconstructing gender in Yoruba society as the idea to impose gender vision on labour and motherhood is based on assumptions that scholars make (73-74). There are distinctions about history as a lived experience, a record of lived experience in oral tradition and written history that Oyewumi makes (80)
The focus of colonization and how the colonial state pushes the creation of woman as a category contributes to the histography. Oyewumi builds upon people like Frantz Fanon and Albert Memmi. Within the final chapter, Oyewumi looks at how gender was added to the Yoruba language and how Yoruba was and is changing as a result of contact with English and new structures of thought. The Invention of Women is deeply compelling, and a thought-provoking read
The Invention of Women raises the question of whether it is possible to do “independent research questions and interests given the western origins of most disciplines and the continued Western dominance of the world” (179). Oyewumi investigates the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of how gender came to be constructed in the south-western Yoruba society and how gender is constituted as a fundamental category in academic scholarship on the Yoruba (xi). While The Invention of Women could be considered a ‘study of gender’ (or lack thereof), it is also a study of the sociology of knowledge. Oyewumi does not shy away from clearly stating her biases in her work, she lays out clearly that she believes social identity, personal experiences and the nature of one’s research impacts the work that one does. She names her social identity, major personal experiences, and how it affects the nature of her own work. She clearly states that events and processes of her life were significant in shaping the questions for this book (xvi). By doing so she allows readers to see clearly the idea of scholarly ‘unbiases’ that many claim to hold is unattainable by academics. Oyewumi limits herself to Oyo-Yoruba culture in the process of this (xii).
Oyewumi recognizes that she is fighting a vast scholarship to show that gender was not an organizing principle in Yoruba society. The focus on patrilineage by anthropologists are significant in deconstructing gender in Yoruba society as the idea to impose gender vision on labour and motherhood is based on assumptions that scholars make (73-74). There are distinctions about history as a lived experience, a record of lived experience in oral tradition and written history that Oyewumi makes (80)
The focus of colonization and how the colonial state pushes the creation of woman as a category contributes to the histography. Oyewumi builds upon people like Frantz Fanon and Albert Memmi. Within the final chapter, Oyewumi looks at how gender was added to the Yoruba language and how Yoruba was and is changing as a result of contact with English and new structures of thought. The Invention of Women is deeply compelling, and a thought-provoking read
atzin's review
4.75
It was a study into the Yoruba people and the imposition of gender onto a people who, previous to colonization, had no concept of gender within their society, breaking the idea of gender, with the subjugation of women as a manifestation of it, as universal and timeless. Gave me lots to think and talk about with peers.
wapisiw's review
I’m confused about this one because a Yoruba gender binary is still a gender binary even if it’s not Western and with all the trappings that come with that? I might just be a stupid westerner
benwendt's review
challenging
funny
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Very convincing analysis of the gender-neutral nature of Yorùbá culture
unnamedcryptid's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Lots of interesting stuff in here! Just quite dense and a bit difficult for me to get through (as indicated by the amount of time it took me to finish the book after starting it for a class first semester of this last year). I also thought it would be interesting to see more exploration of sex/gender between male-female or men-women in relation to Yorùbá conception of gender or lack thereof.
clarian's review
4.0
Liked most of it. Learnt a lot. Some sections were very dense and hard to go through, interesting tho, but... Would recommend it to everyone havign this in mind. I specially liked the part about senses and hot they define how we experience and conceive the world. It was eye-opening.