This paper considers ruling women through the lens of gender and succession, mostly between 1300 and 1800; it underlines the fundamental impact of matrilineal succession on worldwide dynastic... Show moreThis paper considers ruling women through the lens of gender and succession, mostly between 1300 and 1800; it underlines the fundamental impact of matrilineal succession on worldwide dynastic practice. First the paper asks how women surfaced and survived as sovereigns in a world that defined paramountcy in male terms. Second, it examines how changing patterns of descent, the rise of world religions and modernization have affected regional variations in the occurrence of sovereign women. Third, it revisits the ‘matrilineal puzzle', scrutinizing divergences between matrilineal and patrilineal formats of dynastic power. Finally, the fourth section of the paper reviews the connections between matriliny, the empowerment of women, and ‘contractual' kingship. The paper as a whole connects the historical examination of matriliny to recent work by archaeologists and evolutionary biologists on ‘female biased kinship’. It rekindles the age-old debate about the status of women in early history, shows the relevance of matriliny for current research, and makes explicit the patrilineal bent in common interpretations of dynastic power. Show less
This paper examines the productive role of secrecy in the nexus of transnational mobility, kinship, and intimate relations among Ghanaian-Dutch and Somali-Dutch in the Netherlands. Whereas secrecy... Show moreThis paper examines the productive role of secrecy in the nexus of transnational mobility, kinship, and intimate relations among Ghanaian-Dutch and Somali-Dutch in the Netherlands. Whereas secrecy is typically understood as one person concealing knowledge from another, implying the latter’s passivity, we argue that secrecy depends on mutually constitutive interactions. Secrecy is explored as the result of an interaction between those who obscure knowledge in creative ways and those who maintain a not-knowing. The paper analyzes how people negotiate moral expectations regarding sexuality, respect, and loyalty, while also manoeuvring to fulfil their personal aspirations. Especially in kinship relations, when people are bound to each other by moral and social obligations, the management of secrecy often makes people mutually dependent. Secrecy is revealed as skillfully choreographing relations by the ebb and flow of information where kinship, respect, or love and (not-) knowing reinforce another. Show less
This paper presents an updated genealogy of all Somali 'clans'. Somali kinship is based on patrilineal descent or 'tol', but there are no equivalents in the Somali language for the words 'clan'... Show moreThis paper presents an updated genealogy of all Somali 'clans'. Somali kinship is based on patrilineal descent or 'tol', but there are no equivalents in the Somali language for the words 'clan' and 'lineage'. The Somali terminology for the levels of social segmentation is complex, amongst others because of processes of territorial dispersion and social change. The author distinguishes the following levels of descent: clan-families, clan moieties or territorial divisions, clans, subclans, lineages, and sublineages. A separate section deals with groups 'outside' the clan framework. An appendix lists the main political organizations and/or 'warrior' or 'warlord' groups and their dominant (sub)clan since the 1991 central State collapse. Show less
