The Role of Women in African Traditional Religions

Henryk Zimoň

doi:10.1556/AEthn.51.2006.1-2.3

Jump to Content

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica

Volume/Issue:: Volume 51: Issue 1-2

The Role of Women in African Traditional Religions

Author:

Henryk Zimoň

Henryk Zimoň Catholic University of Lublin, Poland Please ask the editor of the journal.

Search for other papers by Henryk Zimoň in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

View More View Less

Pages:: 43–60

Online Publication Date:: 31 May 2006

Publication Date:: 01 Mar 2006

Article Category:: Journal Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1556/AEthn.51.2006.1-2.3

Keywords:: African peoples; sub-Saharan Africa; African traditional religions; beliefs and rituals; religion and gender; gender differences and roles; women's study

Restricted access

Purchase article

USD $30.00

1 year subscription (Individual Only)

USD $622.00

USD $30.00

Click here to view the full Terms and Conditions

USD $622.00

Click here to view the full Terms and Conditions

Ethnological and religious studies point to differentiation in the status of men and women, which eventually results from cultural conditions, and not from biological differences. Many researchers indicate asymmetry connected with the gender, which also refers to the religious sphere. The nonliterate peoples consider life to be the fundamental value and that is the reason why their cultural and religious traditions put emphasis on woman's biological functions and see procreation as her main vocation and task. A woman performs the role of a native doctor and healer among many African peoples, since the basic medical care takes place within the family. In Africa older women after menopause perform priestly duties to a smaller degree. Researchers of the African peoples emphasize that spirit possession takes place more frequently in the case of women than men, which they consider a reaction to the inferior status of women in the social, political and religious life. Both men and women are diviners among manyAfrican peoples. Among some peoples of Eastern and Southern Africa women control the Earth fertility and they are renowned rainmakers. Women belong to secret societies in some African peoples. Both men and women can be sorcerers and witches, although among many African peoples it is more often older women who are accused of witchcraft, which is explained by social and economic inequality and the desire for power.

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share Link

Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://akjournals.com/abstract/journals/022/51/1-2/article-p43.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica

Print ISSN:: 1216-9803

Online ISSN:: 1588-2586

Senior Editors

Editor-in-Chief: Ágnes FÜLEMILE
Associate editors: Fruzsina CSEH;
Zsuzsanna CSELÉNYI
Review Editors: Csaba MÉSZÁROS; Katalin VARGHA

Editorial Board

Balázs BALOGH (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
Elek BARTHA (University of Debrecen)
Balázs BORSOS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
Miklós CSERI (Hungarian Open Air Museum, the Skanzen of Szentendre)
Lajos KEMECSI (Museum of Ethnography)
László KÓSA (Eötvös University, Budapest)
lldikó LANDGRAF (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
Tamás MOHAY (Eötvös University, Budapest)
László MÓD (University of Szeged)
Attila PALÁDI-KOVÁCS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities and Eötvös University, Budapest)
Gábor VARGYAS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities and University of Pécs)
Vilmos VOIGT (Eötvös University, Budapest)

Advisory Board

Marta BOTÍKOVÁ (Bratislava, Slovakia)
Daniel DRASCEK (Regensburg, Germany)
Dagnoslaw DEMSKI (Warsaw, Poland)
Ingrid SLAVEC GRADIŠNIK (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Dmitriy A. FUNK (Moscow, Russia)
Chris HANN (Halle, Germany)
Krista HARPER (Amherst, MA USA)
Anya PETERSON ROYCE (Bloomington, IN USA)
Ferenc POZSONY (Cluj, Romania)
Helena RUOTSALA (Turku, Finland)
Mary N. TAYLOR (New York, NY USA)
András ZEMPLÉNI (Paris, France)

Further credits

Translators: Elayne ANTALFFY; Zsuzsanna CSELÉNYI; Michael KANDÓ
Layout Editor: Judit MAHMOUDI-KOMOR
Cover Design: Dénes KASZTA

Manuscripts and editorial correspondence:

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
Institute of Ethnology
Research Centre for the Humanities
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
H-1453 Budapest, Pf. 33
E-mail: actaethnographicahungarica@gmail.com

Reviews:
Mészáros, Csaba or Vargha, Katalin review editors
Institute of Ethnology
Research Centre for the Humanities
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
H-1453 Budapest, Pf. 33
E-mail: meszaros.csaba@btk.mta.hu or vargha.katalin@btk.mta.hu

Indexing and Abstracting Services:

Bibliographie Linguistique/Linguistic Bibliography
Elsevier GEO Abstracts
International Bibliographies IBZ and IBR
SCOPUS
Sociological Abstracts
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
CABELLS Journalytics

2023
Scopus
CiteScore	0.6
CiteScore rank	Q2 (Music)
SNIP	0.369
Scimago
SJR index	0.164
SJR Q rank	Q2

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
Publication Model	Hybrid
Submission Fee	none
Article Processing Charge	900 EUR/article
Printed Color Illustrations	40 EUR (or 10 000 HUF) + VAT / piece
Regional discounts on country of the funding agency	World Bank Lower-middle-income economies: 50% World Bank Low-income economies: 100%
Further Discounts	Editorial Board / Advisory Board members: 50% Corresponding authors, affiliated to an EISZ member institution subscribing to the journal package of Akadémiai Kiadó: 100%
Subscription fee 2025	Online subsscription: 632 EUR / 696 USD Print + online subscription: 718 EUR / 790 USD
Subscription Information	Online subscribers are entitled access to all back issues published by Akadémiai Kiadó for each title for the duration of the subscription, as well as Online First content for the subscribed content.
Purchase per Title	Individual articles are sold on the displayed price.

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
Language	English
Size	B5
Year of Foundation	1950
Volumes per Year	1
Issues per Year	2
Founder	Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
Founder's Address	H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	1216-9803 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2586 (Online)