Paper short abstract:

What difference does matriliny make to individual lives? For Anachisale, a Malawian woman I have worked with since 2009, matriliny’s significance is obvious. It shapes everything from access to land to what it means to be a mother, sister, and wife. What lessons are entailed for feminist theory?

Paper long abstract:

This paper is an early step in a larger project which aims to produce a collaborate biographical study of Anachisale’s life. The project will bring ‘Western’ and ‘African’ feminisms into conversation outside elite forums for the generation of feminist thought, simultaneously enabling analysis of the real time co-creation of ethnographic knowledge, and the ethics thereof. Anachisale is a rural Malawian woman who has been my host, friend and research participant since 2009. She is 47 years- old, a landholder, wife, mother, and member of a chiefly matrilineage. Fiercely critical of men, her life so far and her hopes for the future have nevertheless been shaped by her relationships with kinsmen and intimate partners, as well as local expectations of gendered roles and matrilineal norms of residence and inheritance. For over a decade, her life has also borne the imprint of her status as ‘key informant’ for a visiting anthropologist. Together, we will analyse our mutual entanglement and advance the practice of feminist collaboration.

In this paper, I will focus on the generally unspoken significance of matriliny for Anachisale’s life course and aspirations. I will reflect upon the theory and practice of feminisms, and consider the potential of research on matriliny to contribute to feminist knowledge production by challenging received wisdom about African women’s lives.