Sui Genderis

This essay explores the ways in which gender relations in colonial African societies have conventionally been portrayed in classical anthropological studies – and how, in turn, those descriptive analyses, largely male-centric and normative, have been subjected to critique from various feminist perspectives. Based on ethnographic and historical work among Tswana peoples in Southern Africa, an approach is suggested that treats gender – in relation to generation, status, and other structural considerations – as a living construct that may be experienced and performed in a range of different, sometimes contradictory, ways by women at different life stages and in different social situations.