Sex Drives, Bride Prices and Divorces Legal Policy Concerning Gender Relations in German Cameroon, 1884–1916

Modern colonialism contributed to a globalisation of European gender conceptions. Most often under the label of a ‘civilising mission’, colonial governments interfered with gender relations in the colony. For example, they introduced some form of registration of marriages at state institutions. This...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGender History in a Transnational Perspective p. 243
Main Author Ulrike Schaper
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published Berghahn Books 30.04.2014
Edition1
Subjects
Anthropology
Applied anthropology
Behavioral sciences
Biological sciences
Biology
Bride price
Civilization
Colonial law
Colonialism
Colonies
Cultural anthropology
Cultural customs
Divorce
Gender identity
Gender relations
Gender roles
Gender studies
Genes
Genetics
Government
Hegemony
Human geography
Human populations
Human societies
Lethal genes
Marriage
Men
Molecular genetics
Persons
Physiological needs
Physiology
Political geography
Political science
Political systems
Population studies
Sex drive
Social institutions
Social sciences
Sociology
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Summary:Modern colonialism contributed to a globalisation of European gender conceptions. Most often under the label of a ‘civilising mission’, colonial governments interfered with gender relations in the colony. For example, they introduced some form of registration of marriages at state institutions. This laid the foundation for colonial and later nation-states’ access to control over marital relations and the sexuality of their subjects. Colonial governments also tried to abolish practices they judged uncivilised, often referring to the subordinated position of women. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak pointedly phrased the self-image of this project as ‘White men are saving brown women from brown men’.¹
ISBN:9781782382744
1782382747
DOI:10.2307/j.ctt9qcxnt.14