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Toucouleur people

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The Toucouleur people or Tukulor people ( Arabic : توكولور , French : Toucouleur ), also called Haalpulaar (Ajami: هَالْݒُلَارْ ‎, Adlam: 𞤖𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤨𞤵𞤤𞤢𞥄𞤪 ), are a West African ethnic group native to the Futa Toro region of Senegal . There are smaller communities in Mali and Mauritania . The Toucouleur were Islamized in the 11th century; their early and strong Islamic heritage, which is seen as a defining feature, is a matter of great pride for them. They were among the first Muslims in the area that became Senegal. They were influential in the spread of Islam to West Africa in the medieval era .

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87-577: They founded the vast Toucouleur Empire in the 19th century under Omar Saidou Tall who led a religious war against the neighboring ethnic groups and the French colonial forces. The Toucouleur are traditionally sedentary, settled primarily in the Senegal River valley, with farming, fishing and raising cattle as their main activities. The Toucouleur society has been patrilineal, polygynous and with high social stratification that included slavery and

174-868: A caste system . There are an estimated 1 million Toucouleur people in West Africa. They are found primarily in the northern regions of Senegal where they constitute 15% of the population. This region is irrigated by the Senegal River valley, overlaps southern Mauritania . During the colonial era, and in the modern times, some of the Toucouleurs resettled in western Mali . They are about a million Toucouleur people in Senegal River valley area, and about 100,000 in Mali. Besides Toucouleur , they are variously referred to as Pulaar : Torooɓe , Futanke , or Haalpulaar (French literature). The name Toucouleur

261-418: A "good mother" trains her son to be competitive, individualistic, and comfortable within the hierarchies of patriarchy, knowing that he may likely be economically successful but a mean person, or whether she resists patriarchal ideologies and socializes her son to be cooperative and communal but economically unsuccessful. Lerner, in her 1986 book The Creation of Patriarchy , makes a series of arguments about

348-502: A basis for feminist thought. She published The Woman's Bible , which proposed a feminist reading of the Old and New Testament. This tendency was enlarged by feminist theory, which denounced the patriarchal Judeo-Christian tradition. In 2020, social theorist and theologian Elaine Storkey retold the stories of thirty biblical women in her book Women in a Patriarchal World and applied the challenges they faced to women today. Working from both

435-453: A certain way not because they are biologically inclined to, but rather because they are judged by "how well they conform to the stereotypical local image of femininity". Feminists believe that people have gendered biases, which are perpetuated and enforced across generations by those who benefit from them. For instance, it has historically been claimed that women cannot make rational decisions during their menstrual periods. This claim cloaks

522-488: A component in the rule of the patriarchal state that rules its inhabitants with the head of the family. Many feminists (especially scholars and activists) have called for culture repositioning as a method for deconstructing patriarchy. Culture repositioning relates to culture change . It involves the reconstruction of the cultural concept of a society. Prior to the widespread use of the term patriarchy , early feminists used male chauvinism and sexism to refer roughly to

609-563: A core of sofas bodyguards, and commanded most of the state's budget. A large swath of the Sahel territory that once encompassed the Toucouleur Empire is now today Muslim due to the campaigns of Omar Tall. Patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which men typically hold authority and responsibility. In anthropology , it refers to a family or clan structure where the father or eldest male holds supremacy within

696-513: A man, it is easily stated that a man's virtue is this—that he be competent to manage the affairs of his city, and to manage them so as to benefit his friends and harm his enemies, and to take care to avoid suffering harm himself. Or take a woman's virtue: there is no difficulty in describing it as the duty of ordering the house well, looking after the property indoors, and obeying her husband. The works of Aristotle portrayed women as morally, intellectually, and physically inferior to men; saw women as

783-688: A marked inequality. Property and land has been exclusively owned by the upper caste members. Occupations and caste memberships are inherited. The Toucouleur castes have been endogamous , segregated and intermarriage has been rare. The clerics among Toucouleur like the Wolof people formed a separate group. The religious leaders were not necessarily endogamous nor an inherited post in Toucouleur people's long history, but it has been rare for lower caste people to become religious specialist, states Rüdiger Seesemann, as they were viewed as not sufficiently adhering to

870-501: A period of resource scarcity in Africa approximately 2 million years ago. In the 2009 book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human , British primatologist Richard Wrangham suggests that the origin of the division of labor between males and females may have originated with the invention of cooking, which is estimated to have happened simultaneously with humans gaining control of fire between 1 and 2 million years ago. The idea

957-436: A primary cause of women's oppression, or as part of an interactive system. Shulamith Firestone , a radical-libertarian feminist, defines patriarchy as a system of oppression of women. Firestone believes that patriarchy is caused by the biological inequalities between women and men, e.g. that women bear children, while men do not. Firestone writes that patriarchal ideologies support the oppression of women and gives as an example

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1044-399: A society, and would serve in the military. The Pythagoreans also valued the participation of women, who were treated as intellectual equals. Lerner states that Aristotle believed that women had colder blood than men, which made women not evolve into men, the sex that Aristotle believed to be perfect and superior. Maryanne Cline Horowitz stated that Aristotle believed that "soul contributes

1131-533: A specific "initiating event". Historian Gerda Lerner asserts in her 1986 book The Creation of Patriarchy that there was no single event, and documents that patriarchy as a social system arose in different parts of the world at different times. Some scholars point to social and technological events, notably the emergence of agriculture , about six thousand years ago (4000 BCE ). Marxist theory, as articulated mainly by Friedrich Engels in The Origin of

1218-623: A stigma which did not follow men. Similarly, in the People's Republic of China , laws governing morality which were written as egalitarian were selectively enforced favoring men, with insufficient enforcement against female infanticide in various areas, while infanticide of any form was, by the letter of the law, prohibited. Sociologists tend to reject predominantly biological explanations of patriarchy and contend that socialization processes are primarily responsible for establishing gender roles . According to standard sociological theory, patriarchy

1305-494: A village near Tio on their own initiative, and were caught and destroyed. The next day, however, Umar split his army into two wings, which crossed the river at night and crushed the allied forces. After a decisive victory in the Battle of Segou on March 10, 1861, Tall made the city the capital of his Toucouleur Empire. Another Bambara revolt broke out, instigated by Massina. Installing Ahmadu as faama of Segou, Tall marched down

1392-544: A virtuous woman must practice sexual propriety, proper speech, modest appearance, and hard work. Ban Zhao , a Confucian disciple, writes in her book Precepts for Women that a woman's primary concern is to subordinate themselves before patriarchal figures, such as a husband or father, and that they need not concern themselves with intelligence or talent. Ban Zhao is considered by some historians as an early champion for women's education in China; however, her extensive writing on

1479-568: A work entitled Patriarcha . However, it was not published until after his death. In it, he defended the divine right of kings as having title inherited from Adam , the first man of the human species, according to Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. However, in the latter half of the 18th century, clerical sentiments of patriarchy were meeting challenges from intellectual authorities – Diderot 's Encyclopédie denies inheritance of paternal authority stating, "... reason shows us that mothers have rights and authority equal to those of fathers; for

1566-600: A yearly payment. Soon, however, Tall's continued stockpiling of weapons began to worry the Tamba leaders as well. After a series of emissaries to Tall were rebuffed, and one prominent griot even converted to Islam, Yambi pre-emptively attacked the community but was defeated in September 1852. After conquering Tamba, Tall launched his jihad. His first moves were to the north, with the Jallonke general Modi Mamadu Jam leading

1653-485: Is a social construction, it can be overcome by revealing and critically analyzing its manifestations. Jaggar, Young, and Hartmann are among the feminist theorists who argue that the system of patriarchy should be completely overturned, especially the heteropatriarchal family, which they see as a necessary component of female oppression. The family not only serves as a representative of the greater civilization by pushing its own affiliates to change and obey, but performs as

1740-477: Is a theory in response to patriarchy. Feminism focuses on the empowerment of women in society and the dismissal of traditional gender roles that are oppressive. Traditional female roles in the household are largely abandoned, and equal opportunity for women is the largest ideal that feminism stands with. Feminist theories believe that financial and social opportunities should be equally available for all. This social division of gender roles as caretakers and providers

1827-525: Is also related to patrilineality in a anthropological sense, although not exclusively. Some preconditions for the eventual development of patriarchy were the emergence of increased paternal investment in the offspring, also referred to as fatherhood , and of a sexual division of labour . Several researchers have stated that the first signs of a sexual division of labour dates from around 2 million years ago, deep within humanity's evolutionary past. It has been connected to an evolutionary process during

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1914-524: Is broken down to better allow women to participate outside of caring for a home and children. Financial opportunity refers to employment pursuits, access to one's own finances, and wage equality for job positions that are available for both men and women. The wage gap issues and traditional roles as unpaid laborers for the family significantly drive the growth of feminism in modern social settings. Which in turn shuts down patriarchal structures. Feminist theorists have written extensively about patriarchy either as

2001-424: Is from class to class." Instead, the patriarchy is not the result of men's oppression of women or sexism per se, with men not even identified as the main beneficiaries of such a system, but capital itself. As such, female liberation needs to begin "with an assessment of the material position of women in capitalist society." In that, German differs from Young or Hartmann by rejecting the notion ("eternal truth") that

2088-464: Is most apparent in the American representation of a nuclear family; the father works and brings home an income while the mother takes care of the children and the household. This economic power dynamic in the home typically places the desires of the man/father/husband as priority over the desires of the woman/mother/wife. Structural patriarchy expands the range of this social hierarchy outside of just

2175-476: Is natural has, however, come under attack from many sociologists, explaining that patriarchy evolved due to historical, rather than biological, conditions. In technologically simple societies, men's greater physical strength and women's common experience of pregnancy combined to sustain patriarchy. Gradually, technological advances, especially industrial machinery, diminished the primacy of physical strength in everyday life. Introduction of household appliances reduced

2262-556: Is of unclear origin, with some sources stating it as a French derivation meaning "of every color", which itself may be a folk etymology . More likely it is a deformation of tekruri , a precolonial term meaning "people from Takrur ". The supposed distinction between Toucouleurs and Fula people more generally was invented by French ethnographers in the 19th century. They differentiated between supposedly sedentary, agricultural, fanatical, and anti-European Toucouleurs on one hand and nomadic, pastoralist, docile and cooperative Peulhs on

2349-407: Is the result of sociological constructions that are passed down from generation to generation. These constructions are most pronounced in societies with traditional cultures and less economic development. Even in modern, developed societies, however, gender messages conveyed by family, mass media, and other institutions largely favor males having a dominant status. Although patriarchy exists within

2436-571: The Bambara states of Kaarta and Segu . With his western flank secure, Tall turned towards the Bamana Empire . He formally enthroned his son Ahmadu Tall as his successor and Amir al-Mu'minin during the campaign. The Toucouleur forces captured Nyamina without a fight on May 25, 1860, then won the battle of Witala in September, during which the cannon captured from the French were decisive. Amadu III of Masina lent aid to Bina 'Alī,

2523-468: The Han dynasty , Confucianism has strong dictates regarding the behavior of women, declaring a woman's place in society, as well as outlining virtuous behavior. Three Obediences and Four Virtues , a Confucian text, places a woman's value on her loyalty and obedience. It explains that an obedient woman is to obey their father before her marriage, her husband after marriage, and her first son if widowed, and that

2610-561: The Niger to put an end to the threat of Hamdullahi once and for all. This was controversial, as attacking a fellow Muslim power was forbidden. More than 70,000 died in the battles that followed. The most decisive was at Cayawal , where Amadu III was wounded, then captured and beheaded. Djenné fell quickly followed by Hamdullahi in May 1862. Despite this victory, the region remained deeply unsettled. Tonjon warlords commanding remnants of

2697-886: The Tidjaniya Caliphate or the Umarian State ) (1861–1890) was an Islamic state in the mid-nineteenth century founded by Elhadj Oumar Foutiyou Tall of the Toucouleur people of Senegal . Omar Tall returned from the Hajj in 1836 with the titles of El Hadj and caliph of the Tijaniyya brotherhood of the Sudan . After a long stay in Sokoto , he moved to the Fouta Djallon region (in present-day Guinea ) in

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2784-570: The faama of Segou , on condition that he accept Islam. In January 1861 the Massina army was mobilized under the leadership of Ba Lobbo with 8,000 cavalry, 5,000 infantry and 1,000 musketeers and was joined at Tio, on the right bank of the Niger opposite Sansanding , by what was left of the Bamana forces. In mid-February two fleets of canoes clashed in mid-stream. About 500 of Umar's troops attacked

2871-488: The joking relationship by anthropologists, exists between the Serers and Toucouleurs . The Toucouleur people have long inhabited the Senegal River area, with roots of an organized Tekrur kingdom tracing back to the 5th century. They were part of the 10th to the 18th century kingdom, but led by non-Toucouleur rulers from other ethnic groups. In the 18th century, a Toucouleur empire emerged which reached its peak influence in

2958-416: The "clerical standards of piety". Marriage among the Toucouleurs requires a bride price payable to the bride's family. A girl from high social status family such as of noble lineage expects substantially higher payment than one of lower status such as artisan castes or with slave lineage. The marriage is validated by a mosque . The bride comes to live with her husband's joint family. Traditionally, before

3045-638: The 1840s. Here, he completed a major work on Tijaniyya scholarship; after this he started to focus on military struggle. Omar Tall planned to conquer new pagan territory for Islam. Omar Tall's message appealed to a large cross-section of the Sahelian population in the mid 19th century, including Fula , Soninke , Moors, and others. Many lowerclass people had grievances against local religious or military elites. Slaves aspired to gain freedom fighting for Islam. Rootless individuals of mixed ethnic background found new social identity and opportunities. Communities under

3132-549: The 19th century under the Islamic leader Omar Saidou Tall . Omar was born in a Toucouleur clerical family in 1797. During his visit to Mecca in 1827, Omar was designated as the "Caliph of Black Africa." He returned to West Africa in 1833, and subsequently learned political and state building strategies from his father-in-law in the Sokoto Caliphate . Omar returned to Senegal in 1845, where he began preaching Islam among

3219-551: The Bamana Empire was facilitated by internal instability and decentralization, but this made rule of the middle Niger difficult. In the 1860s inflation was rampant, and troops raided widely to obtain supplies, since the state did not have a firm enough grip on the country to tax the people and pay or feed soldiers. Insecurity and the arms trade with the coast helped shift trade away from the north-south Niger routes towards an east–west axis linking Nioro to Segou. At least by

3306-555: The Bamana armies resisted in pockets, and raiding was endemic on all sides. Soon, a major rebellion broke out in the Massina lands led by Ba Lobbo . While suppressing the revolt in the spring of 1863, Omar Tall reoccupied the city of Hamdullahi, but in June the rebel forces besieged his army there. They captured the city in February 1864. Omar Tall fled, but was killed soon after. At his death, Omar Tall's nephew Tidiani Tall contested

3393-572: The Family, Private Property and the State (1884), assigns the origin of patriarchy to the emergence of private property , which has traditionally been controlled by men. In this view, men directed household production and sought to control women in order to ensure the passing of family property to their own (male) offspring, while women were limited to household labor and producing children. Lerner disputes this idea, arguing that patriarchy emerged before

3480-522: The French who were attempting to establish their commercial supremacy along the Senegal river . Tall besieged the French colonial army at Medina Fort . The siege failed on July 18, 1857, when Louis Faidherbe , French governor of Senegal, arrived with relief forces. In 1860 Omar Tall made a treaty with the French that recognized his, and his followers', sphere of influence in Futa Toro and assigned them

3567-689: The God-humanity covenant". The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas argues that waves of kurgan -building invaders from the Ukrainian steppes into the early agricultural cultures of Old Europe in the Aegean, the Balkans and southern Italy instituted male hierarchies that led to the rise of patriarchy in Western society . Steven Taylor argues that the rise of patriarchal domination was associated with

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3654-849: The Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, she analysed different variations of patriarchy, and outlined the paradox of Rahab, a prostitute in the Old Testament who became a role-model in the New Testament Epistle of James, and Epistle to the Hebrews. In his essay "A Judicial Patriarchy: Family Law at the Turn of the Century", Michael Grossberg coined the phrase "judicial patriarchy", stating that "The judge became

3741-466: The Toucouleur differ from other Fula people by the sedentary nature of their society. Toucouleur society is patriarchal and divided into strict and rigid caste hierarchies . The highest status among the five Toucouleur castes is of the aristocratic leaders and Islamic scholars called Torobe . Below them are the Rimbe , or the administrators, traders and farmers. The Nyenbe are the artisan castes of

3828-546: The Toucouleur society. The fourth caste strata is called the Gallunkobe or the slaves or descendants of slaves "who have been freed". The bottom strata among the Toucouleurs are the Matyube or slaves. The slaves were acquired by raiding pagan ethnic groups or purchased in slave markets, or the status was inherited. The hierarchical social stratification has been an economically closed system, which historically has meant

3915-493: The Toucouleur. He obtained weapons from Europe, then mobilized the Toucouleur to pursue an Islamic holy war in 1854 against the non-Muslim ethnic groups and those Muslims who had strayed. The Toucouleur armies succeeded. The Toucouleur Empire grew and extended from Senegal to much of Mali over the next ten years. His son Mustafa reigned over this empire and the Toucouleur between 1864 and 1870, followed by Omar's second son, Ahmadu Tall. The rule of Ahmadu, state Gallieni and Joffre,

4002-445: The amount of manual labor needed in the households. Similarly, contraception has given women control over their reproductive cycle. Patriarchy and Feminism Patriarchy generally falls under two categories, "traditional patriarchy" and "structural patriarchy" (Pierik). Traditional patriarchy refers to the idea that the father is the head of the household and is at the top of families’ social hierarchies. This patriarchal structure

4089-524: The appearance of socially stratified hierarchical polities, institutionalised violence and the separated individuated ego associated with a period of climatic stress. A prominent Greek general Meno , in the Platonic dialogue of the same name, sums up the prevailing sentiment in Classical Greece about the respective virtues of men and women. He says: First of all, if you take the virtue of

4176-415: The breadwinners in a patriarchal society, and women are seen as homemakers. Formal job occupations outside of the home, traditionally carried out by men in a patriarchal society, are paid labor. Any work done inside of the home without financial compensation, traditionally carried out by women in patriarchal societies, is unpaid labor. Until 1974, women were not allowed to have their bank accounts, which pushed

4263-493: The buffer between the family and the state", and that "Judicial patriarchs dominated family law because within these institutional and intraclass rivalries judges succeeded in protecting their power over the law governing the hearth." In ancient Japan , power in society was more evenly distributed, particularly in the religious domain, where Shintoism worships the goddess Amaterasu , and ancient writings were replete with references to great priestesses and magicians. However, at

4350-596: The commonly accepted patriarchal interpretation of Christian scripture . Quaker Sarah Grimké voiced skepticism about the ability of men to translate and interpret passages relating to the roles of the sexes without bias. She proposed alternative translations and interpretations of passages relating to women, and she applied historical and cultural criticism to a number of verses, arguing that their admonitions applied to specific historical situations, and were not to be viewed as universal commands. Elizabeth Cady Stanton used Grimké's criticism of biblical sources to establish

4437-514: The concept of patriarchy represents an adaptation of the Marxist concept of class and class struggle . Lindsey German represents an outlier in this regard. German argued for a need to redefine the origins and sources of the patriarchy, describing the mainstream theories as providing "little understanding of how women's oppression and the nature of the family have changed historically. Nor is there much notion of how widely differing that oppression

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4524-479: The conquests of Alexander the Great , who was educated by Aristotle. Although many 16th- and 17th-century theorists agreed with Aristotle's views concerning the place of women in society, none of them tried to prove political obligation on the basis of the patriarchal family until sometime after 1680. The patriarchal political theory is closely associated with Sir Robert Filmer . Sometime before 1653, Filmer completed

4611-556: The conquests of Makhana and Guidimakha . Tall built a tata ( fortification ) near the city of Kayes that is today a popular tourist destination. He conquered Bambouk , then seized Nioro du Sahel , the capital of Kaarta , in April 1855, which became his capital. In 1855 and 56, his newly conquered Bambara subjects rebelled against the imposition of Islam. After restoring control, Omar Tall turned west towards Futa Toro , Gajaaga and Bundu . This brought him into conflict with

4698-648: The cycle of patriarchy continues much past the Greeks. Egypt left no philosophical record, but Herodotus left a record of his shock at the contrast between the roles of Egyptian women and the women of Athens . He observed that Egyptian women attended market and were employed in trade . In ancient Egypt, middle-class women were eligible to sit on a local tribunal , engage in real estate transactions, and inherit or bequeath property . Women also secured loans, and witnessed legal documents. Athenian women were denied such rights. Greek influence spread, however, with

4785-536: The development of class-based society and the concept of private property. Domination by men of women is found in the Ancient Near East as far back as 3100 BCE, as are restrictions on a woman's reproductive capacity and exclusion from "the process of representing or the construction of history". According to some researchers, with the appearance of the Hebrews , there is also "the exclusion of woman from

4872-871: The duration of their lives. Biographies of Exemplary Women , a book containing biographies of women who lived according to the Confucian ideals of virtuous womanhood, popularized an entire genre of similar writing during the Ming dynasty. Women who lived according to this Neo-Confucian ideal were celebrated in official documents, and some had structures erected in their honor. In China's Qing dynasty , laws governing morality, sexuality, and gender-relations continued to be based on Confucian teachings. Men and women were both subject to strict laws regarding sexual behavior, however men were punished infrequently in comparison to women. Additionally, women's punishment often carried strong social stigma , "rendering [women] unmarriageable",

4959-399: The empire and sending Ahmadu into exile in Sokoto . One of the main aims of governance under the Toucouleur Empire was to unify the population of the state under the banner of Islam . To that end, justice and islamization were handled by a corps of qadis and marabouts . The state was funded by direct religious and secular taxes, as well as customs duties on trade. Omar Tall's conquest of

5046-561: The fact that men also have periods of time where they can be aggressive and irrational; furthermore, unrelated effects of aging and similar medical problems are often blamed on menopause, amplifying its reputation. These biological traits and others specific to women, such as their ability to get pregnant, are often used against them as an attribute of weakness. Sociologist Sylvia Walby has composed six overlapping structures that define patriarchy and that take different forms in different cultures and different times: The idea that patriarchy

5133-405: The family, which in turn drives up the cost of living further. With this reliance on further income and sourcing traditionally female childcare roles outside of the home, patriarchal norms start to become less relevant. This breakdown of traditional roles leads to the natural decrease of a gender-specific social structure. Feminist Ideologies Feminism is not a direct opposition to patriarchy, it

5220-402: The family, while in feminist theory , it encompasses a broader social structure where men collectively dominate societal norms and institutions. Patriarchal ideology acts to explain and rationalize patriarchy by attributing gender inequality to inherent natural differences between men and women , divine commandment, or other fixed structures. Sociologists tend to disagree with some of

5307-711: The financial divide further and placed men in higher economic positions. (Adam) The uneven financial compensation between these levels of labor is one of the factors that pushed feministic ideals forward. The Role of Patriarchy in Feminism With men being expected to bring home an income to support a family and the entire household, the strain of the increasing cost of living makes that ideal impractical. Because of this economic strain, many households rely on multiple incomes from both men and women. When women would traditionally be expected to stay home and provide childcare, they now have to seek it out elsewhere to provide for

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5394-521: The form and model of creation". This implies that any imperfection that is caused in the world must be caused by a woman because one cannot acquire an imperfection from perfection (which he perceived as male). Aristotle had a hierarchical ruling structure in his theories. Lerner claims that through this patriarchal belief system, passed down generation to generation, people have been conditioned to believe that men are superior to women. These symbols are benchmarks which children learn about when they grow up, and

5481-424: The home and family dynamic. The typical influence that men hold in the home is extended to their social and professional positions. Women are often considered the caretakers of the workplace when in a professional setting while men do the labor. This dynamic can be seen in an office setting, with men as sources of income for the business and women in roles as secretaries to care for the workplace. This system leans into

5568-512: The idea that men are typically placed in higher-power positions in society due to the traditional role of a financial provider, and women fall into caretaker roles. Development of Feminism The extended presence of patriarchal structures has led to the establishment of feministic ideals over centuries (Brunell). Several prominent fronts led to and continue to push the development of feminism; including paid and unpaid labor and expectations of gender roles(Thompson). Men are traditionally viewed as

5655-704: The joy of giving birth, which she labels a patriarchal myth. For Firestone, women must gain control over reproduction in order to be free from oppression. Feminist historian Gerda Lerner believes that male control over women's sexuality and reproductive functions is a fundamental cause and result of patriarchy. Alison Jaggar also understands patriarchy as the primary cause of women's oppression. The system of patriarchy accomplishes this by alienating women from their bodies. Interactive systems theorists Iris Marion Young and Heidi Hartmann believe that patriarchy and capitalism interact together to oppress women. Young, Hartmann, and other socialist and Marxist feminists use

5742-540: The marabout whispers the name in the infant's ear and prays. Following this, the marabout informs a gawlo ( griot ) of the name that has been chosen, and the griot announces the name to the village. Toucouleur Empire The Tukulor Empire ( Arabic : الخلافة التجانية ; Fula : Laamateeri Tukuleer ; French : Empire toucouleur ; also known as the Tijaniyya Jihad state or the Segu Tukulor or

5829-409: The marriage is consummated, the bride's aunt checks if the girl is a virgin, then bathes and massages her. The bride and groom then join in a wedding feast where the village members join in, marking the start of a new couple. One week after pémbougale (childbirth), the baby is named and a gorgol (sister of the father) cuts its hair. The father tells the marabout the name he has chosen, after which

5916-414: The obligations imposed on children originate equally from the mother and the father, as both are equally responsible for bringing them into the world. Thus the positive laws of God that relate to the obedience of children join the father and the mother without any differentiation; both possess a kind of ascendancy and jurisdiction over their children...." In the 19th century, various women began to question

6003-410: The origins and reproduction of patriarchy as a system of oppression of women, and concludes that patriarchy is socially constructed and seen as natural and invisible. Some feminist theorists believe that patriarchy is an unjust social system that is harmful to both men and women. It often includes any social, political, or economic mechanism that evokes male dominance over women. Because patriarchy

6090-546: The other, but the dichotomy is false. Toucouleurs speak the Pulaar language , a dialect of Fula , an Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family of languages. According to the oral traditions of the Toucouleur and Serer , the Toucouleurs are descendants of Serer and Fula ancestors. This tradition is supported by many scholars including Foltz and Phillips. A mutually acceptable bantering-style interaction, called

6177-420: The patriarchy is at the root of female oppression. Audre Lorde , an African American feminist writer and theorist, believed that racism and patriarchy were intertwined systems of oppression. Sara Ruddick , a philosopher who wrote about "good mothers" in the context of maternal ethics, describes the dilemma facing contemporary mothers who must train their children within a patriarchal system. She asks whether

6264-520: The power of Europeans looked to Tall to drive off the foreigners. Marabout families hoped to gain political power in addition to their religious influence. His growing power and number of followers caused tension with the leaders of the Imamate. In 1851 he moved his community to found the city of Dinguiraye in what was then the Kingdom of Tamba . The king, Yambi, granted him the land in return for

6351-592: The predominantly biological explanations of patriarchy and contend that socialization processes are primarily responsible for establishing gender roles . Sociobiologists compare human gender roles to sexed behavior in other primates and some argue that gender inequality comes primarily from genetic and reproductive differences between men and women. Social constructionists contest this argument, arguing that gender roles and gender inequity are instruments of power and have become social norms to maintain control over women. Historically, patriarchy has manifested itself in

6438-434: The property of men; claimed that women's role in society was to reproduce and to serve men in the household; and saw male domination of women as natural and virtuous. Not all of the great Greek thinkers believed that women were inferior. Aristotle's teacher Plato laid out his vision of the most just society in his work Republic . In it, Plato argues that women would have complete educational and political equality in such

6525-597: The reign of Ahmadu, the government of the Empire was highly structured, with governors of the various provinces seconded by cadis, military commanders and tax collectors, all appointed by the Khalifa . Ministers based in Segou managed various portfolios such as justice, the Niger river fleet, the public treasury, relations with Europeans and other foreign powers, commerce, etc. The army was professionalized and hierarchichal, with

6612-456: The same phenomenon. Author bell hooks argues that the new term identifies the ideological system itself (that men claim dominance and superiority to women) that can be believed and acted upon by either men or women, whereas the earlier terms imply only men act as oppressors of women. Sociologist Joan Acker , analyzing the concept of patriarchy and the role that it has played in the development of feminist thought, says that seeing patriarchy as

6699-418: The scientific atmosphere, "the periods over which women would have been at a physiological disadvantage in participation in hunting through being at a late stage of pregnancy or early stage of child-rearing would have been short". During the time of the nomads, patriarchy still grew with power. Lewontin and others argue that such biological determinism unjustly limits women. In his study, he states women behave

6786-561: The social, legal, political, religious, and economic organization of a range of different cultures. Most contemporary societies are, in practice, patriarchal. Patriarchy literally means "the rule of the father" and comes from the Greek πατριάρχης ( patriarkhēs ), "father or chief of a race", which is a compound of πατριά ( patria ), "lineage, descent, family, fatherland" (from πατήρ patēr , "father") and ἀρχή ( arkhē ), "domination, authority, sovereignty". Historically,

6873-572: The succession with Ahmadu Tall, continuing the war in Massina and installing his capital at Bandiagara. At Segou, Ahmadu continued to reign, fighting to centralize the empire against the resistance of the Fula aristocracy. To that end he cultivated a base of support among the Bambara natives of Segou. Still, Torodbe from Futa Toro dominated the upper ranks of the empire. Ahmadu's brothers Aguibou and Mokhtar, who had been left in Dinguiraye during

6960-484: The term patriarchy has been used to refer to autocratic rule by the male head of a family; however, since the late 20th century it has also been used to refer to social systems in which power is primarily held by adult men. The term was particularly used by writers associated with second-wave feminism such as Kate Millett ; these writers sought to use an understanding of patriarchal social relations to liberate women from male domination. This concept of patriarchy

7047-425: The terms patriarchal capitalism or capitalist patriarchy to describe the interactive relationship of capitalism and patriarchy in producing and reproducing the oppression of women. According to Hartmann, the term patriarchy redirects the focus of oppression from the labour division to a moral and political responsibility liable directly to men as a gender . In its being both systematic and universal, therefore,

7134-460: The time contemporary with Constantine in the West, "the emperor of Japan changed Japanese modes of worship", giving supremacy to male deities and suppressing belief in female spiritual power in what feminist scholars in the field of religious studies have called a "patriarchal revolution." In ancient China, gender roles and patriarchy were shaped by Confucianism . Adopted as the official religion in

7221-485: The value of a woman's mediocrity and servile behavior leaves others feeling that this narrative is the result of a misplaced desire to cast her in a contemporary feminist light. Similarly to Three Obediences and Four Virtues , Precepts for Women was meant as a moral guide for proper feminine behavior, and was widely accepted as such for centuries. In China's Ming dynasty , widowed women were expected to never remarry, and unmarried women were expected to remain chaste for

7308-485: The wars against Segou and Massina, attempted to take power themselves in Nioro and Koniakary during the 1870s, but were both defeated and imprisoned. Ahmadu replaced them with another brother, Muntaga . He in turn rebelled in 1884, pushing Ahmadu to move his court to Nioro. The French, meanwhile, continued to expand. They captured Nioro in 1891 and drove Ahmadu to Bandiagara. In 1893 the French took final control, ending

7395-714: Was a "Toucouleur-Muslim despot" over the Mandinka people and Bambara people . The empire collapsed in the 1880s as the Fulani, Tuaregs and the Moors attacked the Toucouleurs, and a civil war between local Toucouleur leaders engulfed the region. The empire ended in 1891, after the French colonial forces invaded the region. The Toucouleurs speak the Futa Tooro dialect of Pulaar . They call themselves Haalpulaar’en , which means "those who speak Pulaar". They are Muslims. Culturally,

7482-564: Was developed to explain male dominance as a social, rather than biological, phenomenon. Patriarchy is a social system in which men are the primary authority figures in the areas of political leadership , moral authority and control of property . Sociologist Sylvia Walby defines patriarchy as "a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress, and exploit women". Social stratification along gender lines, with power predominantly held by men, has been observed in most, but not all societies. The concept of patriarchy

7569-569: Was early proposed by Friedrich Engels in an unfinished essay from 1876 . Anthropological , archaeological and evolutionary psychological evidence suggests that most prehistoric societies were relatively egalitarian , and suggests that patriarchal social structures did not develop until after the end of the Pleistocene epoch, following social and technological developments such as agriculture and domestication . According to Robert M. Strozier , historical research has not yet found

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