B'Dora Mnemon

Sobekneferu and Twosret: The Other Female Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

| Queens & Empresses |

Sobekneferu and Twosret were not queens consort but full female pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt at the end of the Twelfth and Nineteenth Dynasties respectively. This article examines their documented reigns, royal titulary, regalia, ritual roles, and posthumous erasure, situating them within broader African traditions of female sacred sovereignty. Their stories challenge modern assumptions about gender and power in the ancient world.

Read More →

Rainmaking Rituals of the Balobedu: Sacred Drums, Medicines, and Ceremonies of the Modjadji

| Rainmaking & Ritual Authority |

An authoritative examination of the rainmaking complex of the Balobedu Rain Queens, focusing on the sacred drums, medicinal preparations, and seasonal ceremonies that sustain the Modjadji’s spiritual sovereignty. The article integrates oral traditions, colonial source critique, and contemporary scholarship to explain how rainmaking authority is transmitted, performed, and contested.

Read More →

Abusua and Royal Succession: How Akan Matriliny Shapes Queen Mother Authority

| Succession & Matriliny |

The abusua, or matrilineal clan, is the foundation of Akan political legitimacy, making the queen mother (ohemaa) a co-sovereign who controls royal succession, ritual power, and the continuity of the state. This article examines how Akan matriliny shapes queen mother authority from mythological origins to modern Ghanaian governance, centring oral traditions and African scholarship.

Read More →

Abolition and Restoration: The Fate of Women’s Traditional Offices When Kingdoms Were Banned and Revived

| Living Successions |

The abolition of African kingdoms under colonial rule and their subsequent revival in the postcolonial era did not simply extinguish women’s traditional offices; it transformed, submerged, and sometimes reanimated them. From the rain-making queens of Balobedu to the queen mothers of Asante and the market queens of Onitsha, women’s sovereignty was embedded in spiritual, judicial, and economic systems that colonial administrators often misunderstood or deliberately dismantled. This article examines what happened to these offices when kingdoms were banned, how they survived in memory and practice, and what restoration has meant in the twenty-first century.

Read More →

The Ohemaa of the Akan: Matrilineal Succession and the Political Power of Queen Mothers

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Ohemaa is the female sovereign or queen mother of an Akan state, whose authority derives from the matrilineal abusua and whose stool constitutes one half of a dual-gender governance system. This article examines her origins, political structures, succession mechanisms, legal authority, regalia, colonial encounters, and modern legacies. It centres Akan epistemologies and oral traditions alongside written sources to explain how and why these women held real political power.

Read More →

The Office of the Asantehemaa: Queen Mother of the Asante Kingdom and Her Role in Succession and Statecraft

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Asantehemaa is the female co-sovereign of the Asante Kingdom, genealogical head of the royal Oyoko clan, and a decisive voice in the nomination of the Asantehene. This article examines the office’s origins, matrilineal succession mechanisms, legal authority, ritual power, colonial encounters, and enduring political influence in modern Ghana.

Read More →

The Iyoba of Benin: How the Queen Mother Became a Constitutional Co-Ruler

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Iyoba of Benin, created in the early sixteenth century for Queen Mother Idia, institutionalised women’s sovereignty as a constitutional co-ruler with her own palace, court, tribute base, and ritual authority. This article examines the office’s origins, governance, legal powers, regalia, ceremonies, colonial transformations, and enduring legacy in the Benin Kingdom.

Read More →

The Rain Queen’s Rainmaking Rituals: Sacred Pots, Medicines, and Drums of the Balobedu

| Rainmaking & Ritual Authority |

The rainmaking rituals of the Balobedu Rain Queen, Modjadji, centre on sacred pots, potent herbal medicines, and consecrated drums that together constitute a living system of female spiritual sovereignty. This article examines the ritual complex through oral tradition, ethnographic record, and contemporary practice, highlighting indigenous epistemologies and the political power embedded in rainmaking authority.

Read More →

Asantehemaa: The Queen Mother of Asante — History, Powers, and Lineage

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Asantehemaa is the senior female co-sovereign of the Asante Kingdom, holding constitutional, spiritual, and judicial authority that parallels and checks the Asantehene. Rooted in the matrilineal Oyoko clan and the founding traditions of the Golden Stool, her office embodies the dual-gender principle of Asante governance. This article explores her origins, powers, succession, and enduring legacy.

Read More →