Succession & Matriliny

Matrilineal and other succession systems that enabled female political power.

Akan Matrilineal Succession: The Queen Mother’s Role in Selecting and Destooling a Chief

| Succession & Matriliny |

In Akan states of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the Queen Mother (Ohemaa) is a co-sovereign whose constitutional authority is indispensable to the selection and destoolment of chiefs. Rooted in matrilineal descent, her power derives from her position as senior woman of the royal lineage, keeper of the ancestral stool, and guardian of dynastic legitimacy. This article examines the political, legal, ritual, and historical dimensions of her role from precolonial times to the present.

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Why Did the Matrilineal Belt Form? Ecology, Cattle, and Female Descent in Central Africa

| Succession & Matriliny |

The matrilineal belt of Central Africa is a vast region where descent, inheritance, and political succession pass through the mother’s line. This article examines the ecological, economic, and historical forces that shaped this distinctive kinship system, focusing on the absence of cattle, the centrality of female hoe agriculture, and male mobility in trade and warfare. Drawing on oral traditions, archaeology, and comparative ethnography, it offers a nuanced account of why matriliny became so deeply rooted in this part of the continent.

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The Female Husband Institution: How Rain Queens and Women Chiefs Built Dynasties Through Bridewealth

| Succession & Matriliny |

The female husband institution enabled Rain Queens and women chiefs across Africa to build dynasties by paying bridewealth for wives, thereby producing heirs without male husbands. This article examines the origins, succession mechanisms, ritual power, and modern legacy of this practice, centring the Balobedu Rain Queens of southern Africa alongside comparative cases.

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Matrilineal Succession in the Balobedu: How the Rain Queen’s Heir Is Chosen

| Succession & Matriliny |

The Balobedu people of present-day South Africa maintain one of Africa’s most distinctive systems of female-centred sovereignty. Supreme authority is vested in the Modjadji, the Rain Queen, whose heir is chosen through matrilineal descent rather than patrilineal inheritance. This article examines the ritual, political, and social mechanisms that govern how the heir is selected, trained, and installed, and how the institution has survived colonial and postcolonial transformations.

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The Mokhoba: The Rain Queen’s Consort and the Matrilineal Politics of Royal Reproduction

| Succession & Matriliny |

The Mokhoba is the designated male consort in the Balobedu (Lovedu) royal system, whose reproductive role with the Rain Queen’s ceremonial wives ensures the matrilineal continuation of the Modjadji dynasty. Unlike a king-consort, he holds no autonomous political authority and is ritually subordinate to the queen’s sovereignty. This article examines the office, its mythological foundations, succession mechanisms, and the gender dynamics that make it a distinctive feature of African royal reproduction.

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Balobedu Matrilineal Succession: How the Rain Queen’s Heir Is Chosen and Trained

| Succession & Matriliny |

An authoritative examination of the Balobedu system of matrilineal succession, tracing how the Rain Queen’s female heir is identified, ritually trained, and prepared to inherit the sacred rainmaking office. Drawing on oral tradition, colonial archives, and contemporary legal recognition, the article explores the origins, genealogies, gender dynamics, and living status of one of Africa’s most enduring female sovereign institutions.

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Matrilineal Succession in Waalo: The Tedyek, Loggar, and Joos Matriclans and the Election of the Brak and Lingeer

| Succession & Matriliny |

In the Kingdom of Waalo, royal legitimacy flowed through the maternal line. The Brak was elected from among princes born into the Tedyek, Loggar, and Joos matriclans, while the Lingeer exercised complementary sovereignty as guardian of the royal matrilineage. This article examines the origins, political structure, succession mechanisms, and colonial transformation of one of West Africa’s most distinctive dual-gender systems.

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Rainmaking and Matriliny: Did Rain Authority Pass Through Women in Central and Southern Africa?

| Succession & Matriliny |

This article examines the intersection of rainmaking ritual power and matrilineal succession in Central and Southern Africa. Focusing on the Lovedu Rain Queens and the Chewa rain priestess Makewana, it assesses whether rain authority passed through women, the mechanisms of female inheritance, and the limits of colonial and patriarchal interpretations.

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