Njinga Mbande: Gender and Fugitive Sovereignty in Seventeenth-Century Angola

• In Event: Black Sovereignty: Narrative Continuities Across the South Atlantic

Description for Program

Late seventeenth-century Angola was characterized by constant wars between the Portuguese, who had settled the coast, and African polities. At stake was the production of humans for commodification and enslaved labor as well as the territorial control needed to secure trade routes from the inland to the coast. Within this violent context, the leadership of Njinga Mbande stands out. Over the course of the second half of the century, Njinga was able to resist the Portuguese and retain an independent sovereign presence through strategic negotiation and warfare. This paper will look carefully at some of the records detailing this feat to propose that for Njinga, fugitivity became a central trait for political stability. It will further speculate on the relationship of gender to this “fugitive” sovereignty. A female leader, often called a queen, Njinga nonetheless adopted both feminine and masculine traits, including holding both male and female concubines. Reading these shifts as another form of fugitivity, the paper will argue that gender destabilization was necessary for effective sovereignty in the context of generalized colonial warfare.

Author

• Anna More, Universidade de Brasília