When Men Are Women: Manhood Among the Gabra Nomads of East Africa

IN THIS FASCINATING EXPLORATION of the cultural models of manhood, When Men Are Women examines the world of nomadic Gabra people, a camel-herding society in East Africa. Gabra men denigrate women and feminine things, yet regard their most prestigious men as women. In Gabra society all men eventually become d'abella, or ritual experts with feminine identities. A d'abella does not look or act like an ordinary woman, but in many significant ways "he" is a "she": the d'abella is said, in prayers and blessings, to "give birth" to Gabra tradition, and since this tradition is given credit for both rain and fertility, the d'abella gives birth to life itself.Wood's study draws from structuralism and psychoanalytic theory to probe the meaning, role, and significance of gender in Gabra society. When Men Are Women provides a multifaceted view of gender as a cultural construction independent of sex, but nevertheless fundamentally related to it. By turning men into women, Gabra confront the dilemmas and ambiguities of nomadic life. The Gabra provide illuminating insight into our own culture's understanding of gender and its function in society.