Rethinking in African Studies

resulting in increased childbirths and placing women's health at greater risk. Educated and employed urban women, who in many cases have even shorter birth intervals than their rural counterparts (p. 14), are caught in a downward spiral. The volume, as a whole, tells a sad story about African women, but the story is well documented and convincing. In bringing gender to bear on African history, the three works under review situate themselves differently in regards to the African past, present, and future. Concerned with the future of Africa, Adepoju and Oppong caution that gender must be substantially incorporated into social models and methods before policy makers can adequately assess the health and needs of African economies. Looking back at the past, Moore and Vaughan argue that by placing emphasis on the citemene rituals surrounding "cutting down trees," an activity performed by men and deemed central to Bemba identity, colonial anthropologists overlooked women's contribution to agricultural production and thereby ignored variations that would have questioned colonial representations of the Bemba as an integrated, cohesive tribe. While Moore and Vaughan show that the history of Africa that colonialists liked to tell themselves is disrupted when women are more fully brought into the picture, Matory shows that local Oyo Yoruba historical discourses are fully gendered. Generated from Oyo Yoruba myths and history are metaphors and tropes that divide the world into ldngs and wives versus military men/traders and independent women. Ironic intersections of these discourses and their elaboration in ritual and everyday life give shape and meaning to the postcolonial situation in present-day Nigeria. B i do n trees," an activity performed by