The King is dead, long live the Queen – continuities and discontinuities of female traditional leadership in Northern Mozambique

Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the Mozambican matrilineal belt, I showcase examples of two female leaders. One, is a daughter of a mwene, in Zambezia, who inherited her father’s title, is recognised by her community and sanctioned by the Mozambican state. The second is a piyamwene, in Cabo Delgado, who is recognised by the community and the larger clan but is not included in the state’s roster of traditional leaders.

Through these cases, I discuss how their legitimacy is negotiated and how their subjects make sense of changes in leadership imposed by both the colonial and postcolonial state regimes. I argue that state-imposed disruptions carry both discontinuity and continuity. The female mwene, represents a gendered discontinuity, legitimised by a historical memory of female leadership. The piyamwene represents a functional continuity because she remains central in customary duties, like the initiation rites, and community disputes.

I further argue that an understanding of the historical and current dynamics of women within the traditional ruling structures is important to make sense of tensions and cleavages between the so-called modern African states and their citizens. This includes their engagements with the existing (customary) or (im)proposed (State) gender regimes. This is particularly important because female rulers in matrilineal settings are not and have not been accidental events, disposable, or symbolic appendages in the traditional ruling structures. They have been important participants in the governing processes, from working towards social cohesion to mobilizing for what they deemed to be the protection of their subjects.