States of marriage : gender, justice, and rights in colonial Mali /
Emily S. Burrill.
- Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press, (c)2015.
- 1 online resource.
- New African histories .
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction: States of marriage in colonial West Africa -- Locating gendered knowledge and authority in Sikasso at the turn of the century -- Contesting slavery and marriage in early colonial Sikasso -- Returned soldiers and runaway wives : defining the African family in the French Sudan, 1912/30 -- Wealth in women, wealth in men : the global depression of the 1930s, competing labor obligations, and the Mandel Decree -- Defining the limits and bargains of patriarchy : narratives of domestic violence -- Gender justice and the marriage legibility projects of late colonial French Sudan -- Conclusion: "There are always laws that are not practiced".