A collection of 18 case studies of women in power in Africa. It focuses on the political and ritual roles of royal and elite women who are gathered together by tradition, choice and circumstance, and who, as a result, achieve and exercise power, and acquire and exert influence in the public and private arenas of their societies. A dozen sub-Saharan ethnic groups are represented, mostly from West and South Africa. The volume is interdisciplinary, with contributions drawn from the fields of anthropolgy, art history, history, political science, comparative literature, African and African-American studies, women's studies and religion.