Matriarchy At The Crossroads In Africa: The Clash Between Its Theoretical And Practical Orientation In Tanzania’S Land Tenure Systems

Contrary to scholarship that attaches matrilineal practices to women’s control and power over land in Africa. This paper interrogated this theoretical positioning to its contemporary practicality by posing the discussions among the ‘Luguru’ matrilineal of Eastern Tanzania. The article has discussed how land has been claimed, transferred, and owned across gender lens with the apparent changes in political and socio-cultural settings of the community. Shreds of evidence deduced from triangulated approaches provided contradictory conclusions. There is a serious shift of power relations among the ‘Luguru’ land tenure tradition where women have gradually lost their ancestral land rights. The transformative keys among others are intertribal interference, immigration, commercialization of land, monetization, and intertribal marriages. If these dynamics remain unaddressed by the policy makers and other accountable authorities, women's participation in decision-making on issues related to land administration/management, use of farm proceeds or benefit sharing, and food security in the matrilineal setting will be threatened. As such, women will remain under continuous and serious socio-economic miseries that might cement their dependence on men.