Marriage without Sex? Same-Sex Marriages and Female Identity among the Nankani of Northern Ghana

Abstract

Marriages, same-sex or otherwise, are undertaken for varied purposes. Yet, like many other African societies, the preservation of lineages has remained a core factor for contracting marriage among the Nankani of Northern Ghana. Woman-to-woman marriage among the Nankani is one of the practices set in place to sustain genealogies or the immortality of one's ancestry. Although situated within the traditional religio-cultural system of the people, woman-to-woman marriage which is the only overt form of same-sex marriage, contravenes both the projected religious and
moral code. This raises critical concerns. Among these are the current discourses around the role of women in African religions, the role of women in sustaining patriarchy, the place of same-sex marriages, sex, and female identity in traditional African societies. This essay examines the aforementioned concerns from a Nankani daughter and woman's perspective.