generally have a set of symbols and practices that
accompany the dominant ideology of nationalism.
Thus, when Namibia achieved independence in
1990 the Ministry of Information and Broadcast-
ing produced a folder entitled “Namibian National
Symbols” (Fosse 1997, 434). There is a variety of
national symbols, some overt, in the form of flags
and monuments, and others associated with what
Michael Billig has termed “Banal Nationalism”
(1995). National cuisine and national dishes are
examples of this quiet, everyday, unnoticed nation-
alism. Thus in Senegal, mention of le thiébou-
dienne, one of the national dishes, will quietly flag
the nation. Women, Muslim and otherwise, have
been involved in assembling these African national
cuisines, for example, by gathering ethnic and re-
gional cuisines into “national” cookery books and
thus contributing to the nation-building project
(I. Cusack 2003).
Nations can be considered Janus-faced, that is,
looking both ways, and providing a past and a
future for the retrospective “fictive ethnicity” that
is the nation (Balibar and Wallerstein 1991, 102).
Women are often the object of the “backward
look” that is associated with tradition and ethnic
roots. This is particularly so where religion is firmly
entrenched, within a nation-state, such as in
Ireland after independence in 1922 (T. Cusack
2000). We might therefore ask whether in those
countries with a strong Islamic tradition in Sub-
Saharan Africa, women are the particular object of
this backward look and whether the symbols such
as the national flag are seen by women as ground-
ing them in tradition. Alternatively, when com-
paring the national with ethnic and religious
institutions and traditions, do national symbols
represent modernity and the possibility of emanci-
pation? Most national symbols such as flags,
shields, and emblems, as well as national monu-
ments, are clearly gendered and will typically be
associated with male security forces and modern-
ization. National anthems, another overt national
symbol, confirm the gendered character of African
nations, Islamic and otherwise. Of the 48 Sub-
Saharan states, only five anthems mention women
in the text while “sons,” “men,” and “forefathers”
appear in many. When women are mentioned they
are sometimes marginalized as in Botswana:
“O men, awake! And women close beside them”
(http://www.thenationalanthems.com.country/Bots-
wana.htm). Likewise, national monuments are often
built to commemorate fallen male national “heroes,”
presumably to encourage others to be willing to
sacrifice their lives for the nation. Thus, “Heroes
Acre” in Harare, Zimbabwe, contains the tombs of526 national insignia, signs, and monuments
soldiers who fought in the liberation struggle. All
except one are men, the exception being President
Mugabe’s first wife (Werbner 1998, 84).
According to Raymond Firth, the national flag is
imbued with “the sacred character of the nation; it
is revered by loyal citizens and ritually defiled by
those who wish to make a protest” (Billig 1995,
39). Many African flags include the Pan-African
colors of green, yellow (gold), and red, the greens
sometimes associated with Islam. For instance, the
flag of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania is green
with a crescent moon and star, in yellow, at the cen-
ter reflecting the majority Islamic faith. Islam may
influence more directly the form of the national
flag. Thus, the first Mali flag adopted in April
1959, when Mali was part of a federation with
Senegal and French Sudan, had a “kanaga” – a
black man-like figure – superimposed on the central
yellow band. In 1961 this figure was removed,
under pressure from Islamic groups (http://fotw.
vexillum.com/flags/ml.html, 2). Marina Warner
(1983) has shown how allegorical forms of women
representing nations perform functions they would
not normally be expected to do – for example, as
judges, statesmen, or soldiers; Britannia, Marianne,
and “Mother Russia” are such figures (T. Cusack
and Bhreathnach-Lynch, 2003). Such allegorical
visual representations of women are unlikely to be
used as national symbols in the Islamic world.
A turn to Islam in late twentieth-century Sub-
Saharan Africa has often had a negative impact on
women’s rights. In Sudan, the family code of 1991
established Sharì≠a law and limited women’s rights;
this reached a peak in 1996 when, for example,
women in Khartoum were only allowed to work if
it was an extension of their domestic duties (Lesch
1998, 133–4). In contrast, women have played an
important role in the ruling National Islamic Front
(Eickelman and Piscatori, 95). The Sudanese flag,
adopted in 1970, uses the pan-Arab colors – red,
white, black, and green – perhaps pulling Sudanese
identity, and the “sacred character of the nation”
more toward the center of the Islamic world and
away from Sub-Saharan Africa (http://www.sudan.
net/society/flag.shtml).
If we accept the generalization that religious and
ethnic traditions are often implicated in the mainte-
nance of masculine dominance (Vail 1989, 14),
perhaps the modernizing component of national-
ism might be seen as improving the lives of women.
In Senegal, a secular republic with a 94 percent
Muslim population, the government has used the
Islamic Brotherhoods as religious intermediaries
between the state and people. It has had a modern-
izing agenda and has made considerable efforts, for