QUEENS
Queens are rulersor leaderswhohavebe en cho -
se n, sel ec ted,appointed, or bo rn intotheirroles.
Queens appearin Africanhi sto ry longerthanany -
whereelse in the wo rld.Fromthe earliest of his -
toricalti mes,the ideaof qu eenship has existed in
the cul turesof Africa;thisideaappearsto de rive
fromthe ancientcon ceptof firstancestor , found-
ingfamily,foundingmother, or div ine clanli n-
eage.Amongthe prevailingide as aboutqueenship
are that th eseroy als arerelated to mediation
be twe en the ordinaryan d the divine;theyare de -
sc endedfrom divine rule rs or theyare infused
withspecialsupernaturalpower of divinity.
The refo re, thequeen functions to protect the
soc iety fromenemiesandto bringor der and balance
to thecosmos.Among theAka n, whena queen
mot her dies,the peoplebelievethatthe uni verseis
ch ao tic unt il all of the ritualsof burialhavebeen
co mp lete d. Sucha spiriton its wayto the distant
“village”leav es notjus t social,butcosmicturbu -
lencein the world,andthis turbulencemustsub si de
be fo re the community ca n continueas usual.
It sho ul d be clearthatin manyAfricansocieties
the queenis not nec essarily the wife of the kingas
in Wes ternsocieties;she is a ruleror leaderin he r
ownrightwhohasher ownresponsibilitie s. The
mainaimof the rol e, th erefore, is to ensurethat
the conditionsof harmonyandbalance are satis-
fied.Alongsideall oth er responsibilities,the queen
mustensurethe proper running of the society. To
thisen d, oneof the principalrolesof the queenin
the Akantr aditionis to selectthe newking.When
EuropeansfirstmetAfricanqueens,theyusedthe
termQueenMother to describethisleaderwho
di d not get her authorityfrombeingmarriedto a
ki ng. Thus,the queenin Africansocietiesactually
exercises powerandresponsibility.
Queens haveexercised tr emendo us powerin the
hi storyof Africa.Nubiaha s th e mo st do cumented
line of qu ee ns in th e worl d. Mor e wo menhaverul ed
in Nubiathan in an y ot hercountry modernor
ancient.Certainly, in the history of the world,few
names of womenle adersare any greater than
tho se of Amanerensisand Amanishakh et o. In
Kemet, we have the names of queens such as
Hats hep sut,Sobeknefru, Ti ye, Nef er tari,Nefertiti,
and Cl eopatra,the last dur in g th e rul e of the Greeks.
In Africansocieties, thequeencarries signifi-
can t ethicalandspiritualpoweras the leaderof
ceremonyandritual.Often she is seento have
in credible,superhuman strength,ab ility,andwis -
do m. Becauselea dership comes with power, a
qu een may alsocreatechaosby wieldingpowerin
a ne gati ve or malevolentmanner. However, in
Africa,th e ro yal s tendto be individualswhotake
theirrolesseriously becauseof the ri sk of violat-
in g the ta boosof community.Teachingthe ro yal
familyaboutthe traditionsof the societyis oneof
the greatchallengesof the religiousandspiritual
leaders. A queenis responsiblefor order,butthe
orderis not merelysocietal, but cos mic.Onemust
be careful to maintainstability and welfare in
thecommu nityby actingin theinterest of the555