Azande warriors chose boys as wives

Why the Azande warriors of North Central Africa chose boys as wives in the 1800s

By Mildred Europa Taylor, June 1, 2018

Former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe once described homosexuality as “un-African” and a “white disease.”

Other African leaders, plus several other people on the continent have shared in his view, and this has elicited homophobia, persecution and anti-gay laws in countries like Uganda, Tanzania, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya.

In recent years, it has been made clear that same-sex sexual relations existed in traditional African societies even before the colonisers arrived.

From the 16th century, homosexuality has been recorded in Africa by European missionaries and anthropologists.

An example of this is the boy-wives’ tradition of the Azande ethnic group of North Central Africa.

Formed in the 19th century, the Azande people were a warrior tribe mostly found in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These warriors were not only practising homosexuality and bi-sexuality but actually married boys or young men.

According to anthropologist E.E. Evans-Pritchard, there was a scarcity of women for these warriors, particularly, the poorer ones at the time due to social traditions.

As such, men or warriors who were against masturbation were expected to marry boys and satisfy their sexual needs with them.

A warrior who is ready for this would select a boy between the ages of 12-20, go to his parents’ house and request the boy’s hand in marriage.

He would have to pay a bride price for the boy, usually in the form of spears or other items.

Once married, the husband would then have to take care of the boy's parents, who are now his in-laws.

The boy would also take on household duties like a woman, including collecting firewood, fetching water and holding the warrior shield when travelling.

"At night the boy slept with his lover, who had intercourse with him between his thighs (intercrural). (Azande expressed disgust at the suggestion of anal penetration). The boys got what pleasure they could by the friction of their organs on the husband’s belly or groin.

“However, even though there was this side to the relationship, it was clear from Zande accounts that there was also the comfort of a night sharing of the bed with a companion,” Evans-Pritchard wrote in his work published in early 20th century.

Note that, the warriors of the Zande people were not the only ones practising this; young princes were also involved. 

If a boy appealed to a Zande prince, the prince would take on the boy as a servant and a sexual outlet. The prince would also compensate the boy’s family.

There were men who had female wives but also married boys. During wars, they took the boys with them to perform duties at base camp.

One interesting fact is that unlike instances of homosexuality, sex between Azande men did not have much to do with love and longer unions. They only wanted sexual gratification, companionship and service.

Marriage to a woman was still what they hoped for. They just loved boys because women were scarce. 7

Besides, the husbands would eventually marry women, and the cycle would continue with the former boy-wife following the same direction.

This tradition ended in the early 20th. century, Evans-Pritchard noted.

Source: Why the Azande Warriors of North Central Africa Chose Boys as Wives in the 1800s

More details: The Boy Wives of the Azande of the Sudan

My own humble contribution at this point is that we cannot know for sure that there was no romance involved in every single case of same-sex marriage between Azande men. From what we know of human sexuality, this would have been highly unlikely. The Azande knew very well that some men preferred to have sex with other men. And although every man was expected to marry a woman, Azande customs provided a man with an excuse to have sex with another man whenever he wanted, throughout life. Marriage between warriors and recruits was only a part of the Azande accommodation to male homosexuality.

Addendum

"Sexual Inversion among the Azande" (1970)

Later in his career, Evans-Pritchard published a groundbreaking essay titled 'Sexual Inversion among the Azande", which documented the pre-colonial practices of institutionalised same-sex unions that had largely faded by the mid-20th century under colonial and missionary pressure.

Male Boy-Wives (Aparanga): He detailed how adult warriors in bachelor military companies legally married younger men (ages 12 to 20). The elder warrior paid a standard bride-price (in iron spears) to the boy's parents. The younger male partner performed domestic duties, kept house, and served as a sexual partner (via intercrural sex). These relationships were fully legal, carrying the same social status and protections against infidelity as heterosexual marriages. Once the boy came of age, he would transition to becoming a warrior himself and take his own boy-wife or marry a woman.

Female Relationships: Evans-Pritchard also documented reports of same-sex relationships between Azande women. Unlike male unions, female relationships were highly discouraged by the patriarchal society. They were reportedly most common in large, polygamous households where dozens of wives lived together with limited access to their shared husband.

Legacy & Methodological Impact: Evans-Pritchard transformed the practice of anthropology itself. Rather than studying subjects from a distance, he advocated for intensive participant-observation fieldwork. He lived dynamically among the Azande, learned the Zande language fluently, and famously even tried to organise his own daily affairs in the field by consulting their oracles to better understand their psychological framework. His work successfully argued that human cultures cannot be ranked on a ladder of evolutionary progress, but must instead be evaluated based on how effectively their ideas function within their own unique cultural context.

Azande warriors — Pinterest

Evans-Pritchard with Azande boys during his field trip 1926-9