A Critical Review of Linda Heywood’s Njinga of Angola

A Critical Review of Linda Heywood’s Njinga of Angola

Linda Heywood. Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017). 310pp.

In her work, Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen, Linda Heywood presents a new approach on the narrative of the life and reign of Njinga. This work highlights different embodiments and intersections of gender, power, and religion, and how they impacted Njinga’s ability to rule over the kingdom of Ndongo while it was under Portuguese role. Heywood is mostly convincing in demonstrating the different ways Njinga embodied themes of power, leadership, gender, and religion in Heywood’s work. She does this through presenting an in-depth narrative of Njinga’s life events from her birth to her death. Additionally, one of Heywood’s major aims is to aid in the reshaping of Njinga in public view. In previous works, specifically European centered works, Njinga has been portrayed as cannibalistic, or brutal (Heywood, pg. 1). Heywood, along with other African focused scholars, seek to change this narrative and Heywood is largely successful of this in her work. One way Heywood works to change this narrative is to focus on all that was done in Njinga’s life, not just the events in which Njinga acted with violence. Furthermore, Heywood addresses how Njinga’s actions may have been viewed as going against typical feminine gender norms of women being compassionate and nurturing by highlighting a division of traditional gender norms in the Western World and in regions of Africa. With this context, Heywood presents Njinga as acting more in line with traditional gender norms than being a standout. Heywood’s work effectively exemplifies the interrelationship between religion and power especially in the later years of Njinga’s life.

Heywood’s work provides an extensive narrative on the life of Njinga. Heywood first begins by providing important context. She provides important information to the size and location of the Kingdom of Ndongo, as well as how the kingdom is structured (Heywood, Pg. 8-15). She also discusses how women in Ndongo were involved in the political structure and elite circles of Ndongo, which is largely unlike the role of women in the Western World during this time (Heywood, Pg. 15-17).

In her first chapter, Heywood provides the history of Ndongo (Heywood, Pg. 18-34). She highlights that Njinga was born in 1582 to a royal lineage that stretched as far back as the founding of Ndongo. She also discusses how the kingdom was once powerful until Portuguese Jesuits invaded the region and came into power. Heywood emphasizes that at first the Portuguese were permitted to build a small settlement but then the Portuguese began to take over slave trading and acquire more power. One way the Portuguese were successful was using Christianity while trying to undermine traditional religious practices in the region.

In her second chapter, Heywood emphasizes that Ndongo was in a period of crisis following the death of the rule Kasenda (Heywood, Pg. 35-55). This crisis was fueled by formation and failing of political alliances and the confusion over the line of succession. As this confusion was occurring the Portuguese were gaining more influence and thus power regarding the slave trade markets. There was tension in the formation of diplomatic ties between Mbande a Ngola and the Portuguese. Njinga and her siblings experienced some of these tensions as Njinga’s son had been killed and she had been sterilized.

In her third chapter, Heywood discusses how Njinga positioned herself to take power from the start (Heywood, Pg. 56-84). Heywood discusses how Njinga stood out at her birth in 1582 and received military education and diplomatic education. Thus, further emphasizing how Njinga had power from a young age. While this appears to go against traditional female gender norms in the Western World, with Heywood’s context of gender roles in Ndongo and Njinga’s lineage being one of power, this military and diplomatic education is to be expected. Heywood further discusses how Njinga made little rebellions against the Portuguese, such as refusing to wear their clothes, yet the Portuguese continued to expand their power and placed Ngola Hari in power. Njinga participated in many rebellions against the Portuguese at this time.

Heywood uses chapter four to provide a more in depth look at Njinga’s resistance to Portuguese politics (Heywood, Pg. 85-113). During this time, the Portuguese made many unsuccessful attempts to capture Njinga. Ultimately, Njinga was able to form many alliances and gain popular support in the region. Despite many Portuguese attempts, Njinga was able to go uncaptured throughout this time.

In chapter five, Heywood further discusses how Njinga attempted to form an alliance with the Dutch who ruled in a part of Angola (Heywood, Pg. 114-157). At the same time, Njinga began to implementing rituals from Imbangala bands into her life, these rituals often involved sacrifices and cannibalism. Heywood emphasizes that these rituals are what negative views of Njinga are often centered around. As the chapter concludes, Heywood discusses how Njinga received two devasting blows, one from being defeated by the Portuguese and another when the Portuguese and Dutch formed an alliance, betraying Njinga.

Chapter six is centered around a new approach Njinga implemented at the end of 1648 (Heywood, Pg. 158-192). With this approach, Njinga was able to gain more political control and negotiate the release of one of her sisters. Importantly, Njinga begins to engage with Christian beliefs and practices.

Heywood uses chapter seven to discuss the role of Njinga (Heywood 193-245). This chapter highlights how Njinga was finally able to achieve peace in her kingdom. Additionally, she began to implement Christian principles on a wide scale, highlighting how Njinga adopted new religious beliefs in part to help her gain power. However, this chapter further highlights how Njinga may have come to believe in Christianity as she wanted a Christian marriage and recognition from the Vatican. Furthermore, during this time Njinga worked to create two new churches in the new capital. Chapter seven also discusses the death of Njinga that occurred in December of 1663. On her death bed, Njinga wanted to be buried in accordance to both Christian and Mbundu elements, some of which occurred and others did not. This dying wish emphasizes that Njinga may have truly converted to Christian beliefs rather than adopting them only on power to maintain power in a Portuguese dominated kingdom.

I believe Heywood is most successful in reshaping the view of Njinga. Through her details of all Njinga’s accomplishment and discussion of traditional gender roles in the region, Heywood portrays Njinga as well-rounded and not solely violent like other European narratives (Heywood, Pg. 1). Rather, Heywood reshapes Njinga’s character by portraying her as a well-thought diplomatic leader. This is important because it contradicts the negative view of Njinga found in many European narratives, which tend to be the most powerful narratives throughout history. This is due to the idea history is often told by the people in power and Europeans and the Western World have predominantly held most of the power historically.

Heywood is successful in presenting her main arguments through the amount of detail she provides in the narrative of her work coupled with historical context on Ndongo. For example, Heywood illustrates that Njinga was acting in somewhat accordance with traditional gender roles through her military endeavors and violence by discussing how women in Ndongo were involved with the politics. Additionally, Heywood emphasizes the importance of religion to Njinga by highlighting conversations that Njinga had about her last wishes. Additionally, through her work Heywood highlights how power and religion were often related. Heywood does this through her detailed discussion on how the Portuguese accepted Njinga only after she adopted Christian beliefs. Thus, with her great use of detail Heywood can exemplify how themes of gender, religion, and power interact.

Another way Haywood is successful is through her organization of the work itself. At the beginning of each chapter, Heywood provides a summary then she breaks the chapter down into smaller sections where she provides detail and context. This method of delivery makes the dense text more readable. Due to the detail Heywood provides, the text can sometimes be hard to read. By providing a brief introduction to the chapter, it assists in orientating the reading and presenting the main themes. The further flushing out of her work provides the necessary detail to develop an in-depth understanding of the text. This method provides the reader with a clear idea of Heywood’s goals at the beginning of the chapter but also allows for a detailed analysis.

Heywood is also successful is through her admittance of when her sources lack the necessary information. A few times in her work, such as when discussing Njinga’s youth and military experience Heywood admits the sources are difficult to place together before 1624 (Heywood, pg. 59). This is important because it emphasizes where inaccuracies in Heywood’s work may be present. Overall, this makes Heywood’s work appear more credible as she is not misleading her audience into believing what Heywood thinks is right but rather presenting the material as questionable allowing for the readers to interpret that information how they wish.

One weakness with Heywood’s work is she does not have definitive discussions on gender. While Heywood does present a beginning discussion on the dichotomy of traditional gender roles in the region, she does not explicitly discuss gender often. While I believe she intends for readers to make their own connections when she presents examples of Njinga’s behavior, such as her engaging in war or cannibalistic practices, this discussion could be more explicit. I believe this would provide greater clarity to the argument Heywood is trying to present.

Overall, I believe Heywood presents a work that is successful in addressing themes such as gender, religion, and power. I believe her work would be beneficial to those interested in learning about the intersection of gender, religion, and power in Africa. Additionally, I think her work would be enjoyed by those seeking to understand how women in different areas of the world had differing gender roles and how those roles were portrayed.

Natalie Chew

Wake Forest University