Name: Njinga of Angola
ISBN: 9780674971820

Linda M. Heywood

One of history’s most multifaceted rulers but little known in the West, Queen Njinga rivaled Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great in political cunning and military prowess. Today, she is revered in Angola as a heroine and honored in folk religions. Her complex legacy forms a crucial part of the collective memory of the Afro-Atlantic world.

Njinga of Angola

Shona Tiger

I first came across the name Nzinga when every second woke person on Twitter was using the name, but I was never curious about it 😄 Turns out, I needed to be, because woke people already knew something about this amazing woman.

This book fixed the deficit in my knowledge very smartly. Written by an academic, it's nevertheless very accessible; except, you may find the shifting political alliances in 17th century Angola as bewildering and eventually stultifying as I did. Never mind those, though: Njinga is a fascinating character, and her life makes for a compelling read.

I was also very intrigued, after reading through most of the book, to see parallels between the use of the myth of Njinga to create a nationalist icon in 1970s Angola, and Zimbabwe's historical and also recently revived myth-making around Nehanda. I got to thinking again about the Western insistence on written history being "real" (To whom?), and "accurate" (By whose standards? Interpreted by whom?). How forcing a people to speak the coloniser's language disrupted/distorted/*destroyed* oral tradition. Much of what was written about Njinga over the two centuries after her rule came from Portuguese missionary sources, who of course had their own agenda. It is interesting that the MPLA may have reverted to local historical sources, but created a myth for their own agenda, too. Maybe history must always be disputed, and narratives must always have a purpose?

Regardless, very much worth educating yourself about this larger-than-life southern African woman of history. I feel as proud of her as if her blood runs in my veins -- even if she was an occasional cannibal, and sent people off into slavery.