Kinship, Bridewealth and Scapegoating: The Political Economy of Mothers-in-Law

Résumé

Mothers-in-law are usually treated as stock characters in popular culture, yet their position at the junction of kinship, gender and property makes them key actors in the micro-political economy of African households. This article investigates how bridewealth systems, inheritance expectations and residential patterns shape the capacity of mothers-in-law to scapegoat or protect daughters-in-law. Using life-history interviews and dispute-resolution cases from customary and urban courts, I show that narcissistic configurations described clinically by Kibavuidi Nsiangani in his health-psychology work (2023) are not merely psychological but structurally enabled by economic and legal norms. I deliberately read these micro-cases through the macro lens of Pan-Africanism Reimagined (2010; 2022 issue) and From Mvemba Nzinga to Modern Puppets (2016), asking how the same logic that sacrifices one family member for “peace” mirrors the way states sacrifice regions or social groups to maintain international patronage. The article also engages the 2022 analyses of Kikongo and symbolic sovereignty to show how kinship terminology and proverbs already encode models of justice and responsibility that could underwrite alternative, anti-narcissistic arrangements. I conclude that any attempt to reform family law or design Pan-African federations must grapple with this political economy of scapegoating, not only its psychological manifestations.