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Custodians of Memory

ABSTRACT The paucity of female deponents asked to give evidence before the Westminster equity courts has led some historians to conclude that women were marginal figures in disputes concerning local customary law and land use rights. This article adopts a qualitative approach, examining the oral testimonies provided by women to gain insight into the parameters of female knowledge and experience of landscape and the division of local resources. It is argued that women played a central role as informal brokers of economic power, mediated through the construction, maintenance and longevity of household knowledge and memory.