Water and the Body in Pre-colonial Southern Benin: Hygiene Practices, Personal Care and Social Representations (17th–19th centuries)

Abstract

This article analyses hygiene and personal care practices in societies in southern Benin between the 17th and 19th centuries. It examines how these practices shed light on attitudes towards the body, water, cleanliness, beauty and social norms. It is primarily based on the accounts of European travellers and missionaries, supplemented by historical and ethnographic studies; a critical analysis of these sources allows for the observers’ own perspectives to be taken into account. The analysis shows that water and bathing played an important role in personal hygiene, with frequency determined by access to water resources. It also highlights the use of soap, plant fibres, oils, ointments and plant-based sticks for skin, hair and oral care. These practices were not solely aimed at cleanliness and health, but also contributed to the pursuit of beauty, self-presentation and compliance with social norms. Practices relating to menstruation and the care of clothing further reveal the existence of social and symbolic rules governing the body and the importance of women’s labour in the transmission of domestic skills. The study thus links the uses of water and personal care, the social regulation of the female body and oral hygiene practices, and the care of clothing and domestic responsibilities, in order to demonstrate that hygiene was a phenomenon that was at once material, social, cultural and symbolic.

Keywords: pre-colonial southern Benin, personal hygiene, water, body care, social norms.

Received Date: August 17, 2026

Accepted Date: September 09, 2026

Published Date: October 01, 2026

Available Online at: https://www.ijsrisjournal.com/index.php/ojsfiles/article/view/981