Abstract
In postcolonial Africa, fierce debates have occurred (and reoccurred) over so-called family laws that seek to regulate gender and sexuality by codifying appropriate marriage forms, legitimate sexual practices and partners, and even the distinction between who is considered a “child” or an “adult.” The chapters in this volume illuminate how such legal efforts serve as what the coeditors call “moralizing enterprises,” both reflecting and seeking to produce proper political subjects or, more accurately, proper gendered citizens. People and institutions desiring to regulate or “improve” society have long turned to the creation of “laws” to name, codify, and implement their ideals