The Introduction establishes the context of the study: matrilineal southern Malawi. It discusses the uptake of human rights ideas in the democratic era (since 1994); explains the significance of matriliny and how it has been (mis)understood by missionaries, colonial officials, and early scholars; highlights the crucial importance of food and agriculture to rural gender relations; introduces the themes of justice, morality, and love; and considers the relevance of feminist anthropology. Finally, the fieldwork setting and research methodology are discussed and the chapters introduced.