Cross-Cultural Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.52
-
pISSN : 1598-0685 / eISSN : 2671-9088
- https://journal.kci.go.kr/ccs
KJCKorea
Journal Central
The Custom of Bride Wealth in Africa:The Context of Change and Reconstruction
- Cross-Cultural Studies
- 2018, 50(), pp.131-172
- DOI : 10.21049/ccs.2018.50..131
- Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
- Research Area : Humanities > Literature
- Received : February 10, 2018
- Accepted : March 1, 2018
- Published : March 30, 2018
1한국외국어대학교
Accredited
ABSTRACT
It is noted that nowadays, the bride wealth custom takes an extremely distorted form in African society. Such a phenomenon is a result that the male-dominant culture, Western religions, and capitalist economic system have been negatively combined into dynamic factors seen as bride wealth. This means that the concept of bride wealth has been incessantly reconstructed in the middle of clash and conflict of tradition and modernity. There is also little doubt that the practice is inextricably tangled with the common and current ways of livelihood, early marriage, polygyny, kinship/family structure, poverty, and migration labor.
Bride wealth has become an increasingly commercialized element under a capitalist economic system. Accordingly, its traditional symbolism is seen to be subsequently weakening, whereas a tendency towards the reification of women is strengthening more in modern society that embraces modern customs bent on the protection of women’s human rights. Its commercialization has produced a result, which instigates the noted violations of women’s basic human rights, gender inequality, and promotion of domestic violence. The ways that people perceive bride wealth vary according to their own sex, generation, stratification, and ethnic background. Those people who negatively recognize bride wealth will increase with the deepening of its commercialization due to the influence of capitalism. Its color and effect will deepen and depend on how its agents correspond to socioeconomic changes. They will constantly reinterpret and reconstruct it within their own environments, but the basic human rights efforts are constantly under review by concerned individuals seeking to promote equality for women as a global effort.
Statistics
-
794 Viewed
-
228 Downloaded
Tools
Issue List
Citation status
* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.
[journal]
Adegoke, T. G.
/ 2007
/ Community Norms and Cultural Attitudes and Beliefs Factors Influencing Violence against Women of Reproductive Age in Nigeria
/ Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences
4(4)
[web]
Aleu, Philip Thon
/ 2016
/ Risking One’s Life to Be Able to Marry, Development and Cooperation
/ http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/bride-price-tradition-destructive-strong-strife-torn-south-sudan
[journal]
Anderson, Siwan
/ 2007
/ The Economics of Dowry and Brideprice
/ Journal of Economic Perspectives
21(4)
[journal]
Ansell, Nicola
/ 2001
/ Because It’s Our Culture! (Re)negotiating the Meaning of Lobola in Southern Africa Secondary Schools
/ Journal of Southern African Studies
27(4)
[report]
Anukriti, S.
/ 2017
/ Marriage Markets in Developing Countries
/ IZA-Institute of Labor Economics
[journal]
Asen, Rosemary
/ 2017
/ A Feminist Analysis of the Themes of Bride Price Practice in Sutherland’s Marriage of Anasewa and Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods
/ International Journal of Art and Art History
5(1)
[report]
Ashraf, Nava
/ 2016
/ Bride Price and Female Education
/ National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[thesis]
Asiimwe, Henry
/ 2013
/ The Changing Dynamics, Trends and Perceptions in the Bride Price Custom in Uganda and the Implications-A Feminist Perspective:A Case of Banyakitra Ethnic Group in Western Uganda
/ M.A.
/ Erasmus University Rotterda
[journal]
Babaee, Ruzbeh
/ 2012
/ Tradition versus Modernity: A Study on Emecheta’s The Bride Price
/ Journal of African Studies and Development
4(6)
[book]
Batezaat, Elinor
/ 1988
/ Zimbabwe’s Prospects: Issues of Race, Class, State and Capital in Southern Africa
/ Macmillan
[journal]
Bell, Duran
/ 2008
/ Marriage Payments: A Fundamental Reconsideration
/ Structure and Dynamics: eJournal of Anthropological and Related Sciences
3(1)
[journal]
Bell, Duran
/ 1990
/ Characteristics of Bridewealth Under Restricted Exchange
/ Journal of Quantitative Anthropology
2
[other]
BOCONGO
/ 2009
/ Botswana NGOs Shadow Report to CEDAW: The Implementation of the Convention
/ Botswana Council of Non-governmental Organisations and United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
[journal]
Bohannan, Laura
/ 1949
/ Dahomean Marriage: A Revaluation
/ Africa
19(4)
[journal]
Bohannan, Paul
/ 1955
/ Some Principles of Exchange and Investment among the Tiv
/ American Anthropologist
57(1)
[book]
Boserup, Ester
/ 1970
/ Women’s Role in Economic Development
/ St. Martin’s Press
[journal]
Brown, G. Gordon
/ 1932
/ Bride-Wealth among the Hehe
/ Africa
5(2)
[book]
Carton, Benedict
/ 2000
/ Blood From Your Children: The Colonial Origins of Generational Conflict in South Africa
/ The University of Virginia Press
[report]
Casale, Daniela
/ 2007
/ The Male Marital Earnings Premium in the Context of Bridewealth Payments: Evidence from South Africa
/ University of Kwanzulu-Natal
[journal]
Chireshe, Excellent
/ 2010
/ Lobola: The Perceptions of Great Zimbabwe University Students
/ Journal of Pan African Studies
3(9)
[journal]
Chiweshe, Manase Kudzai
/ 2016
/ Wives at the Market Place: Commercialisation of Lobola and Commodification of Women’s Bodies in Zimbabwe
/ The Oriental Anthropologists
16(2)
[report]
Corno, Lucia
/ 2016
/ Selling Daughters: Age of Marriage, Income Shocks and the Bride Price Tradition
/ Institute for Fiscal Studies
[other]
CREAW
/ 2010
/ Bride Price: Is It Modern Day Slavery?
/ Center for Rights Education and Awareness
[journal]
Culwick, G. M.
/ 1934
/ The Functions of Bride-Wealth in Ubena of the Rivers
/ Africa
7(2)
[journal]
Dalton, George
/ 1966
/ ‘Bridewealth’ vs. ‘Brideprice’
/ American Anthropologist
68(3)
[journal]
Delius, Peter
/ 2014
/ The Making and Changing of Migrant Workers’ Worlds (1800-2014)
/ African Studies
73(3)
[journal]
Delius, Peter
/ 2004
/ The Myths of Polygamy: A History of Extra-marital and Multi-partnership Sex in South Africa
/ South African Historical Journal
50
[book]
Denbow, James
/ 2006
/ Culture and Customs of Botswana
/ Greenwood Press
[journal]
Dery, Isaac
/ 2015
/ Bride-Price and Domestic Violence: Empirical Perspectives from Nandom District in the North Western Region of Ghana
/ International Journal of Development and Sustainability
4(3)
[thesis]
Diala, Jane Chinonyerem
/ 2014
/ The Distortion of the Meaning of Bride Wealth:Significance for the Evolution of Living Customary Law in Southeast Nigeria
/ LL.M.
/ University of Cape Town
[thesis]
Dlamini, Charles Robinson Mandlenkosi
/ 1983
/ A Juridical Analysis and Critical Evaluation of Ilobolo in a Changing Zulu Society
/ Ph.D.
/ University of Zululand
[journal]
Driberg, J. H.
/ 1929
/ Bride Price
/ Man
29
[journal]
Ensminger, Jean
/ 1997
/ Changing Social Norms: Common Property, Bridewealth, and Clan Exogamy
/ Current Anthropology
38(1)
[journal]
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
/ 1931
/ An Alternative Term for ‘Bride-Price’
/ Man
31
[journal]
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
/ 1934
/ Social Character of Bridewealth, with Special Reference to the Azande
/ Man
34
[journal]
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
/ 1946
/ Nuer Bridewealth
/ Africa
16(4)
[journal]
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
/ 1970
/ Zande Bridewealth
/ Africa
40
[book]
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
/ 1990
/ Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer
/ Clarendon Press
[journal]
Frost, Ashley E.
/ 2010
/ ‘The Man Comes to Marry the Woman’: Exploring Adolescent Boys’ Gendered Expectations for Bridewealth and Marriage among the Akwapim of Southern Ghana
/ Marriage & Family Review
46(1–2)
[journal]
Giuliano, Paola
/ 2015
/ The Role of Women in Society: From Preindustrial to Modern Times
/ CESifo Economic Studies
61(1)
[journal]
Goldschmidt, Walter
/ 1974
/ The Economics of Brideprice among the Sebei and in East Africa
/ Ethnology
13(4)
[book]
Goody, Jack
/ 1973
/ Bridewealth and Dowry
/ Cambridge University Press
[journal]
Gray, Robert F.
/ 1960
/ Sonjo Bride-Price and the Question of African ‘Wife Purchase’
/ American Anthropologist
62(1)
[book]
Gray, Robert F.
/ 1963
/ The Sonjo of Tanganyika: An Anthropological Study of an Irrigation-based Society
/ Oxford University Press
[journal]
Grossbard, Amyra
/ 1978
/ Towards a Marriage between Economics and Anthropology and a General Theory of Marriage
/ American Economic Review
68(2)
[journal]
Gulliver, Philip H.
/ 1961
/ Bride-Wealth: The Economic vs. the Noneconomic Interpretation
/ American Anthropologist
63(5)
[book]
Guy, Jeff
/ 1990
/ Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945
/ James Currey
[report]
Hague, Gill
/ 2009
/ Bride-Price, Poverty and Domestic Violence in Uganda
/ MIFUMI Uganda, Violence against Women Research Group, University of Bristol and Centre for the Study of Safety and Well-Being, University of Warwick
[confproc]
Hague, Gill
/ 2011
/ Bride-Price and Its Links to Domestic Violence and Poverty in Uganda: A Participatory Action Research Study
/ Women’s Studies International Forum
34
[thesis]
Hammond-Tooke, W. D.
/ 1948
/ The Nature and Significance of Bride Wealth among the South African Bantu
/ M.A.
/ The University of Cape Town
[journal]
Hudson, Valerie M.
/ 2017
/ In Plain Sight: The Neglected Linkage between Brideprice and Violent Conflict
/ International Security
42(1)
[journal]
Hughes, Diane Owen
/ 1978
/ From Brideprice to Dowry in Mediterranean Europe
/ Journal of Family History
3(3)
[journal]
Hunter, Mark
/ 2002
/ The Materiality of Everyday Sex: Thinking Beyond ‘Prostitution’
/ African Studies
61(1)
[journal]
Hunter, Mark
/ 2004
/ Masculinities, Multiple-sexual-partners, and AIDS: The Making and Unmaking of Isoka in KwaZulu-Natal
/ Transformation
54
[journal]
Jacoby, Hanan G.
/ 1995
/ The Economics of Polygyny in Sub-Saharan Africa:Female Productivity and the Demand for Wives in Côte d’Ivoire
/ Journal of Political Economy
103(5)
[journal]
Jensen, An-Magritt
/ 2015
/ Changes in Brideprice Payments in Christian and Muslim Villages of Kenya
/ Journal of Comparative Family Studies
46(1)
[journal]
Jones, Caroline
/ 2011
/ Women’s Worth: A Western Misconception
/ Nebraska Anthropologist
162
[report]
Kambarami, Maureen
/ 2006
/ Femininity, Sexuality and Culture: Patriarchy and Female Subordination in Zimbabwe
/ Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre, University of Fort Hare
[journal]
Kaye, Dan K.
/ 2005
/ Implications of Bride Price on Domestic Violence and Reproductive Health in Wakiso District, Uganda
/ African Health Sciences
5(4)
[book]
Kelly, Raymond C.
/ 1985
/ The Nuer Conquest: The Structure and Development of an Expansionist System
/ The University of Michigan Press
[journal]
Kressel, Gideon M.
/ 1977
/ Bride-Price Reconsidered
/ Current Anthropology
18(3)
[book]
Kroeker, Lena
/ 2015
/ In between Life and Death: Decision-making of HIV+ Mothers in Lesotho
/ Lit Verlag
[journal]
Kuper, Adam
/ 2016
/ Traditions of Kinship, Marriage and Bridewealth in Southern Africa
/ Anthropology Southern Africa
39(4)
[report]
Lowes, Sara
/ 2017
/ Bride Price and the Wellbeing of Women
/ United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research
[book]
Maitra, Sudeshna
/ 2007
/ Prepared for the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
[journal]
Mangena, Tendai
/ 2013
/ Implications and Complications of Bride Price Payment among the Shona and Ndebele of Zimbabwe
/ International Journal of Asian Social Science
3(2)
[thesis]
Mankaasi, Ngwa Catherine
/ 2008
/ Gender Identity as a Marker of Cultural Crisis in Marriage: A Study of Two West African Novels
/ Master
/ University of Vaasa
[journal]
Mawere, Munyaradziand
/ 2010
/ The Changing Philosophy of African Marriage: The Relevance of the Shona Customary Marriage Practice of Kukumbira
/ Journal of African Studies and Development
2(9)
[journal]
Mbaye, Linguère Mously
/ 2017
/ Bride Price and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from Rural Senegal
/ The Journal of Development Studies
53(6)
[journal]
Mujuzi, Jamil Ddamulira
/ 2010
/ Bride Wealth (Price) and Women’s Marriage-related Rights in Uganda: A Historical Constitutional Perspective and Current Developments
/ International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family
24(3)
[journal]
Muller, Jean-Claude
/ 1978
/ On Bridewealth and Meaning among the Rukuba, Plateau State, Nigeria
/ Africa
48(2)
[journal]
Muller, Jean-Claude
/ 1995
/ Bridewealth and Its Correlates: Quantifying Changes over Time
/ Current Anthropology
36(4)
[book]
Murdock, George Peter
/ 1967
/ Ethnographic Atlas
/ University of Pittsburgh Press
[report]
Muthegheki, Saad Baluku
/ 2012
/ An Exploratory Study of Bride Price and Domestic Violence in Bundibugyo District, Uganda
/ Centre for Human Rights Advancement (CEHURA)
[journal]
Mwamwenda, T. S.
/ 1997
/ Status of Bridewealth in an African Culture
/ The Journal of Social Psychology
137(2)
[journal]
Nwoke, Mary Basil
/ 2009
/ Bride Price and Implications for Women’s Rights in Nigeria: Psychological Perspective
/ Gender and Behaviour
7(1)
[journal]
Ogbu, John U.
/ 1978
/ African Bridewealth and Women’s Status
/ American Ethnologist
5(2)
[journal]
Okereke, Godpower O.
/ 2002
/ Incidence of Physical Spouse Abuse in Nigeria: A Pilot Study
/ Institute of African Studies Research Review
18(2)
[journal]
Peletz, Michael G.
/ 1995
/ Kinship Studies in Late Twentieth-Century Anthropology
/ Annual Review of Anthropology
24
[thesis]
Pilane, Gabaitsiwe Elizabeth
/ 2002
/ An Analysis of the Construction of Tswana Cultural Identity in Selected Tswana Literary Texts
/ Ph.D.
/ Potchefstroom University
[journal]
Platteau, Jean-Philippe
/ 2007
/ The Perverse Effects of High Brideprice
/ World Development
35(7)
[journal]
Posel, Dorrit
/ 2014
/ Marriage and Bridewealth (Ilobolo) in Contemporary Zulu Society
/ African Studies Review
57(2)
[journal]
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R.
/ 1929
/ Bride-Price, Earnest or Indemnity
/ Man
29
[journal]
Raglan, Lord
/ 1929
/ Bride-Price
/ Man
29
[journal]
Raglan, Lord
/ 1931
/ Bride-Price
/ Man
31
[confproc]
Rasanathan, Jennifer J. K.
/ 2011
/ Gender-based Violence in Solomon Islands: Translating Research into Action on the Social Determinants of Health
/ World Conference on Socal Determinants of Health
[journal]
Reyna, Stephen
/ 1977
/ Marriage Payments, Household Structure, and Domestic Labour-Supply among the Barma of Chad
/ Africa
47(1)
[journal]
Reyna, Stephen
/ 1984
/ Barma Bridewealth: Socialization and the Reproduction of Labour in Domestic African Economy
/ Africa
54(4)
[journal]
Rudwick, Stephanie
/ 2014
/ Contemporary Functions of Ilobolo (Bridewealth) in Urban South African Zulu Society
/ Journal of Contemporary African Studies
32(1)
[journal]
Rudwick, Stephanie
/ 2015
/ Zulu Bridewealth (Ilobolo) and Womanhood in South Africa
/ Social Dynamics
41(2)
[journal]
Sambe, Ngutor
/ 2013
/ The Effects of High Bride-Price on Marital Stability
/ IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science
17(5)
[journal]
Schlegel, Alice
/ 1988
/ Marriage Transactions: Labor, Property, Status
/ American Anthropologist
90(2)
[journal]
Schneider, David M.
/ 1953
/ A Note on Bridewealth and the Stability of Marriage
/ Man
53
[journal]
Schneider, David M.
/ 1964
/ A Model of African Indigenous Economy and Society
/ Comparative Studies in Society and History
7(1)
[journal]
Shope, Janet Hinson
/ 2006
/ ‘Lobola is Here to Stay’: Rural Black Women and the Contradictory Meanings of Lobolo in Post-Apartheid South Africa
/ Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity
68
[journal]
Solway, Jacqueline
/ 2016
/ ‘Slow Marriage,’ ‘Fast Bogadi’: Change and Continuity in Marriage in Botswana
/ Anthropology Southern Africa
39(4)
[book]
Spiegel, Andrew
/ 1991
/ Tradition and Transition in Southern Africa:Festschrift for Philip and Iona Mayer
/ Witwatersrand University Press
[book]
Stoneman, Colin
/ 1989
/ Zimbabwe: Politics, Economics and Society
/ Pinter Publishers
[journal]
Tambiah, Stanley J.
/ 1989
/ Bridewealth and Dowry Revisited: The Position of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa and North India
/ Current Anthropology
30(4)
[book]
Therborn, Göran
/ 2006
/ African Families in a Global Context
/ Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
[journal]
Thomas, N. W.
/ 1910
/ The Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria
/ Journal of the Royal African Society
10(37)
[journal]
Timiun, Godwin Aondohemba
/ 2012
/ Theorizing Cost of Marriage and Mutual Combat/Partner Violence: Meta-ethnographic Synthesis of Findings on Types of Marriage Praxis, Associated Cost and Partners’ Value amongst the Tiv People of Central Nigeria
/ International Journal of Humanities and Social Science
2(4)
[journal]
Torday, E.
/ 1929
/ Bride-Price, Dower or Settlement
/ Man
29
[journal]
White, Hylton
/ 2016
/ The Materiality of Marriage Payments
/ Anthropology Southern Africa
39(4)
[journal]
Williamson, Kay
/ 1962
/ Changes in the Marriage System of the Okrika Ijo
/ Africa
32(1)
[book]
Zoma, Goretti
/ 2003
/ Ceremonies and Festivals Marriage, Burial, Chieftaincy, and Annual Festivals in Uvwie-Urhobo
/ Universal-Publishers
This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.