Boitumelo and the Cultural Practice ofLobola: A Counseling Example From South Africa

Abstract

The giving of lobola (a gift/money from a groom and his family to the bride's family) is a longstanding cultural practice in South Africa. This article reports on counseling with a young man from a Tswana ethno-cultural background who was referred for counseling due to stress-related accidents at work. The article discusses how a counseling practice of careful investigating and stitching of selected cultural knowledge and practices could be used to assist the man, who was confronted with the complex question of whether or not he and his partner wanted to continue the custom of lobola, and if so, in what form. This example of counseling in South Africa and a client's use of personal and collective interpretations of a particular cultural practice are set against the landscape of reinterpretation, transition, and transformation of lobola as cultural practice.