‘Lobola is here to stay’: rural black women and the contradictory meanings of lobolo in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

abstract Drawing on interviews with more than 600 black women in rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, and the Eastern Cape, this focus examines the contradictory meanings of lobolo and the internal power struggles that emerge over its interpretation and practice. The increasing commodification of lobolo has tremendously influenced its meaning and process. In South Africa's rural communities, black women seek to maintain the relational facets of the tradition, but object to the ways some men appropriate the custom to maximise their interests. Their comments reveal the contested nature of lobolo and how members of a group may not be equally committed to or benefit from the same cultural tradition.