African Marriage Research Articles

Book Review: Polygamy Reconsidered: African Plural Marriage and the Christian Churches

Book Review: Polygamy Reconsidered: African Plural Marriage and the Christian Churches

Polygamy Reconsidered. African Plural Marriage and the Christian Churches

Polygamy Reconsidered. African Plural Marriage and the Christian Churches

The Nature and Function of Marriage Gifts in Customary African Marriages

Journal Article The Nature and Function of Marriage Gifts in Customary African Marriages. Get access D. D. Nsereko D. D. Nsereko 1D.D. Nsereko is Lecturer in Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. The author is indebted to Mr. John Katende, a fellow Lecturer in Law and to the Rev. Dr. A.M. Lugira, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, both of whom read earlier drafts of this article and made invaluable comments and suggestions. I however remain solely responsible for the views expressed herein Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Journal of Comparative Law, Volume 23, Issue 4, Autumn 1975, Pages 682–704, https://doi.org/10.2307/839241 Published: 01 October 1975

A Report on Marriage

Early in 1970 I was approached by the Anglican archbishop of Central Africa with a request that I conduct an investigation for the Anglican communion in Africa of marriage issues—to be precise, ‘a pastoral appreciation of the problems arising out of African marriage customs, both rural and urban, in relation to full membership of the Church’. It was hoped at first that the work could be sponsored by both the Anglican and the Roman Catholic hierarchies, but for various reasons the latter were unwilling to join in on the plan as it had been proposed, so in December 1970 I began work sponsored by the Anglican archbishops alone but with the general understanding that I would look at the problems of Catholics as well, in so far as I could. The Anglican communion is not present in most African countries, notably the French speaking lands (except for Rwanda and Burundi), and it was also decided to leave out West Africa, but the area to be considered remained vast—Kenya to South Africa— and it was obvious that my survey could not include original field research; the idea was to provide an overall view of the position in some nine countries based upon already available literature, brief visits on my part and a questionnaire, together with a theological and pastoral appreciation of the problems the factual survey indicated as most pressing. It is this that I have attempted to do in the six chapters and ten appendixes of my final report, Christian Marriage in Africa, published by SPCK in March of this year.

African Marriage and Social Change.

African Marriage and Social Change.

African Marriage and Social Change. By Lucy Mair. London: Cass, 1969. Pp. xiv+171, bibl., map. 45s. (Cass Library of African Law, 5.) [Reprint from Phillips, A. (ed.) Survey of African Marriage and Family Life. 1953.

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Types of Urban African Marriage in Kampala

Opening ParagraphThis paper analyses factors affecting the variable character of urban marriage patterns in the predominantly African city ward of Kampala East, Uganda. Kampala city comprises two other wards, both of which accommodate considerable proportions of Asians and Europeans. Skirting the west and south of the city is the Kibuga, meaning capital in the local vernacular, Luganda. The Kibuga, like Kampala East, is also predominantly African. The city and Kibuga are administratively and culturally highly distinct. The city has its own council and is the nation's capital. The Kibuga is the capital of the quasi-autonomous kingdom of Buganda. The latter is alternatively a province of Uganda.

Kilapat: The "Shaming Party" among the Pokot of East Africa

Previous articleNext article No AccessKilapat: The "Shaming Party" among the Pokot of East AfricaRobert B. Edgerton and Francis P. ConantRobert B. Edgerton Search for more articles by this author and Francis P. Conant Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 20, Number 4Winter, 1964 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/soutjanth.20.4.3629178 Views: 11Total views on this site Citations: 22Citations are reported from Crossref Journal History This article was published in the Southwestern Journal of Anthropology (1945-1972), which is continued by the Journal of Anthropological Research (1973-present). Copyright 1964 Department of Anthropology, The University of New MexicoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Introduction: Exceptional Nakedness, (Jan 2020): 1–26.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-001 Exceptional Conditions and Darker Shades of Biopolitics, (Jan 2020): 29–42.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-002 Dobsonville and the Question of Autonomy, (Jan 2020): 43–62.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-003 Africanizing Nakedness as (Self-) Instrumentalization, (Jan 2020): 65–88.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-004 In the Name of National Interest, (Jan 2020): 89–105.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-005 Film as Instrumental and Interpretive Lens, (Jan 2020): 107–128.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-006 Secularizing Genital Cursing and Rhetorical Backlash, (Jan 2020): 131–147.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-007 Epistemic Ignorance and Menstrual Rags in Paris, (Jan 2020): 149–174.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-008 Mis(Reading) Murderous Reactions, (Jan 2020): 175–190.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-009 Defiant Disrobing Going Viral, (Jan 2020): 191–195.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-010 Notes, (Jan 2020): 197–217.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-011 References, (Jan 2020): 219–249.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007579-012Joseph H. Michalski Ritualistic Rape in Sociological Perspective, Cross-Cultural Research 50, no.11 (Oct 2015): 3–33.https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397115609025Cecile Jackson Speech, Gender and Power: Beyond Testimony, Development and Change 43, no.55 (Aug 2012): 999–1023.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2012.01791.xBrett L. Shadle Rape in the Courts of Gusiiland, Kenya, 1940s–1960s, African Studies Review 51, no.22 (Oct 2013): 27–50.https://doi.org/10.1353/arw.0.0063 References, (Jan 1993): 171–205.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-102800-8.50015-6Dorthe von Bülow Bigger than men? Gender relations and their changing meaning in Kipsigis society, Kenya, Africa 62, no.44 (Dec 2011): 523–546.https://doi.org/10.2307/1161349BARBARA A. BIANCO Women and things: Pokot motherhood as political destiny, American Ethnologist 18, no.44 (Oct 2009): 770–785.https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1991.18.4.02a00080Audrey Wipper Kikuyu women and the Harry Thuku disturbances: some uniformities of female militancy, Africa 59, no.33 (Dec 2011): 300–337.https://doi.org/10.2307/1160230Patricia Draper African marriage systems: Perspectives from evolutionary ecology, Ethology and Sociobiology 10, no.1-31-3 (Jan 1989): 145–169.https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(89)90017-4Audrey Wipper Reflections on the Past Sixteen Years, 1972–1988, and Future Challenges, Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines 22, no.33 (Mar 2014): 409–421.https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.1988.10804217Christine Obbo Dominant Male Ideology and Female Options: Three East African Case Studies, Africa 46, no.44 (Jan 2012): 371–389.https://doi.org/10.2307/1159300

Some Problems of African Urban Family Life: an Example From Kampala, Uganda, British East Africa

It has been asserted that the African family is the “most significant feature of African society” and its “central institution.” (Phillips, 1953, p. ix) It has further been pointed out that African marriage is far more than a contract between two individuals but also represents the establishment of a link between two kinship groups. In this respect the payment of some type of wealth is an important part in the forging of a bond between the two kinship groups. Students of African sociology have paid great attention to the payment of cattle or money or other commodities as, perhaps, the most important aspect of the marriage contract. Not only has there been much discussion as to the best definition of this process but until relatively recently the exact significance of the “bride price” has not been too clearly understood. In part this was due to the fact that the wider implications of this aspect of the marriage contract were not understood. There was a tendency to view the payment of “bride price” as the key to the contractual relationship. We now know that this is not the case: in addition to the “bride price”—which is far more than simple barter-—other and equally important points of contact are established in ritual and economic and social affairs. In other words, marriage in African society is very much an integral part of the functioning of society as a whole. At one and the same time it establishes points of conflict and tension which are ritualized by a wide variety of sanctions, and leads to strengthening of the whole fabric of the society.

Sonjo Bride‐Price and the Question of African “Wife Purchasex”1

IN THE years from 1929 to 1931 a lively controversy appeared in the pages of Man concerning the best term to use for designating the transfer of property that frequently takes place at African marriages. A number of Africanists contributed to this discussion,2 each suggesting a different term to indicate the function of the custom as he conceived it; but with one exception all agreed that bride-price was an undesirable term. In attacking brideprice these writers believed themselves to be correcting a view of African marriage that was supposed to be current, especially among missionaries and administrators, in which marriage was wrongly represented as an essentially commercial transaction, with wives being treated as chattels. The prevailing sentiment of this symposium is fairly summed up in an article by EvansPritchard (1931:36) in which he writes of the term bride-price that

Some Present‐Day Problems for African Christian Marriage1

International Review of MissionVolume 45, Issue 179 p. 267-277 Some Present-Day Problems for African Christian Marriage1 The Widespread Breakdown of African Marriage and Suggested Causes Ernest Gray, Ernest GraySearch for more papers by this author Ernest Gray, Ernest GraySearch for more papers by this author First published: July 1956 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.1956.tb00845.xCitations: 4 † A paper presented at a meeting of the Nyasaland Christian Council, October 1955. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume45, Issue179July 1956Pages 267-277 RelatedInformation

Survey of African Marriage and Family Life. By DrL.P. Mair, MrA. Phillips and Rev. L. Harries. [Published for the International African Institute by the Oxford University PressCambridge, UK. 1953. 462 pp. 45s. net.

Survey of African Marriage and Family Life. By DrL.P. Mair, MrA. Phillips and Rev. L. Harries. [Published for the International African Institute by the Oxford University PressCambridge, UK. 1953. 462 pp. 45s. net.] - Volume 4 Issue 4

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Philosophy of Law. By Gforgfo Del Vecchio (translated from the 8th edition by Thomas Owen Martin).The English Legal System. By A. K. R. Kiralfy, ph.d., ll.m., of Gray's Inn, Barrister‐at‐Law.The English Legal System. Third Edition. By G. R. Y. Radcliffe and Geoffrey Cross.The Book of English Law. By the late Edward Jenks, d.c.l. (oxon).Tax Planning with Precedents. By D. C. Potter, ll.b., and H. H. Monroe, ma., Barristers‐at‐Law, assisted by H. G. S. Plunkett, Barrister‐at‐Law, and formerly one of H.M. Inspectors of Taxes.Marsden on Collisions at Sea. Tenth Edition. By Kenneth C. McGuffie, b.l.Temperley on the Merchant Shipping Acts. Fifth Edition. By the Hon. Sir William L. McNair, ll.m., and John P. Honour, m.a.Survey of African Marriage and Family Life (by Lucy Mair, Arthur Phillips and the Rev. Lyndon Harries). Edited by Arthur Phillips. Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press and Geoffrey Cumberlege.The Administration of Justice and the Urban African. By A. L. Epstein. Colonial Research Studies No. 7.Judicial Review of Legislation in New York, 1906–1938. By Franklin A. Smith, ph.d.American‐French Private International Law. By Georges Delaume, Docteur en droit (Paris), Counsellor, Legal Department, International Monetary Fund. Bilateral Studies in Private International Law, No. 2.A Register of Legal Documentation in the World. Prepared by the International Committee of Comparative Law with the support of the International Committee for Social Science Documentation.

: Survey of African Marriage and Family Life . Arthur Phillips.

: Survey of African Marriage and Family Life . Arthur Phillips.

The Survey of African Marriage and Family Life

Opening ParagraphThe Survey of African Marriage and Family Life, organized by the International J- African Institute in collaboration with the International Missionary Council, is a formidable work of over 450 pages of small print. Though somewhat heavy reading for the general, it will be an invaluable book of reference for those concerned with the subject.

Reviews of Books

Books Reviewed in this article:CHURCH AND SYNAGOGUE: Kirche und Synagoge: Motive und Formen der Auseinandersetzung der Kirche mit dem Judentum im Laufe der Geschichte. By Wilhelm Maurer.DENUNCIATION OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS: Al‐Tabshīr wa‐l‐Isti'māar fi‐l‐Bilàdi‐l‐'Arabiyya.AN INDIAN CHRISTIAN'S EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION: Preface to Personality: Chri¯stology in Relation to Radhakrishnan's Philosophy.OPIUM FOR WESTERN INTELLECTUALS: Vedanta for Modern Man. Edited with an introduction by Christopher Isherwood.DISRUPTIVE MOVEMENTS WITHIN THE CHURCH: Schism in the Early Church: Being the Edward Cadbury Lectures delivered in the University of Birmingham, 1949–50. By S. L. Greenslade.EARLY YEARS IN THE C.S.I.: The Pilgrim Church: An Account of the first five years in the life of the Church of South India. By A. Marcus Ward.THE CHURCH IN SIERRA LEONE: The Story of a Mission: The Sierra Leone Church: First Daughter of C.M.S. By T. S. Johnson.THE HONESTY OF MUHAMMAD: Muhammad at Mecca. By W. Montgomery Watt.A PICTURE OF ISRAEL TO‐DAY: The State of Israel. Six lectures given at the Royal Society of Arts to Members of the Anglo‐Israel Association.CAN COMMUNISM SURVIVE IN CHINA?: Revolution in China. By Charles P. Fitzgerald.MARITAL RELATIONS IN AFRICA: Survey of African Marriage and Family Life. Edited and with an Introduction by Arthur Phillips.UNDERSTANDING THE AFRICAN: The African Mind in Health and Disease: A study in Ethnopsychiatry. By J. C. Carothers.SOUTH AFRICAN TRIBAL STUDIES: The Southern Sotho. By V. G. J. Sheddick. The Tswana. By I. Schapera.ON THE UPPER ZAMBESI: The Lozi Peoples of North‐Western Rhodesia. By V. W. Turner.AMERICAN MISSIONARIES IN SOUTH AFRICA: Letters of the American Missionaries, 1835–1838. Edited by D. J. Kotze.WITH LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI: The Zambesi Journal of James Stewart, 1862–1863. With a selection from his Correspondence. Edited by J. P. R. Wallis.A TRUE FRIEND OF THE AFRICAN: R. J. In appreciation of the life of John David Rheinallt Jones and his work for the betterment of race relations in Southern Africa. By the Hon. Edgar H. Brookes.

Survey of African Marriage and Family Life

Journal Article Survey of African Marriage and Family Life Get access Survey of African Marriage and Family Life. Ed. by Arthur Phillips. Foreword by E. J. Waddington. London, Oxford University Press for the International African Institute, 1953. xlv+462 pp. Map. Bibliog. Index. 10″ × 6″ 45s. Philip Mason Philip Mason Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 30, Issue 1, January 1954, Pages 119–120, https://doi.org/10.2307/2608527 Published: 01 January 1954

Survey of African Marriage and Family Life

Survey of African Marriage and Family Life

Survey of African Marriage and Family Life

Survey of African Marriage and Family Life

A SURVEY OF AFRICAN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE1

Public Administration and DevelopmentVolume 5, Issue 3 p. 102-112 Article A SURVEY OF AFRICAN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE1 Review by Dr. Edwin W. Smith, Dr. Edwin W. SmithSearch for more papers by this author Review by Dr. Edwin W. Smith, Dr. Edwin W. SmithSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 July 1953 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1953.tb00002.x 1Edited with an introduction by Arthur Phillips, M.A. Published for the International African Institute by Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, London, 1953; pp. xli + 462; Map; 45s. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume5, Issue3July 1953Pages 102-112 RelatedInformation