Lobolo is child-price

Bibliographic Data

ID2138225
AuthorsM D W Jeffreys (University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author)
Year1951
Volume10
Issue4
Pages145-184
Publication date1951-12-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-0184 • E-ISSN: 1469-2872
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00020185108706853
OpenAlexW1977977163
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited17

SYNOPSIS SYNOPSIS The introduction deals with the various attempts to translate, e.g., a term like lobolo by such phrases as bride‐price, earnest, compensation, etc., including the recommendation not to translate such terms but to use, e.g. lobolo itself, in place of such terms or translations. The translation Child‐price is then declared to be the only correct translation possible. Marriage among the patriarchal, patrilocal Negroes of Africa is discussed including the assertions of many that lobolo is necessary for marriage. Lobolo is then shown not to be necessary for a marriage. The ceremony that constitutes a marriage' is discussed and found to be a rite of passage wherein lobolo has no function. The essential of a marriage is the communal or reintegrating meal. Valid marriages are shown to exist without lobolo. Lobolo is then shown to function effetively without any marriage taking place. The function of lobolo is discussed and it is found that its function is to transfer the status of a child from its position in its mother's group to a status in its cultural father's group; i.e. that lobolo is the price of child transfer from matrilineal relatives to patrilineal relatives, i.e. is the child‐price. The position and function of both Sororate and of Levirate inevitably follow from this function of lobolo. The rules of divorce then become clear. The conclusions show that Malinowski, the functionalist, failed completely to grasp the function of lobolo, but that e.g. persons like Livingstone, Margaret Read, Linton and others grasped the idea that whosoever paid the lobolo bought the children; i.e. that lobolo is child‐price

Ceremony · Economics · Function (biology · Genealogy · Political science · Position (finance · Rite · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · History · Law

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