Rights, violence and the marriage of confusion
Re-emerging bride abduction in South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2186827 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Willem Jacobus Smit (Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 56-68 |
| Publication date | 2017-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthropology Southern Africa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2332-3264 • E-ISSN: 2332-3256 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23323256.2016.1248987 |
| OpenAlex | W2561904218 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 23 |
During the last few decades, South(ern) Africa has witnessed a steady decline in marriage. While the paths people take to get married are diversifying due to various challenges — mainly a changing economy and high bride wealth demands — certain formative steps in the marriage process seem to gain importance. In particular, what a marriage is and how it is constituted retains its high cultural value irrespective of the ways in which it changes and declines. Within this context, from more or less the year 2009 onwards, there have been allegations that bride abduction [ukuthwala] practices in South Africa are becoming more popular and violent than its historical counterpart. If these allegations are true, it contradicts the general trend of marriage decline, and questions the institution of marriage as a process of fixed formative steps. By asking the open ended question, “How should we understand ukuthwala-related violence?,” this paper seeks to determine whether ukuthwala conforms to the general marriage trend, or whether it indicates a new development in the evolution of marriage in South(ern) Africa
Arranged Marriage · Bride · Confusion · Context (archaeology · Dowry · Formative assessment · Geography · Institution · Political science · Sociology · Value (mathematics · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Gender Studies · History · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Psychology
Essays on African marriage in southern Africa
The Meaning of marriage payments
The Making of South African Legal Culture 1902–1936
Love in the Time of Aids
Reaction to conquest
Wives for cattle
Is Ukuthwala Another Form of ‘Forced Marriage’
The Need for the Registration of Customary Unions
The Myth of Customary Law
Custom, Normativity and Authority in South Africa
Borderland Breccia
Ukuthwala in Rural South Africa
The changing political economy of sex in South Africa
The South African Native in Transition
The Making of South African Legal Culture, 1902-1936
Zulu bridewealth (ilobolo) and womanhood in South Africa
Dispensing with marriage
Ukukipita (Cohabiting)
Surviving change by changing violently
Cattle for Wives and Extramarital Trysts for Husbands? Lobola, Men, and HIV/STD Risk Behavior in Southern Africa
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2020 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |