Love and marriage in a Sri Lankan Muslim community

Toward a reevaluation of Dravidian marriage practices

Bibliographic Data

ID2467479
AuthorsVictor C De Munck (0000-0003-4548-6772, University of New Hampshire at Manchester, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume23
Issue4
Pages698-716
Publication date1996-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Ethnologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/ae.1996.23.4.02a00020
OpenAlexW2162753645
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited36

I argue that structural and transactional models of Dravidian marriage practices cannot adequately account for the variation in mate selection in situations of arranged marriage practices exhibited among the Sri Lankan Muslims of Kutali. The inadequacy of these models is an outcome of three interrelated problems: (1) the assumption of a normative model for marriage; (2) a dichotomous conceptualization of marriage practices that divides them into love and arranged marriage categories; and (3) the absence of romantic love as a valid motivation for mate selection. In this article I show that villagers use a polythetic model for marriage in which core symbols of marriage category types are manipulated to serve as figure or ground depending on situational contingencies. Second, I show that love can be accommodated to an arranged marriage model. [arranged marriages, love marriages, Sri Lanka, love, core symbols, foreground, background

Arranged Marriage · Conceptualization · Demographic economics · Economics · Ethnology · Marriage market · Mate choice · Normative · Political science · Population · Research methodology · Romance · Selection (genetic algorithm · Situational ethics · Sociology · Sri lanka · Transactional sex · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Demography · Gender Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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