1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910831854403321

Titolo

The Decline of Marriage in Namibia : Kinship and Social Class in a Rural Community / Prof. Dr. Julia Pauli

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Bielefeld, : transcript Verlag, 2019

ISBN

9783839443033

3839443032

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (296 p.)

Collana

Kultur und soziale Praxis

Disciplina

390

Soggetti

Marriage

Namibia

Elites

Consumption

Kinship

Class

Family

Social Inequality

Postcolonialism

Ethnology

African History

Africa

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter    1 Content    5 List of tables    7 List of figures    8 Acknowledgements    9 Introduction    15 Fransfontein fieldwork    47 History through biography    73 Postapartheid livelihoods    99 Contemporary Fransfontein marriages    127 From decline to distinction    167 Forming families    199 Intimacy outside marriage    227 Conclusion    257 Reference list    267

Sommario/riassunto

In Southern Africa, marriage used to be widespread and common. However, over the past decades marriage rates have declined significantly. Julia Pauli explores the meaning of marriage when only few marry. Although marriage rates have dropped sharply, the value of



weddings and marriages has not. To marry has become an indicator of upper-class status that less affluent people aspire to. Using the appropriation of marriage by a rural Namibian elite as a case study, the book tells the entwined stories of class formation and marriage decline in post-apartheid Namibia.

Besprochen in:Africa Spectrum, 55/1 (2020), Lena KroekerJournal of Namibian Studies, 28 (2020), Henning Melber

»With its balanced discussion of the regional literature the monograph is a good read for social scientists doing research in the Southern African region and of value to anyone researching gender and family relations. In addition, it is an inspiration for anyone interested in class relationsin Africa.«

»It is an intricate analysis of how transformations in Namibian marriage practices have been framed and structured by dramatic political and economic changes in the twentieth century, and thus how the vantage point ofmarriage is a productive tool from which to study how personal experiences reflect larger social shifts.«

»This monograph provides a superb ethnography and a fruitful resource for understanding most of the core issues that revolve around marriage and the lack thereof in a Namibian community. It has much value as an anthropological study that indicates how new consumption patterns affect ›traditional institutions‹.«

»This is a rich and valuable study, offering a nuanced and historically sensitive approach to an important question.«

»This is a rich and valuable study, of-fering anuanced and historically sensitive ap-proach to an important question.«

»This monograph provides a superb ethnography and a fruitful resource for understanding most of the core issues that revolve around marriage and the lack thereof in a Namibian community. It has much value as an anthropological study that indicates how new consumption patterns affect traditional institutions.«