Enduring polygamy : plural marriage and social change in an African metropolis / Bruce Whitehouse.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Whitehouse, Bruce, 1971- author.

Series:

Politics of Marriage and Gender: Global Issues in Local Contexts

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Polygyny--Religious aspects.

Polygyny.

Bamako (Mali)--Social conditions--21st century.

Bamako (Mali).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Rutgers University Press 2023

New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, [2023]

Summary:

Why hasn’t polygamous marriage died out in African cities, as experts once expected it would? Enduring Polygamy considers this question in one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities: Bamako, the capital of Mali, where one in four wives is in a polygamous marriage. Using polygamy as a lens through which to survey sweeping changes in urban life, it offers ethnographic and demographic insights into the customs, gender norms and hierarchies, kinship structures, and laws affecting marriage, and situates polygamy within structures of inequality that shape marital options, especially for young Malian women. Through an approach of cultural relativism, the book offers an open-minded but unflinching perspective on a contested form of marriage. Without shying away from questions of patriarchy and women’s oppression, it presents polygamy from the everyday vantage points of Bamako residents themselves, allowing readers to make informed judgments about it and to appreciate the full spectrum of human cultural diversity.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

SERIES FOREWORD

Introduction: It’s Complicated: Polygamy and the Marriage System in Bamako, Mali

INTERLUDE ONE The Midnight Callers

Introduction

1 “Marriage Is an Obligation”: The Marital Life Course

2 Polygamous Marriage Formation

INTERLUDE TWO Virtual Monogamy in Practice

3 Polygamous Household Dynamics

4 What’s Culture Got to Do with It? Religion, Gender, and Power

5 Marriage Markets and Marriage Squeezes: The Demographic Underpinnings of Polygamous Marriage

INTERLUDE THREE Family Law, Identity, and Political Islam

6 Marriage Law, Polygamy, and the Malian State

Conclusion: The Polygamy of the Future

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTES

REFERENCES

INDEX

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Whitehouse, Bruce Enduring Polygamy

ISBN:

1-9788-3116-1

OCLC:

1371144040