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Between ‘forced marriage’ and ‘free choice’: social transformations and perceptions of gender and sexuality among the Balanta in Guinea-Bissau

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2019

Marina Padrão Temudo
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Abstract

African women are frequently portrayed as a subaltern group in need of external support, used as property in forging social relations, producing wealth in people and doing most of the agricultural work to feed household members in societies where ‘modernization’ does not always seem to change their unfortunate predicament. This article destabilizes such narratives by showing the complexities of marriage practices and the difficult dialectics between freedom and subjugation in one West African agrarian society – the Brasa-speaking people of Guinea-Bissau. Among this patrilineal and virilocal group, marriage was usually arranged at birth or when girls were still small children. However, after marriage, women enjoyed great freedom of movement to have distant sexual partners and to pursue private profit-making activities. Paradoxically, while at present most young women are allowed to marry a young husband of their choice, having lost the support of their descent groups they are becoming more subjected to their husbands’ power and control.

Résumé

On présente souvent les femmes africaines comme un groupe subalterne dépendant d'un soutien extérieur, utilisées pour forger des relations sociales, produire de la « richesse en personnes » et faire l'essentiel du travail agricole pour nourrir leur famille dans des sociétés dans lesquelles la « modernisation » ne semble pas toujours changer leur difficile condition. Cet article déstabilise de tels récits en montrant les complexités des pratiques du mariage et la dialectique difficile entre liberté et subjugation au sein d'une société agraire d'Afrique de l'Ouest, les locuteurs du balante de la Guinée-Bissau. Dans ce groupe patrilinéaire et virilocal, le mariage était généralement arrangé à la naissance ou pendant la petite enfance des filles. Néanmoins, après leur mariage, les femmes jouissaient d'une grande liberté de mouvement leur permettant d'avoir des partenaires sexuels éloignés et de poursuivre des activités lucratives privées. Paradoxalement, alors qu'actuellement la plupart des jeunes femmes sont autorisées à épouser un homme jeune de leur choix, le fait qu'elles aient perdu le soutien de leur groupe de filiation les rend plus soumises au pouvoir et au contrôle de leurs époux.

Type
Gender, sexuality and kinship
Information
Africa , Volume 89 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2019 

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