Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:11:19.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Barma bridewealth: socialization and the reproduction of labour in a domestic african economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

S. P. Reyna
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This essay argues that courtship procedures, of which the giving of bridewealth forms a part, may under certain conditions help to socialize younger men into their mature economic roles. Further, in so far as bridewealth performs these functions, it contributes to the reproduction of labour in these economies.

Résumé

Les biens de la future épouse chez les Barma: socialisation et reproduction du travail dans une économie domestique africaine

Cet article, fondé sur des informations recueillies chez les Barma et chez un certain nombre d'autres sociétés, suggère que le cérémonial du mariage, dont l'apport des biens de la future épouse forme une part importante, peut sous certaines conditions socialiser partiellement de plus jeunes hommes dans leur rôle économique d'adulte. Qui plus est, si l'on accepte que la fortune de la femme achève cette fonction, elle contribue à la reproduction, en termes marxistes, du travail dans ces économies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , October 1984 , pp. 59 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Almagor, U. 1978. Pastoral Partners: Affinity and Bond Partnership among the Dassanetch of South-West Ethiopia. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Balibar, E. 1970. ‘On the basic concepts of historical materialism.’ In L., Althusser and E., Balibar, Reading Capital. London: New Left Books.Google Scholar
Brass, W., et al. 1968. The Demography of Tropical Africa. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clammer, J. 1978. ‘Concepts and objects in economic anthropology’. In J., Clammer (ed.), The New Economic Anthropology. New York: St Martin's Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, J. 1961. Adolescent Society. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Comaroff, J. L. 1980. ‘Introduction’, in The Meaning of Marriage Payments. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Comaroff, J. L. 1980. ‘Bridewealth and the control of ambiguity in a Tswana chiefdom.’ In The Meaning of Marriage Payments. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Driberg, J. H. 1929. ‘Brideprice’. Man, 142: 180.Google Scholar
Dyson-Hudson, N. 1966. Karimojong Politics. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1931. ‘An alternative term for “brideprice”.’ Man 31: 36–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1940. The Nuer. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1951. Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Fortes, M. 1962: ‘Introduction.’ In M., Fortes (ed.), Tribal Societies. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goody, J. 1973. ‘Bridewealth and dowry in Africa and Eurasia.’ In Goody, Jack and Tambiah, S. J. (eds.), Bridewealth and Dowry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gray, R. 1960. ‘Sonjo brideprice and the question of African “wife-purchase”.’ American Anthropologist 62(1): 34–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopen, C. E. 1958. The Pastoral Fulbe Family in Gwandu. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mair, L. 1953. ‘African marriage and social change.’ In A., Phillips (ed.), Survey of African Marriages and Family Life. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meillassoux, C. 1981. Maidens, Meals, and Money: Capitalism and the Domestic Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, J. 1963. ‘Marriage, matriliny and social structure among the Yao.’ in J., Mogey (ed.), Family and Marriage. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Nag, Mori, White, B. and Peet, C. 1978. ‘An anthropological approach to the study of the economic value of children in Java and Nepal.’ Current Anthropology, 19: 293–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papp, I. 1983. ‘The role and determinants of bride-price: the case of a Palestinian village.’ Current Anthropology 24(2): 203–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkin, D. J. 1972. Palms, Wine and Witnesses: Public Spirit and Private Gain in an African Community. San Francisco: Chandler.Google Scholar
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. and D., Forde 1950. African Systems of Kinship and Marriage. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reyna, S. P. 1972. ‘, The costs of marriage.’ Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Reyna, S. P. 1976. ‘The extending strategy; regulation of the household dependency ratio.’ Journal of Anthropological Research 32(2): 182–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reyna, S. P. 1977. ‘Marriage payments, household structure, and domestic labour supply among the Barma of Chad.’ Africa 47(2): 81–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reyna, S. P. 1979. ‘Social evolution: a learning approach.’ Journal of Anthropological Research 35(3): 12–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reyna, S. P. and Gratton, N. E. 1983. ‘The role of determinants of brideprice: the case of a Palestinian village.’ Current Anthropology 24(2): 211–12.Google Scholar
Richards, A. I. 1982. Chisungu: A Girl's Initiation Ceremony among the Bemba of Zambia. (First published 1959) New York: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Rosaldo, M. 1980. Knowledge and Passion: Ilongot Notions of Self and Social Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosaldo, R.Ilongot Headhunting 1883–1974: A Study in Society and History. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sansom, B. 1976. ‘A signal transaction and its currency.’ In B., Kapferer (ed.), Transaction and Meaning. Philadelphia: ISHI.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. 1953. Science and Human Behaviour. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Tait, D. 1961. The Konkomba of Northern Ghana. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. 1965. Warrior Herdsmen. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Williams, T. R. 1983. Socialization. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar