Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T06:11:11.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Marriage and Bridewealth (Ilobolo) in Contemporary Zulu Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2014

Dorrit Posel  and
Stephanie Rudwick
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This article investigates links between ilobolo (bridewealth) practices and marriage outcomes in contemporary Zulu society. It presents quantitative data showing very low marriage rates among Zulu adults, as well as interview evidence suggesting that the majority of Zulu adults identify ilobolo as a constraint to marriage. However, the interview evidence also suggests that ilobolo remains widely valued as a Zulu tradition and continues to be an integral and defining feature of a Zulu marriage. The article concludes that this tension—between the high cost of ilobolo and respect for ilobolo as a custom—contributes to the very low marriage rates observed among Zulu people today.

Résumé:

Cet article examine les liens entre les pratiques de l’ilobolo (la dot de mariage) et leurs conséquences sur le mariage dans la société Zulu contemporaine. Il présente des données quantitatives montrant de très faibles taux de mariage chez les adultes Zulu, ainsi que des résultats d’entretiens qui suggèrent que la majorité des adultes Zulu considèrent l’ ilobolo comme une contrainte au mariage. Toutefois, les résultats d’entretiens suggèrent également que la pratique de l’ilobolo reste largement appréciée comme une tradition zoulou et continue d'être un élément intégral et la définition d’un mariage zoulou. L’article conclut que cette tension entre le coût élevé de la pratique de l’ilobolo et le respect de celle-ci comme coutume contribue aux taux de nuptialité très faibles observés chez les Zoulous aujourd’hui.

Keywords

Marriagebridewealthilobolomarriage aspirationsSouth AfricaZulu
Type
ASR FORUM: THE POLITICS OF MARRIAGE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , September 2014 , pp. 51 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2014 

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

Ansell, N. 2011. “‘Because It’s Our Culture!’(Re)negotiating the Meaning of ‘Lobola’ in Southern African Secondary Schools.” Journal of Southern African Studies 27 (4): 697‒716.Google Scholar
Beinart, W. 1980. “Labor Migrancy and Rural Production: Pondoland c.1900‒1950.” Black Villagers in an Industrial Society, edited by Mayer, P., 81‒108. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Burman, S., and van der Werff, N.. 1993. “Rethinking Customary Law on Bridewealth.” Social Dynamics 19 (2): 111‒27.Google Scholar
Campbell, C. 1992. “Learning to Kill? Masculinity, the Family and Violence in Natal.” Journal of Southern African Studies 18 (3): 614‒28.Google Scholar
Casale, D., Muller, C., and Posel, D.. 2004. “‘Two Million Net New Jobs’: A Reconsideration of the Rise in Employment in South Africa, 1995–2003.” South African Journal of Economics 72 (5): 978‒1002.Google Scholar
Casale, D., and Posel, D.. 2010. “The Male Marital Earnings Premium in the Context of Bride Wealth Payments: Evidence from South Africa.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 58 (2): 211‒30.Google Scholar
De Haas, M. 1987. “Is There Anything More to Say about Lobolo?” African Studies 46 (1): 33‒55.Google Scholar
De Kadt, E. 1998. “The Concept of Face and Its Applicability to the Zulu Language.” Journal of Pragmatics 29 (2): 173‒91.Google Scholar
Dlamini, C. R. M. 1994. A Juridical Analysis and Critical Evaluation of Ilobolo in a Changing Zulu Society. Pretoria: HSRC Press.Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1931. “An Alternative Term for ‘Bride-Price.’” Man 31: 36‒39.Google Scholar
Garenne, M., et al. 2001. “Understanding Marital and Premarital Fertility in Rural South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 27 (2): 277‒90.Google Scholar
Gluckman, M. 1950. “Kinship and Marriage among the Lozi of Northern Rhodesia and the Zulu of Natal.” In African Systems of Kinship and Marriage, edited by Radcliffe-Brown, A. R., 166‒206. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Guy, J. 1990. “Gender Oppression in Southern Africa’s Precapitalist Societies.” In Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945, edited by Walker, C., 33‒47. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Hosegood, V. 2009. “The Demographic Impact of HIV and AIDS across the Family and Household Life-Cycle: Implications for Efforts to Strengthen Families in Sub-Saharan Africa.” AIDS Care 21 (S1): 13‒21.Google Scholar
Hosegood, V., McGrath, N., and Moultrie, T.. 2009. “Dispensing with Marriage: Marital and Partnership Trends in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 2000‒2006.” Demographic Research 20 (13): 279–312.Google Scholar
HSRC (Human Sciences Research Council). 2005. South African Social Attitudes Survey 2005. Durban: HSRC.Google Scholar
Hunter, M. 2004. “Masculinities, Multiple Sexual Partners, and AIDS: The Making and Unmaking of Isoka in KwaZulu-Natal.” Transformation 54: 123‒53.Google Scholar
Hunter, M. 2006. “Fathers without Amandla: Zulu-Speaking Men and Fatherhood.” In Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa, edited by Richter, L. and Morrell, R., 99‒117. Cape Town: HSRC Press.Google Scholar
Hunter, M. 2007. “The Changing Political Economy of Sex in South Africa: The Significance of Unemployment and Inequalities to the Scale of the AIDS Pandemic.” Social Science and Medicine 64 (3): 689‒700.Google Scholar
Hunter, M. 2008. “IsiZulu-Speaking Men and Changing Households: From Providers Within Marriage to Providers Outside Marriage.” In Zulu Identities: Being Zulu, Past and Present, edited by Carton, B., Laband, B., and Sithole, J., 566‒72. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.Google Scholar
Hunter, M. 2010. Love in the Time of AIDS. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.Google Scholar
Kalule-Sabiti, I., et al. 2007. “Family Formation and Dissolution Patterns.” In Families and Households in Post-apartheid South Africa: Socio-demographic Perspectives, edited by Amoateng, A. Y. and Heaton, T. B., 89‒112. Cape Town: HSRC Press.Google Scholar
Kaufman, C. E., de Wet, T., and Stadler, J.. 2001. “Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenthood in South Africa.” Studies in Family Planning 32 (2): 147‒60.Google Scholar
Kingdon, G., and Knight, J.. 2007. “Unemployment in South Africa, 1995–2003: Causes, Problems and Policies.” Journal of African Economies 16 (5): 813‒48.Google Scholar
Kuper, A. 1982. Wives for Cattle: Bridewealth and Marriage in Southern Africa. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
KIDS (KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Study). 1998. “KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Study 1998.” Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).Google Scholar
Mayer, P., and Mayer, I.. 1974. Townsmen or Tribesmen: Conservatism and the Process of Urbanization in a South African City. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McClendon, T. V. 1995. “Tradition and Domestic Struggle in the Courtroom: Customary Law and the Control of Women in Segregation-Era Natal.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 28 (3): 527‒61.Google Scholar
Mhize, N. 2006. “African Traditions and the Social, Economic and Moral Dimensions of Fatherhood.” In Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa, edited by Morrell, R. and Richter, L., 182‒200. Cape Town: HSRC Press.Google Scholar
Moeno, N. S. 1977. “Illegitimacy in an African Urban Township in South Africa: An Ethnographic Note.” African Studies 36: 43‒47.Google Scholar
Morrell, R. 1998. “Of Boys and Men: Masculinity and Gender in Southern African Studies.” Journal of Southern African Studies 24 (4): 605‒60.Google Scholar
Mukiza-Gapere, J., and Ntozi, J. P. M.. 1995. “Impact of AIDS on Marriage Patterns, Customs and Practices in Uganda.” Health Transition Review 5 (Supplement): 201‒8.Google Scholar
Nattrass, J. 1976. “The Migrant Labour System and South Africa’s Economic Development.” South African Journal of Economics 44: 65‒83.Google Scholar
Ogbu, J. U. 1978. “African Bridewealth and Women’s Status.” American Ethnologist 5 (2): 241‒62.Google Scholar
Posel, D., and Devey, R.. 2006. “The Demographics of Fatherhood in South Africa: An Analysis of Survey Data, 1993‒2002.” In Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa, edited by Richter, L. and Morrell, R., 38‒52. Cape Town: HSRC Press.Google Scholar
Posel, D., and Casale, D.. 2013. “The Relationship between Sex Ratios and Marriage Rates in South Africa.” Applied Economics 45: 663–76.Google Scholar
Posel, D., and Rudwick, S.. 2014. “Ukukipita [Cohabiting]: Socio-Cultural Constraints in Urban Zulu Society.” Journal of Asian and African Studies 49 (3): 282‒97.Google Scholar
Preston-Whyte, E. 1981. “Women Migrants and Marriage.” In Essays on African Marriage in Southern Africa, edited by Krige, E. J. and Comaroff, J. L., 158‒72. Cape Town: Juta and Company.Google Scholar
Radcliffe Brown, A. R. 1929. “Bride-Price, Earnest or Indemnity.” Man 29: 131‒32.Google Scholar
Rudwick, S., and Posel, D.. 2014a. “Contemporary Functions of Ilobolo [Bridewealth] in Urban South African Zulu Society.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 32 (1): 118‒36.Google Scholar
Rudwick, S., and Posel, D.. 2014b. “‘I Am Just Not a R10,000 Woman’: Zulu Bridewealth and Female Agency in South Africa.”Google Scholar
Shope, J. H. 2006. “‘Lobola Is Here to Stay’: Rural Black Women and the Contradictory Meanings of Lobolo in Post-apartheid South Africa.” Agenda 6: 64–72.Google Scholar
Stats SA (Statistics South Africa). 1995. October Household Survey for 1995. Pretoria: Stats SA.Google Scholar
Stats SA (Statistics South Africa). 1997. October Household Survey for 1997. Pretoria: Stats SA.Google Scholar
Stats SA (Statistics South Africa). 1999. October Household Survey for 1999. Pretoria: Stats SA.Google Scholar
Stats SA (Statistics South Africa). 2003. Labour Force Survey for 2003. Pretoria: Stats SA.Google Scholar
Stats SA (Statistics South Africa). 2004. Labour Force Survey for 2004. Pretoria: Stats SA.Google Scholar
Stats SA (Statistics South Africa). 2005. Labour Force Survey for 2005. Pretoria: Stats SA.Google Scholar
Stats SA (Statistics South Africa). 2006. Labour Force Survey for 2006. Pretoria: Stats SA.Google Scholar
Stats SA (Statistics South Africa). 2007. Labour Force Survey for 2007. Pretoria: Stats SA.Google Scholar
SALDRU (Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit). 2008. National Income Dynamics Study for 2008, Wave 1. Cape Town: University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
South African Law Commission. 1988. “Harmonization of the Common Law and the Indigenous Law: Report on Customary Marriage.” Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
South African Law Commission. 1997. The Harmonization of the Common Law and the Indigenous Law. Discussion Paper 74 (Customary Marriages).Google Scholar
Steyn, A. F., and Rip, C. M.. 1968. “The Changing Urban Bantu Family.” Journal of Marriage and Family 30 (3): 499‒517.Google Scholar
Ueyama, M., and Yamauchi, F.. 2009. “Marriage Behavior Response to Prime-Age Adult Mortality: Evidence from Malawi.” Demography 46 (1): 43‒63.Google Scholar
Vilakazi, A. 1962. Zulu Transformations. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.Google Scholar
Waetjen, T. 2006. Workers and Warriors: Masculinity and the Struggle for Nation in South Africa. Johannesburg: HSRC Press.Google Scholar
Walker, C. 1992. “Attitudes to Lobola: Findings from Students’ Research Projects.” Agenda 13: 57‒58.Google Scholar
Welsh, D. 1971. The Roots of Segregation: Native Policy in Colonial Natal, 1845‒1910. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Yates, T. J. A. 1932. “Bantu Marriage and the Birth of the First Child.” Man 32: 135‒37.Google Scholar