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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The group aspect of Karanga marriage |
Author: | Aquina, Sister Mary |
Year: | 1967 |
Periodical: | Nada: The Southern Rhodesia Native Affairs Department Annual |
Volume: | 9 |
Issue: | 4 |
Pages: | 28-38 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Zimbabwe |
Subjects: | Karanga marriage |
Abstract: | This article is based on fieldwork doen in Chilimanzi (Karangaland) between 1962 and 1964. The framework of this analysis is the procedure by which a Karanga marriage is concluded, for a Karanga marriage does not come into existence at one particular point in time, but it is a process which begins when two young lovers give each other a love token, and is finalised only when the full bridewealth is paid, at least one child is born, and the young family has become an independent economic unit. A Karanga marriage in a Tribal Trust Land is never the exclusive concern of two individuals. The families of both the young man and the young woman are intensely interested in their union, and many relative of both partners play an important role throughout the marriage negotiations. One person, who performs a crucial role in every Karanga marriage, tends to be unrelated to either family; this is the go-between. The services of a go-between are so important because a Karanga marriage always takes place between people of different clans, that is between strangers. Bibliography; illustrated. |