Types of Marriages:
Marriage in Senegal (slides start) http://www.gpc.peachnet.edu/~rcarrie/marriage/senegal/sld001.htm
- West Aftrican nation, former French colony
- mixed tribes and religions
- slides are of a Muslim family
- men permitted to take as many as four wives as long as they can support them
- decides civil cases on tribal tradition and common sense
- rcarrie in community about 3 months, stayed in guest house with colleague in a 3 year study
- wives rotate on either daily or weekly basis
- first wife requested and helped select
15 Slides:
- head of household, head man of village, owns farm, serves as magistrate, runs dry goods store
- one of his fields, kept by his wives
- women keep vegetable gardens for food and for sale, keep cash
- head wife, at 42 yo, very ill with debilitating disease (fatal)
- two other wives pounding millet grain
- closeup on wife punding grain
- family compound, roofs of storage, work areas, residence
- co-wife washing rice for meal
- making peanut butter (each wife has a seperate residence with her children)
- cooperative cooking over a wood fire
- sharing child care, co-mothering
- village communal water pump (as far as 1 mi from residence), gossip time
- bath time (requires more water, more firewood)
- tea available for guests
- Market Day, dressed up
Advantages:
- housing built by hand from local materials
- no mortgages ;)
- family structure resists disaster
anecdotes about moving villagers into apartment buildings
discussion of advatages of former English colonies over former French colonies: English left behind more infrastructure and technology
Senegalese were quite baffled by the idea of American households with no co-wives raising children, and were horrified by the idea of hiring strangers to help out (domestics, babysitters).
Most Senegalese and most Africans speak four languages.
Group project: Analysis of marriage types (handout form):
Zoe: polyandry and polygyny both present (no film today)
Chart: Polyandry effective at stabilizing population growth
Enforced monogamy in Western systems cause Serial Monogamy
50 multiple guess questions on definitions and rules
Handout: Exam II Essay Guide
rcarrie will pick 3 or 4, pick 2 to write on
- very similar to chart handout we just worked on
email prof with questions or in office before class Wed
