Query on reasons for polygamy ![[Documents menu]](http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/158.html/../bin/arrow.png) Documents menu Sender: Pan-Africa Discussion List <AFRICA-L@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU>Subject: Query on reasons for polygamyTo: Multiple recipients of list AFRICA-L <AFRICA-L@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU> Query on reasons for polygamyA dialog on the Africa-L list, February 1995Message-Id: <199502140645.BAA100888@ipe.cc.vt.edu>Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 11:35:38 ESTFrom: Randolph Hollingsworth <RHOLL00@UKCC.UKY.EDU>Jambo.Here at Lexington Community College in Lexington, KY we are inthe midst of a scholarly debate presented by Vincent Khapoya in histext THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE which is one of the assigned books for our200-level intro survey history course on Sub-Saharan Africa. I wish tointroduce you to one of my students, John Lindsay, who asks you toenter into this conversation. You can reply directly to him or tome and I will forward your reply on to the class e-mail discussionlist.Thank you for your time. Randolph Hollingsworthrholl00@ukcc.uky.edu**************************** Message Attached ************************* Recently, Dr. Udvardy, a professor from the University of Kentucky spoke toour class. She did fieldwork studying the Giriama of Kenya. During her lectureshe disputed the following claims made by Khapoya concerning the validity ofpolygyny among certain African groups. There are not enough men to go around for one to one marriages. Agrarian socities require a lot of fieldhands. The mortality rates for male children are high among groups practic- ing polygyny. Polygyny makes it possible for a widow and her children to be cared for. Can you clarify these issues? Thank you, John Lindsay jclind1@ukcc.uky.eduMessage-Id: <199502140824.DAA54699@ipe.cc.vt.edu>Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 13:07:52 ESTFrom: Paul Konye <PKONY01@UKCC.UKY.EDU>Quite often emphasis is unduely placed on sexuality when discussingpolygamy. Polygamy fulfills specific functions that are remote todefining the the sexual prowess of a male. Oversimplified, polygamy enhances productivity. The larger a family thelarger the portion of land they are able to cultivate. It makes huntingmore efficiently conducted, cattle rearing is better organized, foodproduction is enhanced. There are other subtle functions such as, thesymbolism of having many children, the display of status, and in certaincontexts just compling with tradition. We should also bear in mind that no human practice is free from abuse. Thatcertain individuals choose for reasons best known to them to abuse certainpractices does not make their practices legitimate. Finally, there is no denying the fact that some may engage in polygamyfor exploiting the sexual advantages that it may have to provide. Theseare not the main functions. Polygamy is decreasing in Africa not so much because of western intervention as it is the changing economy and the overallprevailing cultural climate. These have rendered/ is rendering polygamyuseless. Thanks! Paul KonyeDate: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 07:54:18 -0400From: "Emmanuel K. Twesigye or send instructions on how to" <EKTWESIG@CC.OWU.EDU>Traditionally, most African societies have practiced a custom of polygyny orpolygamy. This custom allows a man to have as many wives as he can support.These wives were married according to local custom and they were all legal inthe understanding of the local world-view. Such a practice was not consideredevil or immoral/sinful until the Christian missionaries arrived in Africa.There are many reasons why Africans practiced and valued polygamy:1. A man's wealth was measured by the number of his wives as well as thenumber of his children and cattle or livestock.2. It was prestigeous to have many wives. For instance, the Kabaka Mutesa Iof Buganda resisted Christian baptism because he was asked to divorce hismany wives and "wed" with one! The queen mother, said that it was unheardof for a king to have one wife like just the poorest commoner!3. In political terms the more wives oone had, the more political alliances onecould form, and therefore, become a very powerful powerbrocker and effective politician or tribal leader, chief or king.4. In agricultural societies, human labour was essential and therefore, poly-gamy provided more hands to work in the fields and produce more food, or morecashcrops for sale. Thus, polygamy produced wealth, at least for the man aswell as the whole group which the patriarch supported.5. Women and children were safer in larger households where they were betterprotected from aggressors. Pride was associated with a larger family andshame and low self-esteem were associated with small families which weresymbolic of poverty.6. Men also preferred polygamy because it gave them sexual gratificationand diversity in mates! In some societies, it is taboo for the couple toengage in sexual intercourse during the menstrual period and preganancy.In that case, polygamy provided a solution to this dilemma.7. Polygamy also provided a form of birth control, in the sense that itwould allow the spacing of children by virtue of the sexual taboos attachedto sex during breastfeeding.8. Polygamy insured that most marriageable girls were married off. Women tendedto outnumber men because, men naturally die in larger numbers and earlierthan women. Women are genetically tougher than men! Morever, men also tendedto engage in dangerous or fatal activities such as wars, hunting and fightingone another in drunken querrels!9. In most of traditional Africa, there was a custom of leverate or widowinheritance. A brother's wives passed on to the father or another brotheron his death! That was designed to ensure that no widows or orphans wouldbe left with provision and family or tender care.10. In modern times when some workers live in the city, they may prefer tohave two wives and two families; one in the city and the other in the ruralarea on the ancestral land.Emmanuel K. TwesigyeProfessor and DirectorBlck World StudiesOhio Wesleyan University,OH 43015, USAMessage-ID: <Pine.3.89.9502221448.A2560-0100000@bgnet2.bgsu.edu>Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 14:45:15 -0500From: wole ife <wife@falcon.bgsu.edu>On Wed, 22 Feb 1995, Randolph Hollingsworth wrote:Dear Randolph Hollingsworth, Thank you for you post. I have, however, a few interjections tomake in regards to this subject. But, as a first thought, I think itwould perhaps proven equally interesting to study to PRACTICE, and notthe INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE, which may or may not be common/relevant to thediscussion about the practice -- cultural speaking. While Ms Ba's novel, a fictional account, may or may not be basedon Africana traditonal religio-philosophy at all, BUT ISLAMic influencedhyber-cultures, this should be acknowledged. As the negative experiences themselves, I feel for the peopleinvolved, however, "polygamy" as a cultural concept is more than approvedsex with multiple partners (for Men only of course), entails someresponsibilities on the part of the male that Afroamericans could reallybenefit from in this era of teenage pregancies. For instance, the brotherof a teenage, single parent mother would traditionally assume theresponsibly for helping to raise the children AS HIS OWN if thebiological father doesn't bother. Thus, brothers would instantly begintaking interest in WHO they sisters are dating... Additional, the unwed fathers of kids by different women couldhave a cultural responsibility, CLEARLY articulated that he has "several"family units, WITH different women that he MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A SEXUALRELATION with...thus, you would have part African and part American (orEuropean/Western) cultural dynamic that goes beyond to the Eurocentric,to a tradition that NO BLACK NATIONALIST (Nat-type Brother) could deny.This is part of polygamy too. So, can we intellectually debate (with sources) this issues. . . . For those know think that because polygamy is occurring only onthe continent legally, this is still the common denominator w/ Afroam.culture in that both has have the same outside influences influencingthere marital traditions. I'm out. Faith, Hope and Charity, ADEWOLE "Wole" MONGO IFEWole Mongo Ife, Ph.D. Fellow/Amer. Culture Studies; BGSU, OH. 43402;Founder, Society of Traditional Africana Religio-philosophy (STAR)Message-ID: <AFRICA-L%95022213485055@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU>Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 13:42:59 ESTFrom: Randolph Hollingsworth <RHOLL00@UKCC.UKY.EDU>I wish to thank you all for helping with my student's query regardingthe differing interpretations for the cultural reasons for polygyny.In return I wish to share with you another student's contribution tothe conversation. Muna fumba zhakanaka. Randolph HollingsworthLexington Community Collegerholl00@ukcc.uky.edu ----------------------------Original message----------------------------I just finished reading the novel "So Long A Letter" by Marima Ba, and I would recommend this novel to anyone interested in polygamy. Ba's novelis in the style of a personal letter to a dear friend. It shows a woman'sexperience with polygyny. The novel shows the hurt, anquish, and suffering of awoman after her husband takes a second wife. She talks about the painthe family went through when her husband broke off all ties and abandonedhis children. She talks, especailly, of the hurt and embarassment theiroldest daughter suffered when she found out her best friend's "sugar daddy"was her father. The novel also mentions a woman, who packed up her belongings,took her four boys, and left her husband when he married the second time.This woman later educated herself through books, went to the School ofInterpreters, and worked for the Senegalese Embassy in the United States. Khapoya did not bother to mention polygyny trough the eyes of thewife and children. And this to me is a very crucial part of polygamy. Sancha JohnsonMessage-ID: <AFRICA-L%95022300424776@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU>Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 23:39:42 ESTFrom: Paul Konye <PKONY01@UKCC.UKY.EDU>The novel, "So Long A Letter" by Marima Ba obviously narrates a sadexperience. I can imagine how and why Sancha Johnson would want torecommend this novel to anyone interested in polygamy. I can almostfeel the pain of the woman just from Sancha's summary of the novel...But Ido have a few things to point out to Sancha though......! Sancha, you have just summarized the kinds of sad and unfortunate experiencesthat women are sometimes subjected to here in the western world wheremonogamy is the norm.It happens everywhere.You and I know that the idealisedand lofty expectations of couples who enter into monogamous relation-ships are seldom met...We have not abandoned monogamy just for that reason.The sad experiences of that unfortunate woman by no means defines polygamy.Unfortunately, unfaithful and conscienceless men are found all over the worldregardless of the kind of relationship....isnt that sad. However, polygamy presents a unique problem in a changing socio-economicclimate. It is most effective when it is applied and conducted within itsparticular context as opposed to arbitrary application. It is contextspecific. Poligamy played its role when it was most useful. A lot of thingsare changing these days and poligamy too like those other things, is subjectto change. So in short Sancha, that the woman in the novel was subjected to such crueltreatment was not so much because she found herself in a polygamous rela-tionship as much as it was the unfaithfulness of the man. Polygamy like monogamy hasits own share of bliss and happiness too. I wish men and women would be morecommitted to their relationships, but that is not the real world....how sad! Thanks! Paul KonyeMessage-ID: <9502231652.AA19963@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 11:52:29 -0500From: Nyanchama Matunda <matunda@GAUL.CSD.UWO.CA>It is the economics that is the greatest enemy of polygamy.Few men can afford to marry several wives, meet theireconomic expectations as well as those of their progeny. I have a friend who laughs when people talk so highly ofmonogamy in the west. He cites the high divorce rate wherepeople marry for the umpteenth time calling this serialpolygamy! Matunda NyanchamaMessage-ID: <01HNE2PNI6XE00336R@bentley.edu>Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 13:44:41 -0400From: "Vusi Buthelezi, X3492" <ABUTHELEZI@APOLLO.BENTLEY.EDU>Polygamy was and is the explotation of women. This system is to the benefit ofmale sexual needs than those of women. It disregards what is important towomen. If a woman is unhappy in this relationship, some people look at her asbeing demanding and disrespectful to her husband. I have no problem if peoplevoluntary enter a polygamy relationship. But in most cases women are forced bytheir parents to participate in this male system. We are better of in monogamous relationship despite that the divorce rates arehigh. The divorce rate to me shows that people have a choice, both male andfemale. The truth is those people who divorce remarry again after they havefound a match that suite their needs. Polygamy is good for males and clearlydisregard how women feel in those relationships. Vusi.Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9502231409.A4820-0100000@panther>Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 14:15:31 -0500From: biola <gs01soo@PANTHER.GSU.EDU> I come from a polygamus family, and I candefinitely tell you that my experiences have not been good. My fatherhad six wives. It was always war between us the children, including theyoung ones who did not understand what was going on. There was alwaysthe suspicion that one wife was going to hurt the children of anotherwife. Even those of us who wanted to be friends could not. After myfather died, the hell started and it is still going on. While I understand that polygamy was useful to our ancestors inthe old days. The sort of society we have created today does not reallyallow it. There is mass poverty and more people have been educated underwestern standards and values. Apart from this fact, I believe that thetraditional African society was more community oriented and lessselfish. Today many of us are concerned with having enough to eat, andwe have adopted the concept of "to each his own" to a point. Polygamy can cause a lot of unecessary pain to families. Nomatter how well parents manage the family, rivalries and jealousies willalways draw people apart. Yes, western societies are hypocritical because many marriages dofall apart because of infidelities, however, they do spare their familiesof the pain of living and dealing with the headaches of a second, thirdof fourth wife. Biola, gs01soo@panther.gsu.eduMessage-ID: <sf4d74b0.011@newschool.edu>Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 05:54:23 -0500From: THAMI MADINANE <MADINANE@NEWSCHOOL.EDU>Greetings! From the onset let me admit my ignorance on this subject. But as aneconomist I will try and see whether I can apply some of the usefulprinciples to this matter. First, perhaps it will be instructive tobegin with the economic basis of polygamy in African societies. Ifthis premise is valid, then it must follow that the institution ofpolygamy, like all economically depended phenomenons is mutable.That is, subject to negation by qualitative transformations withinthose societies by changing modes of production (i.e. movement fromagriculture based modes--conducive to polygamy, to manufacturing--ananti-thesis of polygamy. Ester Boserup's "Woman's Role in EconomicDevelopment" (1970, pp.37-51), will be helpfull to those who want toget a sytematic anlysis in of polygamy in agrarian Africa. From the standpoint, though of modern Africa (that is,industrializing Africa) polygamy is nothing else but a moribud relicfrom the past, whose remaining ethos can only be attributed to rigidsocio-cultural factors. This is easily discernable, for instance whenwe consider the fact that there is in Africa excess mortality ofwomen over men. Men have migrated to the urban cities to seekwage-jobs while most women do remain trapped in rural settings. The weakening of rural ties, also shift the balance of power fromwomen to the men (patriachy) and this is where the basis of modernpolygamy rests--namely, POWER. The (polygamist African male),excercise this strong-hold on the African woman because she is theonly object he can do so towards. He (the polygamist) is impotent orpowerless against economic power above him (often white male economicpower, domestic or international). This applies even to the Africanelite "dusted with Western values". Especially, those educatedabroad, who when they return to Africa (they only have one wife(white woman usually), because again of the dynamics of economics.Those who return, single handed, often commands some economic power,usually accorded by favorable exchange rates (than substantialwealth), but while they envy the rural "polygamists" who now simplyget by with very little, the new elite has no choice but to becomeudulters, and this only to the extent that the power of the dollarholds or a new job with the Ministry is available. What is to be done? The elite African male (including myself) has aresponsibility to critique the institution of polygamy, not just as acontrast to "Western monogamy" [with all its problems ofprostitutism), but within the context of changing Africa. Women can(must) play a critical role in this debate (and have). My opinion is that polygamy is dead! ===ThamiNew School for Social ResearchDepartment of EconomicsNew YorkMessage-ID: <9502241706.AA18416@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 12:06:25 -0500From: Nyanchama Matunda <matunda@GAUL.CSD.UWO.CA>People, I come from a polygamous home that has carriedthis tradition for a number of generations. I can assureyou that the average problems we encountered growing upwere not very different from those monogamous home had.And it is amazing to see to date when we have matured thatwe still remain very close as children of the same fatherand mothers. We visit our aging parents without discriminatingbetween mother and step mother. With my first hand experienceI sometimes get amazed at the absurdity of the assumptionsbeing tossed around about African Polygamy. This is not to support its continuation though and it is notto say there are no problems of jelousy, competition, etcin such unions. But there is another aspect. What polygamydid in old Africa was to give a home to most of the women andchildren. Thus you found that it is men of means that practisedthis for they had to have the land, wealth etc for the upkeepof the large families. To date I have seen such men takeyoung wives with children, give them land and support thechildren's upbringing, children who would have been homelessotherwise. This also says that polygamy is not dead but itspractice is waning with the worsening economic times. Unlikedays of yore, there is little land out there and the costs ofraising children and keeping the extra wives is not what itwas in yesteryears. Matunda NyanchamMessage-ID: <Pine.3.89.9502242057.A20500-0100000@bgnet2.bgsu.edu>Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 21:04:06 -0500From: wole ife <wife@falcon.bgsu.edu>Dear Paul, I am proud and happy to read your continually powerful postsconcerning poligamy and other issues. So, keep up the good work. By the way, concerning your latest post, I thought I sent a longpost (supporting the traditions of our ancestors, of course, to the bestof my understand). Therefore, I have enclosed a copy of the post: Dear Randolph Hollingsworth, Thank you for you post. I have, however, a few interjections tomake in regards to this subject. But, as a first thought, I think itwould perhaps proven equally interesting to study to PRACTICE, and notthe INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE, which may or may not be common/relevant to thediscussion about the practice -- cultural speaking. While Ms Ba's novel, a fictional account, may or may not be basedon Africana traditonal religio-philosophy at all, BUT ISLAMic influencedhyber-cultures, this should be acknowledged. As the negative experiences themselves, I feel for the peopleinvolved, however, "polygamy" as a cultural concept is more than approvedsex with multiple partners (for Men only of course), entails someresponsibilities on the part of the male that Afroamericans could reallybenefit from in this era of teenage pregancies. For instance, the brotherof a teenage, single parent mother would traditionally assume theresponsibly for helping to raise the children AS HIS OWN if thebiological father doesn't bother. Thus, brothers would instantly begintaking interest in WHO they sisters are dating... Additional, the unwed fathers of kids by different women couldhave a cultural responsibility, CLEARLY articulated that he has "several"family units, WITH different women that he MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A SEXUALRELATION with...thus, you would have part African and part American (orEuropean/Western) cultural dynamic that goes beyond to the Eurocentric,to a tradition that NO BLACK NATIONALIST (Nat-type Brother) could deny.This is part of polygamy too. So, can we intellectually debate (with sources) this issues.... For those know think that because polygamy is occurring only onthe continent legally, this is still the common denominator w/ Afroam.culture in that both has have the same outside influences influencingthere marital traditions. I'm out. Take care, Paul. PEACE. Faith, Hope and Charity, ADEWOLE "Wole" MONGO IFEMessage-ID: <sf4f7a11.086@newschool.edu>Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 18:42:04 -0500From: THAMI MADINANE <MADINANE@NEWSCHOOL.EDU>Maybe it will be useful to reconsider the concept argued here.Instead of polygamy we substitute patriarchy. Since it seems we havepolygamists who just wont conside that polygamy is an oppressive andexploitative institution against women. Any informed person who haveread both the history of Africa/Asia will come to agree that not onlyis the record bloodied with crimes committed by colonialist, but theAfrican polygamist is also guilty of being a co-conspirator in theoppression and exploitation of the, in our case, African woman!! ThamiNew School for Social ResearchDepartment of EconomicsNew York.Message-ID: <AFRICA-L%95022618300683@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU>Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 18:28:24 ESTFrom: Randolph Hollingsworth <RHOLL00@UKCC.UKY.EDU>When someone mentioned that polyandry does not exist in Africa, I thoughtI'd pass it along to an esteemed colleague of mine here at the Univ. ofKentucky: Dr. Monica Udvardy. She responds below, and I pass it along to you. Randolph HollingsworthLexington Community College ----------------------------Original message----------------------------Ha! Balderdash! Please refer whomever to the following reference:N. Levine & W.H. Sangree, eds. "Women with Many Husbands: PolyandrousAlliance and Marital flexibility in Africa and Asia". Special Issue ofJournal of Comaprative Family Studies XI(3), 1980. Polyandry existedand exists on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria, among the Irigwe and Tirikipeoples; and among ethnic groups in a few other places.This is a good example of how history is rewriteen through the lensof contempporary society. Since colonial practices generally reifiedpatriarchy, such practices as polyandry are "forgotten," and graduallywritten out of the historical record by such authors as Khapoya.Best, Monica |
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