| Related sites for http://www.theperspective.org/polygyny.html |
| The_LGBT_Aging_Project Volunteer-based coalition of eldercare professionals, advocates, and ordinary citizens working for the right of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders to have equal access to protections, bene | | Signs_of_Intelligence Information on the basics, together with chat area, articles and charting services. | | Beckster Includes photos and the story of this couple that met online. | | Happy_Homo_Webring_on_WebringSystem Websites of the worldwide gay, lesbian, bi and trans community. | | Wala,_Avni Information on family, friends, and photos. | | Folks_OnLine Information for genealogists beginning to use computers as a research tool. | | In_Truth An independent, educational church teaching applications and use of spiritual gifts in personal life today. | | Ellin_Dodge Readings, information and books by numerologist Ellin Dodge. | | Petaluma_Boys_and_Girls_Clubs Family and community recreational, meeting and computer center. [Petaluma, CA, USA] | | Ronald_McDonald_House_Charities_of_Central_Pennsylvania Goal is to keep families together by providing temporary housing while seriously ill children receive treatment. Includes house tour, directions, events, staff, grants, and how to request a room. [Pen | | The_Edicts_of_King_Ashoka Historical overview of what is known about Ashoka and a translation of his edicts. | | Bradley_R__Smith/CODOH Website of the American denier Bradley R . Smith. Contains information about his publicity campaigns, as well as frequent news updates and articles on the topic of 'Holocaust revisionism'. | | ULC_Pagan_Ministers A service of and for Pagan Ministers', and other members of the helping professions. | | Tay,_Howard Photos and travelog; in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. | | Sacred_Kiln Canadian based Pagan/Wiccan online store providing ritual tools and other magickal essentials. Ships worldwide. | | The_Glitter_Has_Faded_to_Dust Biography, original photography and Depeche Mode links. | | Stations_of_the_Cross Pray while you imagine you are walking with Jesus. Page tells about where the Way of the Cross came from, and the pictures were drawn by 5th-graders in Plover, Wisconsin. In English and Spanish. | | LifeChange_Seminars Seminars on healing, anger management and theophostic ministry. Also includes some free articles. | | Christian_Designs Christian tile and border backgrounds and other graphics. | | Landrum,_Sierra_Ann_Fannin A missing child abducted on June 5, 1999 by her non-custodial mother, Mary Ann Fannin. |
|
Polygyny (Polygamy) Is Already A Practice  Polygyny (Polygamy) Is AlreadyA Practice By Siahyonkron Nyanseor The Perspective Atlanta, Georgia To Africans including Liberians, the institution of polygyny(polygamy) is nothing strange. Polygyny was the acceptable formof marriage in Africa prior to the arrival of the colonizers andChristianity. The same can be said about the Americo Liberiansettlers. As a matter of fact, the Settlers got involved in thispractice of having more than one wife. Therefore, I assume itis out of ignorance that President Taylor wants to legalize aninstitution which has been the practice of the African inhabitantsfor hundreds of years. Moreover, we need to correct a common mistake in referringto polygyny as polygamy. Polygamy is the practice of having morethan one wife or husband at one time. Whereas polygyny is thepractice of one man having more than one wife at one time. Polygynyis the form of marriage practiced in Africa not polygamy. Having made this correction, permit me to ask why most Westernersand their westernized African counterparts considered polygynya bad institution of marriage? Why do they condemned it? I canonly conclude that they do so out of ignorance, especially, women.I believe it is done from the point of view of it being exploitativeto women. Furthermore, most of those who do so, do it withoutmaking any effort to find out how the practice came about. Theyrefused to see how "cultural relativity" is applicableto polygyny. I consider their refusal to do so as "academichypocrisy."However, before we begin to probe into the origin of polygyny,we need to know the role culture plays in a given society. Inorder to do so, let's look at the explanation provided by ProfessorAli A. Mazrui. According to Mazrui:Culture provides lenses of perception, the way of looking atreality, a world view; culture provides standards of evaluation;what is good and what is evil; what is legitimate and what isillegitimate are rooted in criteria provided by culture. Cultureconditions motivations; what motivates individuals to act or refrainfrom acting, what inspires individuals to perform well or to reallyexert themselves, is partly inspired by cultural factors. Cultureis the medium of communication; the communicative aspects of culturerange from language in the literal sense to physical gesturesand modes of dress. Culture provides a basis of stratification,a pecking order in society. Status, rank and class are partlythe outcome of a cultural order.According to the explanation given above, we can then see thecardinal responsibilities placed upon culture in creating institutionsto address certain needs in society. However, due to ignorance,most individuals have the tendency to pass judgment on polygynywithout thoroughly understanding it.From on our understanding of culture, it is safe to say thatone of the key responsibilities of culture is the establishmentof social institutions which will maintain the orderly existenceof a society. Secondly, these institutions serve to promote "asystem of values, and these values are a set of ideas, concepts,and practices to which strong sentiments are attached."In view of the above, one can easily understand how polygynybecame the ideal institution of marriage in Africa. However, therationale given for the practice of polygyny in Africa is providedby two schools of thought - the Social and Economic. Proponentsof the Social School explained that at the time polygyny was establishedas the legal form of marriage, the ratio of women to men in Africawas about 10 to 1. As the result, those who were responsible forestablishing social institutions - the elders, including women,decided to come up with a marriage system that would address thisproblem. Their aim at the time was to provide a balance and equaldistribution of social, material, security and economic benefitsto both women and men.Furthermore, these social architects or elders felt that ifthe problem regarding the needs of unmarried women were not addressed,what would eventually happen was the snatching away of other women'shusbands, or the unmarried women would, for example, engage inprostitution since as human beings, their sexual, social, psychologicaland economic needs had to be taken care of.On the other hand, the proponents of the Economic School reasonedthat polygyny was established to address the prevailing economicissues of the period. They explained that during the Pre-colonialera in Africa, the economic activities were centered around subsistenceagriculture. This type of farming requires lots of manpower. Inorder to establish the mode of production that was going to bebeneficial to the entire society, the polygynous form was preferred.Since this form of marriage emphasized collective responsibilities,communal ownership of farms, wealth and the economic benefit ofthe extended family.The major concept of both the Social and the Economic Schoolswas centered around the male marrying more than one wife dependingon the amount of dowry (bridal price) he or his family could afford.In the traditional African society where this arrangement wasprevalent, a man who had four wives, was obligated to providefarm for each of his wives. The children and the relatives ofeach wife were required to work and attend to the operation andmaintenance of the farm. The husband on the other hand, was responsiblein providing periodic assistance as well as supervision to eachfarm.The resources derived from these farms were pooled togetherto provide material and economic benefits for the entire extendedfamily. With this type of arrangement, all members of the extendedfamily were better cared for.I will be the first to admit that polygyny has its negativeand positive aspects; so do monogamy. But the major problem onefinds with polygyny in Liberia started with the Americo Liberiansettlers. Prior to their arrival in what is known today as Liberia,polygyny was the acceptable form of marriage practiced by theindigenous inhabitants. The establishment of Liberia as a Christianstate gave rise to the conflict between polygyny and monogamy.In other words, since Americo-Liberian settlers condemned thepractice of polygyny, monogamy was emphasized like other Westerncultural hegemony in the Liberian society. However, the natives(as African Liberians were referred to) were allowed to continuethe practice of polygyny.But the Americo-Liberians who condemned the practice of polygynyfound themselves practicing a brand of polygyny called "Chrismonopoly."(Christians' monopoly of marriage). Chrismonopoly became the formof marriage practiced by the settlers. It is an arrangement inwhich a male settler is married to his monogamous or Christianwife and at the same time is engaged in polygynous relationshipwith "native African Liberian women."The origin of the relationship between the African-Liberianwomen and the Americo-Liberian men can be traced back to the plantationsin North America where the Americo Liberians were once slaves.On these plantations, the white slave masters were engaged inmonogamous marriage and at the same time were allowed to haveat will the slave women. The children produced out of this relationshipwere never considered part of the slave masters' family but rathertheir properties. Whenever they saw it fit, they would sell thesewomen and their offspring for economic gain.Similar practice was established in Liberia by the AmericoLiberian settlers. The Liberian experience was such that the offspringthat were produced out of the relationship between the AmericoLiberian men and the African Liberian women were not consideredlegitimate children. Instead, they were referred to as "outside children." On the other hand, the mothers of these childrenin most cases were referred to as their "country women"whereas the children of the monogamous marriage were viewed as"legitimate" or "inside" children. Of course,there were some exceptions but in most cases, this was the acceptednorm.In some cases, the "country women" live on the farmsof the Americo Liberians. Social and economic opportunities aswell as certain privileges were reserved for the so-called legalwives and their children, while the country women and their childrencould barely make ends meet.Serious social problem emanated from the practice of Chrismonopoly.Some of the problems (bastard and illegitimate children) thatpolygyny was established to solved. For example, in a Chrismonopolyrelationship, a distinction was made as to who were "insideor outside children." This was never the case in a polygynousrelationship. As a matter of fact, the entire village was responsiblein raising the children.In conclusion, it is safe to say that President Taylor's calledfor marriage between Mandingoes, Krahns, Gios and Lormas is onlya cliché to legitimized his relationship with his reportedslew of women and encourage their social exploitation as well.This is the type of usury and exploitative practice that mostfemale critics assigned to the practice of polygyny. This onlysuggest that in a given society where either monogamy or polygynyis the preferred institution of marriage, individual like PresidentTaylor will use the institution to satisfy his selfish motivesor misinterpret the practice to his advantage. Therefore, I would advise critics of polygyny (polygamy) tofirst attempt to understand the institution before condemningit. In this case, they should be willing to listen to the proand con regarding the institution. Related Article: The Cock And The Gun: Liberia'sContinuing Legacy Of Violence And Male Domination A Case Against Legalizing Polygamy   |
|
