article
Matrilineal descent and marital stability: a Tanzanian case
Journal of Asian and African studies • 4 (2) • Published In 1969 • Pages: 122-131
By: Brain, James Lewton.
Abstract
This study argues that marriage in Luguru society tends to be stable for the first twenty-or-so years, after which the rate of divorce rises rapidly as mothers leave to live with their sons and brothers. This pattern has to do with the internal dynamics of matrilineal descent and land tenure systems. The culturally-preferred residence pattern upon marriage is uxorilocal (the husband moves to live in the natal village of his wife). After the birth of the first child, however, the husband will prefer to rejoin his matrilineage where he holds land. The wife either stays behind on her own or moves with her husband. If she decides the later, the wife will have yet another decision to make later on, when her son marries and move out to live with his mother’s lineage. While these cycles might cause family separation and even divorce, the author underscores that one should not necessarily consider Luguru marriage as structurally unstable.
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Eastern Africa
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Teferi Abate Adem; 2020
- Field Date
- 1965-1966
- Coverage Date
- 1953-1966
- Coverage Place
- northern Morogoro Region, Tanzania
- Notes
- James Brain
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-131)
- LCCN
- 75001539
- LCSH
- Luguru (African people)