article
Widow 'dispossession' in northern Nambian inheritance
Anthropology Southern Africa • 31 (1-2) • Published In 2008 • Pages: 1-12
By: Gordon, Robert J..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
European missionaries and global human rights organizations alike have argued that customary Ovambo inheritance rules deprive widows and orphans of land rights and other productive assets. Based on ethnographic information, this study suggests that this is an exaggeration and misinterpretation of the facts. By recognizing the unique structural positioning of widowed women and minor orphans in matrilineal societies, the well-intended social functions of Ovambo inheritance practices are revealed. This includes the reinforcement of the solidarity of matrilineal lineages in honoring a deceased member, which lineage heads sought to achieve by ensuring the deceased person’s productive assets are reverted to the collective ownership of his lineage.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Real property
- Inheritance
- Gender status
- Celibacy
- Rule of descent
- Political movements
- Special courts
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Ovambo
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Teferi Abate Adem; 2021
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 2005
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1960-2005
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- north-central Namibia
- NotesAdditional notes
- Robert J. Gordon
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 11-12)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 2003236120
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Ovambo (African people)