Social problem among african Americans: The lobola or bride
In most traditional African-American households, women provide the backbone of support for the family. Women provide spiritual fortification, childbearing and in some cases significant financial contributions. From the time that a little girl has grown tall enough to reach a sink, she has been washing dishes and helping her mother to manage the household duties. Depending on the female's birth order, she has varying degrees of responsibility; but in all cases, she had work. In traditional African- American households, this has been the women's role for many generations. So when a man comes along with intentions of marrying a significant participant in a family unit and removes her from her home, he in turn leaves a tremendous loss in terms of resources, work and money for the family. This brings the concept of bride price, which is a potential husband having the responsibility offering a payment of significant measure to the brides family in exchange for the opportunity to marry her (Jenkins 12). The Bride price in its originality was a beautiful tradition that sealed the new relationship between two families that joined through marriage. Today, in modern society, the usage of the bride price has been changed and manipulat
Traditionally a village girl would receive eleven head of cattle, a chief' daughter would receive six-teen head of cattle and a princess would receive twenty-one head of cattle. A few African- Americans and women activists are concerned about this. " (125)From the interactionist perspective the bride price is seen involving a father setting a ridiculously high bride price on his daughter's head to stop a man from marrying his daughter (Smith 45). During an interview with Samaru Malaga, I noticed he saw things in an integrationist perspective and he stated:"Marriage ought to be a legally approved union between individuals of opposite sex, who commit to one another with the expectation of a stable, lasting and intimate relationship. In one documented case, an unhappy wife could not obtain a divorce from her husband because she could not pay back the bride price. Martha Chileshe in her book, The Tribe and Its Successors, quoted: "Remember that she doesn't become your property-she becomes your equal in qualities that are human" (256). Therefore, we must be proud of our culture. ed by "traditional" African-Americans to suite their desires. "Our society has just about completely gotten rid of our traditional values and prefers to go with the western flow, yet how much has it benefited our lives?" (Smith 147). /2003) From the Conflict Perspective, bride price is seen as an excuse for husbands to abuse their wives with the "I bought you" excuse. A beautiful African- American girl, Yoga Khumalo, stated during an interview that: "Obviously my parents want the best for me, and if a man can not pay the bride price then he is not worthy me. In a South African archeological site, which is estimated to be around one thousand five hundred years old, experts found evidence of the bride price system. In African -American communities, severe poverty leads families to see bride price as a business. We were not born to hope to be equal with those who enslaved us.
Common topics in this essay:
Nubian Wedding,
African- American,
African- Americans,
Tribe Successors,
South African,
,
Samaru Malaga,
bride price,
Conflict Perspective,
Yoga Khumalo,
African Winter,
african- americans,
bride price seen,
pay bride,
price seen,
pay bride price,
head cattle,
book nubian wedding,
money family,
usage bride,
families bride price,
ingrid sturgis,
south african,
usage bride price,
families bride,
|
Acceptance Essays
