Exceptionally normal: Marriage transformations in Namibia

异常正常：纳米比亚的婚姻转变

• 批准号: 268754602
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Julia Pauli
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Ethnologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2014-12-31 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/268754602?language=en
• 关键词: Exceptionally; normal; Marriage; transformations; Namibia

As findings from anthropological research conducted during the first half of the twentieth century indicate, marriage was a universal and widespread rite of transition in pre-colonial Africa. However, at the beginning of the 21st century weddings have been transformed into very expensive and exclusive events that only a small proportion of the population is able to celebrate. Over the past three decades marriage rates in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa have been declining. Despite of these changes the majority of the population wants to marry and continues to perceive the institution of marriage as a very desirable achievement in life. Consequently, during wedding celebrations negotiations of belonging and alliances reinforcing kinship, class, ethnic, religious and generational lines are multilayered and complex. Building on existing research conducted by the principal investigator in rural Namibia, this project wants to ethnographically describe weddings and marriages in an urban middle-class neighborhood of Windhoek, Namibia. Findings will be compared to wedding and marriage practices in other regions throughout Southwest Africa that exemplify changing consumption habits and lifestyles. As a longitudinal study, the project aims to understand the fundamental changes of marriage in Southern Africa over the last decades. With this scope the project will also lead to further insights into the societal consequences accompanying the spread of middle-class values and life styles in postcolonial societies.

20世纪上半叶进行的人类学研究结果表明，婚姻是前殖民地非洲普遍存在的过渡仪式。然而，在世纪初，婚礼已经变成了非常昂贵和独家的事件，只有一小部分人口能够庆祝。在过去的30年里，纳米比亚、博茨瓦纳和南非的结婚率一直在下降。尽管发生了这些变化，但大多数人还是希望结婚，并继续认为婚姻制度是人生中一项非常理想的成就。因此，在婚礼庆祝期间，关于归属和联盟的谈判加强了亲属关系、阶级、种族、宗教和代际界限，是多层次和复杂的。在纳米比亚农村地区主要研究者进行的现有研究的基础上，该项目希望从人种学角度描述纳米比亚温得和克城市中产阶级社区的婚礼和婚姻。调查结果将与整个西南非洲其他地区的婚礼和婚姻习俗进行比较，以适应不断变化的消费习惯和生活方式。作为一项纵向研究，该项目旨在了解过去几十年来南部非洲婚姻的根本变化。在这个范围内，该项目还将进一步深入了解伴随中产阶级价值观和生活方式在后殖民社会中传播的社会后果。