Exceptionally normal: Marriage transformations in Namibia

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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.