Exceptionally normal: Marriage transformations in Namibia

20世纪上半叶进行的人类学研究结果表明，在殖民前的非洲，婚姻是一种普遍和普遍的过渡仪式。然而，在21世纪初，婚礼已经变成了非常昂贵和独一无二的活动，只有一小部分人能够庆祝。在过去的三十年里，纳米比亚、博茨瓦纳和南非的结婚率一直在下降。尽管有这些变化，但大多数人都想结婚，并继续认为婚姻制度是生活中非常可取的成就。因此，在婚礼庆典期间，关于归属和联盟的谈判加强了亲属关系、阶级、种族、宗教和世代界限，是多层次和复杂的。基于首席调查员在纳米比亚农村地区进行的现有研究，该项目希望从人种学的角度描述纳米比亚温得和克一个城市中产阶级社区的婚礼和婚姻。研究结果将与西南部非洲其他地区的婚礼和婚姻习俗进行比较，这些习俗体现了消费习惯和生活方式的变化。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。在这一范围内，该项目还将进一步深入了解后殖民社会中中产阶级价值观和生活方式的传播所带来的社会后果。

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.