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Marriage practices in different cultures
Marriage practices in different cultures
Marriage practices in different cultures
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The primary social unit of the Kanina was nuclear or extended family. In fact, they didn’t form clans or look much into ancestry that went further than their grandparents. Residences would be formed of one nuclear family that might take in extended family and acknowledgement of relatives by marriage was rare. Kinship is traced bilaterally but not of much importance. Because of this unfamiliarity with their genealogical ancestors, latter generations of cousins might marry despite the fact that incestuous marriage was forbidden. An old tradition of the Kanina was the husband-to-be would give a gift to the father of the bride, which to some people might be considered bride price but according to many people the opinion varies greatly. Some men don’t even give gifts, and if that’s the care then the father does not ask for a gift and it does not negatively affect how he feels about their marriage (Smithson). …show more content…
Nowadays, however, residence upon marriage is not necessarily matrilocal or patrilocal, and the couple decides to go with either family. Monogamy was the norm for the Kanina, even if polygamy was not prohibited. Although bilateral descent is practiced, property and titles were generally inherited through men of the family. Women could still use property, for example, if a newly widowed women lived in her house after the death of her husband, the title of the property would not belong to her. Instead, the title would belong to her son or grandsons. Personal belongings such as clothing and weapons, and even horses would be buried with him. When a women passes away, her belongings would go to her daughters or her personal
Wealth and family status was a determining factor upon marriage. Women were expected to have a dowry from their family that would allow them to be auctioned off to suitors. The marriage market was much like the stock exchange in that it allowed
Sleeper-Smith’s understandings on marriage between native women and fur trader’s complements with the study of the evolution of family law. It supports the idea of marriage as a means to create a family and the family is an economic unit (Briggs, 2016a). Fur trade was the major economic activity at the time (Briggs, 2016b). The native women, the author presented entered into marriages primarily for economic reasons and were seen as attractive to traders for economic reasons. To solidifying trade ties, partnerships, and later to enter the trade as independent traders through kinship network that comes out of marriage. The coinciding with how women with their own economic worth are able to subvert the patriarchy embedded into early society. Where husbands held all the power and authority in the family (Briggs, 2016a). Sleeper-Smith presented how native women were valuable, not just as property, or a means to legitimate procreation. Native wives as being an asset as a partner to their fur trader husbands because they controlled productive resources and increased access to trade goods (Sleeper-Smith 2000, p.429). Giving native women power in a relationship that they would traditionally have none or very little.
Slave marriages among other slaves and slave owners have always placed a social burden on the plantations and the government of the United States. What were the social issues that occurred as slaves had relations with other slaves or their masters? Government scandals, black salve owners, and law changes have all came about as part of the social discrepancies that came along with slave relations. Biographies of William Ellison, the first African American slave owner, will be scrutinized to see the social implications of a slave master owning slaves of the same ethnicity. Personal Journals written about the Thomas Jefferson and Sally Heming's case will be analyzed to see the government scandal placed on Jefferson’s slave relations. These social issues helped play out the course of slavery in the United States of America.
Marriage and Sexuality Marriage is a ritually recognized union in our society and in some cases a legal contract between spouses. The ultimate definition of marriage defers according to culture but principally it is a universal institution that consists of a bilateral decent system. According to the Webster’s dictionary, sexuality is an organism’s preparedness for engaging in sexual activity in other words, a human’s readiness to begin having sex or exploring sex. The nature of marriage and sexuality has had a solid influence on different cultures round the world even from pre-historic times. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the nature, taboos, requirements and social impact of marriage and sexuality within the Dobe Ju/’hoansi and the
Women did not control her own wealth, so therefore, a woman’s family wealth, was controlled by her father or her husband. Law 128 in the Code of Hammurabi states, “If a man take a wife and do not arrange with her the (proper) contracts, that woman is not a (legal) wife.”1 (Hammurabi 45). A woman would receive a dowry once she was married and left her family. A dowry is a financial gift such as money, property, or goods, which was a gift to her husband once they got married. Once a man married a woman, he then had access to the family’s dowry and the property, money, or goods were then, controlled by him. If the man were no longer married to the woman and if the woman died childless, then the dowry returned back to the father of her family. If the father has already passed away, then the dowry was returned to the woman’s brothers. If the woman had any children that were boys, then the boy, or brothers, would share equally2 (“WOMEN…”). If women wanted out of the marriage, then she would take the dowry with her and go back to her father’s house. The father would then receive the dowry back. Law 138 in the Code of Hammurabi says, “If a man would put away his wife who has not borne him children, he shall give her money to the amount of her marriage settlement and he shall make good to her the dowry which she brought from her father’s house and then he may put her away.”3 (Hammurabi 49). In reality
The fourth and final step of the marriage process is to become one flesh. According to free dictionary.com, become means “to grow or come to be,” or “to be appropriate or suitable; to develop or grow into; to be appropriate; befit.” Becoming is a process that takes time and work. Tim Keller states that in order to call a union marriage, “sex is understood as both a sign of that personal, legal union and a means to accomplish it. The Bible says don’t unite with someone physically unless you are also willing to unite with the person emotionally, personally, socially, economically, and legally. Don’t become physically naked and vulnerable to the another person without becoming vulnerable in every other way, because you have given up your freedom and bound yourself in marriage.” (Keller pg. 215) God’s design is supposed to occur on the wedding night as they complete their marriage vows by having sex. It is clear that “they will become one flesh” is a indirect term for sex but it is also more than sex. The become one is to be on the same page, mind and accord. It is correct to compare it to one brain, making one decision and taking one action. Together one path, and they share one authority, one heart, one body, one mind, one thought, one church, and one God. The spouses become one flesh in every sense of the word. All these areas of oneness are important because division in any of them will cause them to stumble.
There are a plethora of elements of kinship that are worthy of research and contemplation. However, one of the main concepts that have significantly evolved in several cultures since the beginning of anthropology is that of gender and gender roles. Since the recognition of anthropology as a social science in the 1800’s, there has been a focus on gender roles, with a lack of focus towards the importance of women in kinship structures. Moreover, as the discipline was completely made up of males, there was a bias towards the powerful role of men and a patriarchal structure. As such, since the feminist movement in the 1900’s, kinship and how we view family structures has vastly changed. Kinship is commonly defined as the family ties, blood ties
In the practice of marriage amongst the Nuer payment of a bridewealth and certain ceremonial rites are performed to initiate the marriage. The ceremonial rites will not take place until payment for the bride is made, exchange of cattle cannot by themselves bring about the marriage (Evans-Prichard, 1951). These two processes are important and close the establishment of the full union of marriage. In Nuer culture a marriage has many steps which are betrothal, wedding and the consummation. In Nuer culture no marriage is complete without with birth of a child. Although divorce is rare in Nuer society after the birth of the first child, divorce does occur. According to E E Evans-Prichard if divorce does occur and no children have been bore the cattle of the bride must be returned (Evans-Prichard, 1951).
Marriage in Japan Why people get married? There would be many reasons; to save money, to escape from loneliness, to have a better life, and so on. But in most case people marry for love. Though it is almost always true, a married life is different between in the western culture and in Japan. A marriage in modern western culture is based on mutuality and companionship. In Western there is a tendency to be independent. Most college graduates live apart from their family and find an apartment near the working place. They have learned how to ¡°survive¡± in single and marriage is an optional. However, a person in Japan who graduates from a college and has a job still lives with one¡¯s family until one gets married, which means one keeps the parent-child relationship. Therefore it is hard for a Japanese man to learn to be independent. After he gets married, he now relies on his bride for having foods, doing laundry, and many other things. Takeo Doi explains it with the term of amae that means the seeking or causing of oneself to be loved, nurtured, and indulged. He says it is an active attempt to make oneself into a passive love object. One reason why a man continues depending on someone else is that he has been witnessed what his parents have been done and now he considers himself as a head of his own family. In case of woman, it is difficult to keep her job after the marriage, because she needs to take care of her child, which is considered to be a wife¡¯s job. She has to do everything else except making money for the family, which makes her dependent on her husband who has the economic power. However in western culture, it is natural for both partners to have their own jobs and to be responsible for every single household job after marriage. Until recently it has been true in Japan but now it is changing. More women have their jobs rather than prepare to be a bride after the graduate. They don¡¯t need to get married if they don¡¯t want to. It has also become common not to have many children and some couples don¡¯t have a child at all. A younger bride could decide to divorce her husband if she wants to because she has a chance to get an economic independence easily nowadays.
Marriage occurs after a partner is selected. In history a person’s marriage partner was selected by their parents. The bride and groom would not have a say in the issue, their father would generally set up an arrangement for the marriage of his daughter dealing with the head of the other family. The girl’s family would seek a husband for his dau...
When it comes to the topic of marriage, different cultures have different customs. Some of these customs have changed over the years and some have stayed the same. One type of marriage that interests me is arranged marriage and why there are arranged marriages still going on today. That is why I have chosen to write about them in this paper and discuss why they were/are an important staple in certain cultures.
Love is in the air. Although this may sound like a cliche it is true. Love is prevalent in every society all around the world. The feelings associated with love may be the same all over, but how love is approached can vary. Dating and marriage customs are different from country to country; Japan, in particular has very unique dating and marriage procedures. Japan is a located in Southeastern Asia. The Japanese tend to share some very different ideas concerning dating and marriage. However, some of our beliefs and morals have spread into the culture of the Japanese. Nevertheless, Japan holds strong to their roots and their unique culture. Similarly, we tend to narrow our beliefs on their ideas as looking through another paradigm from a different culture provides a glimpse into another society and how love is constructed and held together.
According to McCurdy, the main ways that kinship organizes “Bhil” society in Ratakote, India are the terms used to refer to them, the responsibilities that they have toward one another, and the importance of marrying them off properly. Marriage plays a big role in life for the Bhil’s of Ratakote. The Bhil’s follow their tradition of arranging marriages. They feel that by arranging marriages, both of the families of the bride and groom will benefit in many ways. To them, marriage constructs alliances between the families, lineage, and clans. It also gives social strength and security to the families, and their personal reputations depend on the quality and number of their allied kin.
Respect for their parents and taking care of them in their last days is the main duty of the bigger son or daughter, this shows how important family ties are for this culture, lineages are. And in many ways people today still share similar values and life ways. For example, in this culture they don’t many terms to refer to their relatives beyond the nuclear family, they use father and grandfather as the same, also mother and grandmother. (Brewer,
There are many different marriage practices around the world and each has its own unique cultural and economic aspect. This paper will explore the dynamics of Japanese and Indian marriages and how they compare and contrast with one another. The analysis will address cultural factors and how it relates to symbolic systems such as religion and rituals and how they are slowly diminishing in lieu of a more westernized modern marriage. For instance, Japan's traditional marriages are becoming a thing of the past due to more westernized and modern versions that appeal to the younger couples. Some couples are even adopting the American wedding ceremonies in place of their cultural ones. In its effort to promote freedom of choice, India's government encourages inter-caste inter-faith marriages by offering couples money. However, this is conditional; stipulations are that "one of the partners should be from scheduled caste category and there should be no conversion in case of an inter-faith marriage" (Govt incentives for inter-caste marriages, 2012, para. 3). This is a milestone in India where traditions, customs, and the Hindu religion still rules a larger proportion of people.