Africana Periodical Literature 
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| Title: | 'Where is your mother?': gender, urban marriage, and colonial discourse on the Zambian Copperbelt, 1924-1945 |
| Author: | Parpart, Jane L. |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Periodical: | International Journal of African Historical Studies |
| Volume: | 27 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Pages: | 241-271 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Zambia United Kingdom |
| Subjects: | gender relations colonialism marriage Cultural Roles Family Life Marital Relations and Nuptiality Historical/Biographical Sex Roles |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/221025 |
| Abstract: | The shift from informal 'mine marriages' to a more stable marriage structure in the Copperbelt towns of colonial Zambia during the interwar years is often attributed to the power of patriarchal alliances, 'customary' law and the courts. A closer look at the evidence suggests a more complicated picture. Patriarchal alliances, both European and African, were shot through with contradictions that opened up space for redefining and renegotiating the nature of African urban life, particularly relations between women and men. Women took full advantage of these opportunities, and their struggle to broaden and redefine African family life in town is a central theme of this paper. However, women's and men's lives were played out against the backdrop of economic, political, and social changes that affected the character of African urban life and the nature of the struggles between men and women in town. These larger forces encouraged patriarchal alliances, but they also facilitated the evolution of an African urban elite which sought legitimacy through the adoption of a 'respectable' Christian family life. The beliefs and practices of this elite played a pivotal role in the campaign to stabilize African marriage in town. The article explores the struggles between this elite and the urban masses, and their competing visions of marriage and family. Notes, ref. |
