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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Some ideas concerning the origins of Dowry in East Africa |
Author: | Chidwick, P.F. |
Year: | 1970 |
Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
Volume: | 8 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 143-149 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Kenya Tanzania |
Subject: | bridewealth |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/159507 |
Abstract: | In spite of tremendous variants in the details of traditional procedures from one tribe to another in the customary practice of dowry in East Africa, there is one common characteristic: money, goods, manual labour, or symbolic articles are provided by the bridegroom (or his family) and pass into the hands of the father of the bride. Purpose of the research has been to discover the factors which have motivated the transaction to take place in this particular way. The research has been directed towards traditional attitudes, and has been conducted mainly through personal interviews, and through a questionnaire sent to a selected number of church leaders, who in turn gathered the opinions of certain local people. The area covered ranged widely over Kenya and Tanzania. Sections: Common explanations of the dowry practice - Dowry as compensation to parents - Marriage and parent-child relationships - The origin of dowry - The practice of dowry in contemporary society. |