Ukuthwala in rural South Africa: abduction marriage as a site of negotiation about gender, rights and generational authority among the Xhosa

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Periodical article

Title:	Ukuthwala in rural South Africa: abduction marriage as a site of negotiation about gender, rights and generational authority among the Xhosa
Author:	Rice, Kate
Year:	2014
Periodical:	Journal of Southern African Studies (ISSN 1465-3893)
Volume:	40
Issue:	2
Pages:	381-399
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	marriage elopement rural areas Xhosa
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057070.2014.896720
Abstract:	This paper examines the practice of ukuthwala, a kind of abduction marriage that occurs in some rural communities in South Africa, notably in the Eastern Cape. While this issue has recently been debated in the legal sphere and in the popular media, these discussions lack grounding in the lived experience of people in communities where ukuthwala is practised. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, this paper discusses ukuthwala as a contemporary practice. The author shows that ukuthwala is a site of negotiation over rights to gender equality in rural communities, which have long been socially stratified according to gender and generation. As such, the auhor shows that ukuthwala is a site of anxiety over changing structures of gender power and generational authority. Questions of pragmatic concern for public health in relation to ukuthwala are also raised. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]