Marriages and the Condition of Married Women

Abstract

The intersection of tradition and modernity is perhaps best exhibited in the institution of marriage. In a society where the role of women and family are central components in the debate over modernization, marriage encompasses both major factors and lends itself to playing an integral role in determining one’s identity, so much so that our Christian village saw endogamy as commonplace to preserve a common identity among village dwellers. Furthermore, the customs surrounding marriage—the ceremony, the material exchange, and even the negotiation between families—provided an opportunity for families to relate to one another as they came together to celebrate a common custom in their common way. The practice—as both a religious and social affair—reinforces group identities, and as it has changed over time, the way that groups relate to one another has also been forced to evolve.

Regional Overview

Dans toutes les sociétés paysannes, les choix matrimoniaux et la maîtrise de la terre sont les occasions privilégiées de développer des stratégies savantes et de longue haleine, puisque ce sont les deux occasions principales ou une incertitude est introduite dans le système des rapports sociaux … Une stratégie d’alliances matrimoniales et de maîtrise de la terre menée habillement et avec persévérance au cours de plusieurs générations assure a un lignage prééminence, pouvoir et éventuellement contrôle sur la collectivité, tandis que des mariages inconsidérés et une gestion inattentive du patrimoine entrainent inévitablement le dépérissement d’un lignage aussi bien pourvu qu’il soit à l’origine.¹

In all country-dweller societies, the matrimonial choices and the control of the land are the privileged occasions to develop masterly and long-term strategies, because they constitute the two main circumstances of creating uncertainty in the social relations system … A strategy of matrimonial alliances and control of the land, conducted with ability and perseverance throughout generations, ensure preeminence to a lineage as well as power, and eventually control over the collectivity, whereas unconsidered marriages and a distracted management of the patrimony inevitably engender the wasting away of a lineage, as flushed with success the lineage could originally be.