RE-ALIGNING THE SELF: THE NDEBELE WOMAN AND THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY AS PRESENTED IN NDEBELE MYTHOLOGY

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Siziba ◽  
F Wood
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
The Self ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Family ◽  
Christian Myth ◽  
And Gender

 This article sets out to discuss the role of the Ndebele woman within the various institutions of Ndebele culture. It analyses the woman within the context of marriage, family and society as a whole. The researchers trace the development of the woman from a pre-colonial context as reflected in the Ndebele myth of creation, through a colonial context as reflected by contemporary mythology as well as by the contemporary roles of women in most societies. It is through mythology, folklore and proverbs in Ndebele traditional and contemporary society that gender roles are prescribed. This is because orature is the bank that houses society’s history, norms, values and customs. This research therefore investigates the role of the Ndebele woman within the institution of marriage, and within the family structure. It also analyses the presentation of the roles of Ndebele women and men in society, with particular emphasis on domestic and gender roles. In doing so, the article addresses the notion that gender roles did not begin to change during the post-colonial era since that change began in the colonial context and then developed and affected women right through the post-colonial phase. This article reveals this crisis through the juxtaposition of the colonial ‘Christian’ myth of creation and the Ndebele myth of creation.

6. The role of identity in African politics

2018 ◽  
pp. 68-80
Author(s):  
Ian Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
African Politics ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Family ◽  
Colonization Period

‘The role of identity in African politics’ explains that identity politics are symptoms of Africa’s underdevelopment, not the cause, and the prominence of such political mobilization reflects much deeper structural problems facing many post-colonial states. Before the colonial era, African societies were based on notions of identity, such as the family, ancestral lineage, the clan, or the community. Colonial rule forced together different communities (some of which were traditionally hostile to each other) and was mainly responsible for producing the situation found today where very few nation states exist. Colonial authorities concretized differences among and between the subjugated and the de-colonization period further contributed to the politicization of identity.

Families on the Move: The Changing Role of Afghan Refugee Women in Iran

Hawwa ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homa Hoodfar
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
Resistance Movements ◽  
New Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
Tribal Societies ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Women's Role

AbstractIn their attempts to "modernize" and bring about socio-economic change, Afghan governments have been preoccupied with restructuring the institutions of marriage and family, and women's role within them, since the 1880s. Serious commitment to introduce legal reform and democratize the family and gender roles cost King Amanullah his throne (1919–1929). From 1930 to 1976 the government attempted a gradual approach introducing reforms piecemeal which had little impact beyond the capital and major cities. After the coup d'état in 1973 and the installation of socialism, the regime introduced a new family decree (known as Number 7) in October 1978 and aggressively pursued women's education and the reform of family laws. This policy incensed the conservative communities and tribal societies, who rebelled against the government; the ensuing Russian occupation brought about the resistance movements and subsequent civil war that has wreaked havoc on Afghanistan for more than two decades. Many conservatives who had tried to resist the intended changes regarding family law and education for girls and "protect" their women, who represented the males honor, decided to leave the country with their families. More than six million Afghans moved to neighboring countries, mostly to Iran and Pakistan. Examining data collected among Afghan refugees in Iran from 1999 to 2002, this paper argues that, ironically, living in exile has brought about the very changes resistance to which had forced them into the refugee situation. Forced to cope with a crisis situation, they developed economic and social survival strategies that altered women's role. Moreover, that exposure to an Islamic society very different from their own brought about structural and ideological changes in the family and in gender roles which legal reforms in Afghanistan had failed to induce. Given the considerable size of the refugee population in Iran (but also in Pakistan and elsewhere) and the destruction of the old fabric(s) of Afghan society, this paper argues that these changes may be irreversible.

Complex transformation of divorce in Vietnam under the forces of modernization and individualism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Tran Thi Minh Thi
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Data ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Rural Districts ◽  
The North ◽  
Complex Transformation ◽  
The Family ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
Annual Population ◽  
And Gender

Abstract After more than four decades since its reunification since 1975, Vietnam has achieved remarkable results in social and economic development. With the rapid speed of recent modernization, society has loosened numerous old values related to the family and promoted individual freedoms. Marriage and family affairs, including divorce, have modernized with liberal characteristics. The paper examines the trends of divorce and reasons for divorce using statistical data from the Vietnam People's Supreme Court and from the government's annual population statistics. The analysis compiled and analysed a database of every divorce case at six urban and rural districts in Can Tho province. The analysis highlights changes in the reasons for divorce in the South in comparison with previous divorce studies in the North of Vietnam, discussed in relation to modernization, individualism and gender equality. The analysis is supported by interview data with thirty male and female divorcees.

scholarly journals “I Am Not Good at Any of This.” Playing with Homoeroticism in The Arabian Nights

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 480
Author(s):  
Frank G. Bosman
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Self ◽  
French Translation ◽  
The West ◽  
Arabian Nights ◽  
Safe Environment ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Cross Dressing ◽  
And Gender

The story collection known in the West as The Arabian Nights or One Thousand and One Nights, is famous, among other things, for its erotic playfulness. This eroticism was (and is) one of the key reasons for its continuous popularity after Antoine Galland’s French translation in 1704. The Arabian Nights includes, besides traditional, heterosexual acts, play, and desires, examples of homoerotic playfulness—even though we must tread lightly when using such Western concepts with an oriental text body such as this one. The homoerotic playfulness of The Arabian Nights is the subject of this article. By making use of a text-immanent analysis of two of the Nights’ stories—of Qamar and Budûr and of Alî Shâr and Zumurrud—the author of this article focuses on the reversal of common gender roles, acts of cross-dressing, and, of course, homoerotic play. He will argue that these stories provide a narrative safe environment in which the reader is encouraged to “experiment” with non-normative sexual and gender orientations, leaving the dominant status quo effectively and ultimately unchallenged, thus preventing the (self-proclaimed) defenders of that status quo from feeling threatened enough to actively counter-act the experiment.

Family dynamics and gender perspective influencing copreneurship practices

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mário Franco ◽  
Patricia Piceti
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Family Dynamics ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Business Success ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
And Gender

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the family dynamics factors and gender roles influencing the functioning of copreneurial business practices, to propose a conceptual framework based on these factors/roles. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, a qualitative approach was adopted, through the analysis of seven businesses created by copreneurial couples in an emerging economy – Brazil. Data were obtained from an open interview with each member of the selected couples who are in charge of firm management. Findings The empirical evidence obtained shows that the most important factors for successful copreneurial family businesses are professionalization, dividing the couple’s tasks and business management. Trust, communication, flexibility and common goals are other essential relational-based factors for the good functioning of this type of family business and stability in the personal relationship. Practical implications It is clear that professionalization and the separation of positions and functions are fundamental for a balance between business management and the couple’s marital life. When couples are in harmony and considering factors such as trust, communication and flexibility (relational-based factors), the firm’s life-cycle and business success become real and more effective. Originality/value From the family dynamics factors and gender roles, this study focused on one of the most important and integrated family firm relationships, copreneurial couples. As there is little research on the heterogeneity of family firms runs specifically by copreneurial couples, this study is particularly important and innovative in the context of a developing economy, such as Brazil. Based on empirical evidence, this study was proposed an integrative and holistic framework that shows the functioning of copreneurial businesses practices.

Vietnamese Weddings

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thuc-Doan T. Nguyen ◽  
Russell Belk
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Historical Role ◽  
And Gender

This article examines the historical role of marriage and wedding rituals in Vietnam, and how they have changed during Vietnam’s transition to the market. The authors focus on how changes reflect the society’s increasing dependence on the market, how this dependence impacts consumer well-being, and the resulting implications for public policy. Changes in the meanings, function, and structure of wedding ritual consumption are examined. These changes echo shifts in the national economy, social values, social relations, and gender roles in Vietnamese society during the transition. The major findings show that Vietnamese weddings are reflections of (1) the roles of wedding rituals as both antecedents and outcomes of social changes, (2) the nation’s perception and imagination of its condition relative to “modernity,” and (3) the role of China as a threatening “other” seen as impeding Vietnam’s progress toward “modernization.”

scholarly journals Familial Support as a Determinant of Women Career Development: A Qualitative Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 76-81 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
Sampling Procedure ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Familial Support ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Family ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Balance Family

Although women’s participation in the workforce has increased remarkably in recent times but women are still lagging behind because of the traditional thinking and attitudes of their families in the context of Bangladesh. The purpose of the current study was to explore the role of the family in shaping women’s career development. The study was conducted in a qualitative approach and it was exploratory in nature. The study was conducted during November-December, 2019 in Khulna division, Bangladesh. The purposive sampling procedure was used to select the 25 respondents of the study. The respondents constituted of working women from different professions. Primary data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews extending from 35 to 45 minutes. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis method and nine themes emerged from the transcripts. The emerged themes were acceptance and aspiration from family, spousal support, being a mother, grown-up children as helping hands, family and work balance, family as a social network, family as a barrier, family as a lever, and gender inequality. This research highlighted the fact that women’s career practices and its development depended highly on familial roles. The family possesses the ability to affect women’s career success both positively and negatively. The study revealed that women who received positive support from their families were more motivated and achieved greater success in their professional life. Family can serve both as a lever as well as a barrier in shaping a woman’s career.

scholarly journals Public Performance of Private Interviews: Reinserting the Self into the Family Narrative

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
Alina Predescu
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Live Performance ◽  
Public Performance ◽  
Home Movies ◽  
Surgical Tool ◽  
Family Photographs ◽  
Family Narrative ◽  
The Family ◽  
Private And Public

Serban Oliver Tataru and Alfred Guzzetti are filmmakers that investigate on camera the role of memory in the construction of family history. They interview family members, gather old home movies and family photographs, and dig for public archival footage, in an effort to assume their position within a personal historical continuum, and to affirm their agency within their familial community. In their creative affirmation of generational subjectivity, they push against accepted familial narratives, and use the camera as a surgical tool that troubles lingering wounds beyond the surface of old images. In Anatomy of a Departure (2012), Romanian-German filmmaker Serban Oliver Tataru interviews his parents about their decision to emigrate from Ceausescu’s Romania while he was a teenager, scrutinizing on camera the conditions and consequence of a life-changing decision. While the dynamic of filming one’s own family is reminiscent of home movie tropes, and the tension built around sharing delicate memories reveals an intimacy usually intended to remain private, the film proposes a multilayered performance of the authorial self. As the film reveals a self-portrait set against the familial portrait (Marianne Hirsch), an inherent performative element acts as the necessary mediator between private and public, between ethic, aesthetic and politic. Negotiating between a restorative and a reflective nostalgia (Svetlana Boym), Tataru proposes a live performance of homecoming.

Same-Sex Relationships

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna L. Grossman ◽  
Lawrence M. Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Family Law ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Traditional Marriage ◽  
The Right ◽  
Constitutional Analysis

This chapter describes what might be the last battleground over “traditional” marriage—same-sex marriage, and the social and legal revolution that brought us from an era in which it was never contemplated to one in which, depending on the state, it is either expressly authorized or expressly prohibited. Same-sex marriage has posed—and continues to pose—a challenge to traditional definitions of marriage and family. But, more importantly, the issue implies broader changes in family law—the increasing role of constitutional analysis; limits on the right of government to regulate the family; and the clash between the traditional family form and a new and wider menu of intimate and household arrangements, and all this against the background of the rise of a stronger form of individualism.

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