Introductory
Terms
Dowry:
Transfer of wealth from brides parents to bride
Bridewealth/Brideprice: Transfer of wealth from grooms kin
to brides kin
Jointure: Wealth settled on bride by grooms parents, in case
of grooms death
Polygyny: The marriage of one man to two or more women at the same
time
Polyandry: The marriage of one woman to two or more men at the
same time
Sororal: Of sisters (hence sororal polygyny = two or more sisters
married to one man)
Adelphic: Of brothers (hence adelphic polyandry = two or more brothers
married to one woman)
Levirate: "A custom whereby a woman preferably marries a brother
of her deceased husband" (reciprocal = sororate; widower marries
deceased wifes sister)
Marital Dissolution: Includes death, separation, divorce
Marital Stability: Many distinct meanings, including stable jural
relations irrespective of conjugal relations
Reference
Gluckman,
M., "Kinship and Marriage among the Lozi
", in Radcliffe-Brown,
A.R., & Forde, D. (eds) African Systems of Kinship and Marriage excerpts
in Goody, J., Ch.16, (eds) Kinship, Penguin
Goode, W.J., "Family Disorganization", in Merton, R.K. &
Nisbet, R.A., Contemporary Social Problems, excerpts in Anderson, M.,
Ch.21, (eds) Sociology of the Family, Penguin
Goody, J. & Tambiah, S.J., Part 1, in Bridewealth and Dowry
Hajnal, J. "European Marriage Patterns in Perspective" in Glass,
D., & Eversley, D., (eds) Population in History, partially reprinted
in Goody, J., Ch.10, (eds) Kinship, Penguin
Mitchell, J.C., "Social Change and the Stability of Marriage in Northern
Rhodesia" in Southall, A. (eds) Social Change in Modern Africa, and
reprinted in Goody, J., Ch.16, (eds) Kinship, Penguin
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