A1 Journal article (refereed)
Motives and Agency in Forced Marriage among the Urban Poor in Tanzania (2020)
Stark, L. (2020). Motives and Agency in Forced Marriage among the Urban Poor in Tanzania. Ethnos, 85(1), 124-144. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2018.1559214
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Stark, Laura
Journal or series: Ethnos
ISSN: 0014-1844
eISSN: 1469-588X
Publication year: 2020
Volume: 85
Issue number: 1
Pages range: 124-144
Publisher: Routledge
Publication country: United Kingdom
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2018.1559214
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/66879
Abstract
Using the method of third-person elicitation and 171 interviews in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, I examine one form of forced marriage, ‘marriage on the mat’ (ndoa ya mkeka). In it, girls’ parents use the normative pressure of Islamic norms to circumvent the groom’s lack of consent to the marriage and promote their daughter’s future economic security. Premarital sex and forced marriage, rarely examined together, are often causally linked and provide strong motives for parents to resort to ndoa ya mkeka. In an urban context where girls’ and women’s income-earning possibilities are limited to transactional sex, marriage at a young age is often the only way to embody the culturally approved behaviours of both economic self-sufficiency and sexual modesty. Findings indicate that coercive practices do not necessarily rule out the agency of those coerced; similarly in forced marriage parents are not always oppressors and daughters are not always the victims.
Keywords: forced marriage; poverty; human agency
Free keywords: Africa; agency; transactional sex
Contributing organizations
Related projects
- Urban Renewal and Income-Generating Spaces for Youth and Women in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Stark, Laura
- Research Council of Finland
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2020
JUFO rating: 3