Despite international human rights decrees condemning it, marriage by force persists to this day. In this volume, the editors bring together legal scholars, anthropologists, historians, and development workers to explore the range of forced marriage practices in sub-Saharan Africa.
Annie Bunting is a professor in the law and society program at York University, teaching in the areas of social justice and human rights. She is coeditor of Marriage by Force? Contestation over Consent and Coercion in Africa and Contemporary Slavery: The Rhetoric of Global Human Rights Campaigns. Benjamin N. Lawrance is an author and editor of eleven books, and editor in chief of the African Studies Review. He is professor of History at the University of Arizona. Richard L. Roberts directs the Center for African Studies at Stanford University. His books include Trafficking in Slavery’s Wake: The Experience of Women and Children in Africa, edited with Benjamin N. Lawrance.
“This fascinating collection addresses the important problem of
determining what forced marriage is through the perspective of
historical studies of marriage from precolonial through
postcolonial eras in Africa. The essays destabilize any idea that
there is a simple dichotomy between forced and consensual marriage,
and show that calling forms of coerced marriage customary or
traditional ignores the extent to which tradition is constantly
subject to change.”
“Marriage by Force? pulls back the curtain and reveals the layers
of social structures, gender, resistance, and liberation which
manifest themselves when marriage is forced. The volume asks
pertinent questions about a continuum of coercion in war and peace.
Ultimately, the contributors have provided new perspectives on
marriage, where contestations exist, with regard to not only the
patriarchies of control of sexuality, the body and behavior, but
also over labor, belonging and longing.”
“This eloquent volume tackles age-old yet pressing problems of
coercion, gender, and marriage in present-day Africa. The authors
offer compelling case studies to demonstrate the deep-seated and
complex values that underpin the subordination of women and girls
and highlight the vulnerability of the female gender in the face of
a growing movement—in Africa and abroad—to address the problem.
This volume is a must-read for all those who teach, think, write,
and formulate laws and public policy about gender and
violence.”
“...This volume, dealing with one of the ‘more critical human
rights challenges in the twenty-first century sub-Saharan Africa’,
is a timely and useful contribution to a broader literature which
seeks to place gender-based violence into historical, social, and
cultural context. It ought to be essential reading for scholars and
practitioners engaging in work to analyse and intervene in
gender-based violence on the African continent and elsewhere.”
*Africa at LSE*
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