The Myths of Polygamy: A History of Extra-Marital and Multi-Partnership Sex in South Africa

Delius, Peter; Glaser, Clive

doi:10.1080/02582470409464797

Cited by 38 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…In the HIV/AIDS literature on South Africa, explanations of the high incidence of HIV among black South Africans are often reduced to describing suspect behaviours and beliefs, particularly ‘traditional’ patterns assumed to be handed down in some way from the past. Delius and Glaser () provide a useful critique of those attempts to derive the causes of the high incidence of HIV in KwaZulu‐Natal directly from the importance of polygyny in Zulu culture or from the destabilizing impact of labour migration. They then proceed, however, to suggest that male violence towards women is rooted in the traditional age‐set system and its link to power in the pre‐colonial Zulu political system (Delius and Glaser , 94).…”

Section: The Politics Of Afflictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land, Labour and the Production of Affliction in Rural Southern Africa

O'Laughlin¹

2012

Journal of Agrarian Change

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Section: The Politics Of Afflictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land, Labour and the Production of Affliction in Rural Southern Africa

O'Laughlin¹

2012

Journal of Agrarian Change

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“…They find abundant evidence that polygamy was widespread in pre-colonial southern Africa. In 1850, Livingstone, for example, conducted a survey among 278 married Tswana; he found that 43% were polygamous (Delius & Glaser, 2004). The level of polygamy was typically lower than this, however; in most societies it was only a minority of males who married polygamously.…”

Section: The Origins Of Different Partnering Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Delius & Glaser's (2004) study on the 'history of extra-marital and multi-partnership sex in South Africa' is instructive in this regard. They find abundant evidence that polygamy was widespread in pre-colonial southern Africa.…”

Section: The Origins Of Different Partnering Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Why do some South African ethnic groups have very high HIV rates and others not?

Kenyon

Zondo

2011

African Journal of AIDS Research

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The differences in HIV prevalence between South Africa's racial/ethnic groups (19.9%, 3.2%, and 0.5% among 15-49-year-old blacks, coloureds and whites, respectively) are as big as those between the countries with the highest and lowest levels of HIV prevalence worldwide. These large racial/ethnic differences are largely determined by different sexual network structures. In networks among black South Africans, sexual partnerships are more likely to be arranged concurrently - a configuration that leads to exponential increases in the spread of HIV. An examination of the historical origins of polygamy (where it is normative for partnerships to be arranged concurrently) and monogamy (serial or lifetime) reveals that it is the practice of universal monogamy in stratified societies which is the outlier. The ideology and practice of universal monogamy originated in Europe as the result of several factors, most prominently conflicts between the Christian Church and the nobility. After its imposition in Europe, the European colonial project would see this ideology disseminated around the world. Under the influence of liberalism it would mutate into a secular and unacknowledged value-programme of monogamy as a universal norm. This value-programme and practice of monogamy (mostly serial) is still the norm for white South Africans; thus, this sexual behaviour 'spandrel' (by-product of other historical processes) is a large contributor to the lower levels of HIV prevalence among whites. In pre-colonial African societies, polygyny was normative, and the Christian value-programme of monogamy never achieved the hegemonic status it did in Europe and other areas of conquest. Married black African men who converted to Christianity were no less likely to have additional sexual partners, but only more likely to conceal them. The ongoing secrecy about having concurrent partners has contributed to the connectedness of sexual networks among black Africans at large and in this manner has contributed to the rapid spread of HIV.

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“…The historical record is clear that this did not lead to a reduction in the total number of concurrent partners, but only to the nonmain partners being kept secret. 11 Having main and more or less secret-extra partners is still widely practised and tolerated in the region. Authors who have provided evidence that these high concurrency rates lead to high-risk sexual networks in the region have, however, been portrayed as racist and 'crypto-racist' .…”

Section: Why Have Socio-economic Explanations Been Favoured Over Cultmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why have socioeconomic explanations been favoured over cultural ones in explaining the extensive spread of HIV in South Africa?

Kenyon

Colebunders

Dlamini

2012

South. Afr. j. HIV med.

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Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are transmitted via sexual networks, and differences in the structure of these networks constitute the key population-level parameter that determines differences in HIV prevalence. 1 The differences in HIV prevalence between South Africa's racial/ethnic groups (19.9%, 3.2% and 0.5% for 15 -49-year-old blacks, coloureds and whites respectively 2 are as big as those between the highest-and lowest-prevalence countries in the world. These large racial/ethnic differences are not related to individual level risk factors such as lifetime number of sexual partners, but are more likely determined by different sexual network structures.3 In African networks, sexual partnerships are more likely to be arranged concurrently, and this increases the interconnectedness of the sexual network in a non-linear fashion. Evidence from numerous sources and disciplines shows that these high concurrency rates are a key factor in driving high HIV transmission rates in southern and eastern Africa. Two main categories of factors have been advanced as being important in the promotion of these high concurrency rates: cultural and socio-economic factors. Socio-economic factors are unlikely to be the predominant determinants since neither HIV nor concurrency are contoured along the lines of poverty, at the level of countries or individuals. One of the few quantitative studies looking at the determinants of concurrency in South Africa found no relationship between income quintile and concurrency, but concurrency was more commonly practiced and accepted in black communities than among whites and coloureds. 5A literature review of the explanations for the striking differences in HIV spread by race in South Africa concluded that there was a strong bias favouring socio-economic explanations. 6 As an example, one of the premier textbooks on the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in South Africa argues that the reason why HIV prevalence rates differ between races is that 'marginalisation and discrimination on the basis of race and/or ethnicity are key factors influencing vulnerability to HIV infection.' 7 No evidence however was provided to back up this assertion. What is the explication for this bias? We argue that the playing down of cultural factors in the South African HIV aetiological literature is the result of an intersection of three factors. EXPLAINING THE UNDER-APPRECIATION OF CULTURAL FACTORS HIV'S EmERGENCE IN A TImE OF THE RESONANCE AND CONSTRUCTION OF NON-RACIALISmThe first factor relates to the post-apartheid context of the emergence of HIV. Notions of white racial and cultural superiority were central pillars of the apartheid ideology. An uncritical use of race as an analytical variable and on occasion frankly racist views would characterise much South African medical and public health enquiry during the apartheid period. HIV then emerged into prominence during the difficult period while South Africa was attempting to build a new dispensation based on non-racialism. Given this backdrop and the fact that HI...

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The Myths of Polygamy: A History of Extra-Marital and Multi-Partnership Sex in South Africa

Cited by 38 publications

References 0 publications

Land, Labour and the Production of Affliction in Rural Southern Africa

Land, Labour and the Production of Affliction in Rural Southern Africa

Why do some South African ethnic groups have very high HIV rates and others not?

Why have socioeconomic explanations been favoured over cultural ones in explaining the extensive spread of HIV in South Africa?

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