Kinship and family life of the Herero

Marriage and having children in marriage is ideal for Herero women, but regardless of that most Herero women give birth to out-of-wedlock children. Children are highly valued among the Herero, and motherhood is essential for womanhood. Because the age of marriage is high and for many women marriage is unattainable, women can not postpone giving birth until possible marriage and end up as single mothers. However, single motherhood among the Herero can not be defmed in the same way as in Western cultures. The Herero practice double descent, but regardless of patrilocal residence patrilineal descent is waning. Especially among women, matrilineal descent is emphasized. Children belong to the whole matrilineal descent group and especially help from brothers' and maternal uncles' is essential for single mothers. Children are also fostered out to close relatives. According to traditional custom women still often have children with their cross-cousins. In this way child gets support from its father and have close contacts with the father's family. Tensions rising from patrilocal residence form are alleviated by cross-cousin marriages

Author dc:creator

• Tanskanen, Kirsti

• Kinship
• Culture
• Herero
• Marriage
• Single mothers

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11070/266

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.unam.edu.na:11070/266