Agency, Social Status and Performing Marriage in Postcolonial Societies. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dery, Isaac; Bawa, Sylvia
• Is Part Of: Journal of Asian and African studies. Volume 54:Number 7(2019)
• Page Start: 980
• Page End: 994
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: Marriage -- Ghana -- Dagaaba -- gender -- patriarchy; Social change -- Africa -- Periodicals; Social change -- Asia -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Africa -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Asia -- Periodicals; Africa -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Asia -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Africa -- Periodicals; Asia -- Periodicals; 950
• DOI: 10.1177/0021909619851148
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-9096

Abstract

This article examines contextually-grounded perspectives on the socio-political significance of marriage in contemporary Ghanaian society. Drawing on qualitative interviews among men and women in northwestern Ghana, this article argues that, beyond historicizing the institution of monogamous marriage, women's agency in desiring, and navigating marriages are performatively agentic and tied to attaining a myriad of socio-cultural, economic and political capital. Situated within the constrained articulations of participants, our findings alert us to complex negotiations and manoeuvres through which men and women aspire for specific forms of masculinities and femininities within the larger gender hierarchies.