Considerable autonomy characterises brideprice and other strategies govern certain Dagaaba congeries
The fresh fee out of bridewealth occupies an essential position regarding the wedding techniques across ethnicities for the northern Ghana, and Dagaaba, Frafra and you will Builsa places. One of the Dagaaba, new bridewealth, kyeuri, mostly constitutes such as for example items due to the fact libi-pe?le (cowrie shells, look for Shape 1), fowls, tobacco cigarette and you can soda nuts. In some cases, the level of cowrie shells need to be consistent with whatever is actually purchased the latest bride’s mommy. Various other days, securities away from solidarity within family otherwise settlements of one’s bride to be and you may bridegroom lead to a decrease in the fresh fee, incase new bride’s agnatic kin determine that in past times the new groom’s members of the family billed a top brideprice to possess a married relationship, he could be browsing in addition to insist on an inflated percentage. Nevertheless, there are also standardised relationships costs along side Dagaaba setup. Currently, normally 2000 cowries, otherwise cash comparable, are usually acknowledged since the bridewealth into the Serekpere and its own environs. So it number means a great grave protection from an amount of 20,000 and you will a lot more than cowries that was recognized in identical urban area about 90s. When you look at the context out-of neoliberal economic formula, and you will dwindling farming production accounts within fragile environmental zone, all of our communications with gatekeepers revealed that the new cutback towards matter out-of cowries is meant to create relationship sensible. Which lack of the fresh bridewealth diverges about extremely commercialised repayments reported for the towns into the Ghana and you will in other places (Shope, Reference Shope 2006; Posel & Rudwick, Source Posel and you may Rudwick 2013). Significantly, brand new payment isn’t contingent upon brand new issues of bride to be, which is, perhaps the bride-to-be is highly knowledgeable, divorced, has considering delivery or perhaps not given that advertised in other places (Borgerhoff Mulder, Site Borgerhoff Mulder 1989, Site Borgerhoff Mulder 1995; Anderson, Site Anderson 2007). The fresh typical norms ruling the technique of bridewealth are set away in the event the negotiable aside from the brand new bride’s socio-monetary updates and/or quantity of liberties transmitted.
The former as well as begs on the behalf of the groom’s kinsmen when the the fresh bride’s family relations want to help you charges an expensive brideprice
Generally, a wedding liaison was a guy from the groom’s town just who has some affairs in the bride’s settlement. The fresh new dendeo prospects this new groom’s friends to the bride’s agnatic kin, first to help you officially inquire about their hand in matrimony and also to pay the brideprice. This new affairs of dendeo into the bride’s loved ones signify the latter are careful for the groom and his kin. As bridewealth might have been moved to and you can recognized by bride’s kin, the wedding union is made and you will legitimated.
The brand new bridewealth among Dagaaba, since the all over communities inside outlying north Ghana, was an intricate means of negotiations amongst the agnatic kin regarding new groom and bride and you may, typically, a third party, entitled a beneficial dendeo, a married relationship liaison
Normatively, the latest yirdandoo, the head of one’s family members, instead of the father of your own bride, ‘s the custodian of your own cowries introduced as relationships payments. During the a group talk inside the Nator, close Serekpere, appearing the fresh new character of your own direct of one’s clan, Mwinyella, research fellow member, told me, pointing to his paternal sibling who’s your face away from their clan, that: ‘which man are dad and therefore while i wed it was his obligations in order to [afford the bridewealth] having me’. Yet, to possess group instead info appointed due to the fact bridewealth, the newest bridegroom and his awesome agnatic kin have the effect of raising it. Anderson ( Reference Anderson 2007: 159) reports https://getbride.org/no/blog/amerikanske-kvinner-kontra-europeiske-kvinner/ one in the configurations across Africa, the marriage commission try normatively raised because of the groom’s ‘father, parent and you may father’s brothers, with mother’s brothers while making short contributions’. It changes, to some degree, throughout the Dagaaba account shown here. Yet , they resonates which have bridewealth techniques certainly one of some Frafra congeries, where normatively the newest groom’s dad and you may father’s brothers are responsible for paying the bridewealth and where he could be unable to raise they this new groom converts so you can their father’s otherwise mom’s brothers getting help.