The Decline of Marriage in Namibia

Julia Pauli is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Her main research interests are gender and kinship studies, transnational migration, and class formation processes. She has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico (since 1995) and Namibia (since 2003). For "Anthropology Southern Africa" she co-edited a special issue on continuity and change in Southern African marriages with Rijk van Dijk (2016/2017).

»It is an intricate analysis of how transformations in Namibian marriage practices have been framed and structured by dramatic political and economic changes in the twentieth century, and thus how the vantage point ofmarriage is a productive tool from which to study how personal experiences reflect larger social shifts.« Rachel Spronk, African Studies Review, 63/4 (2020) »With its balanced discussion of the regional literature the monograph is a good read for social scientists doing research in the Southern African region and of value to anyone researching gender and family relations. In addition, it is an inspiration for anyone interested in class relationsin Africa.« Astrid Bochow, Anthropos, 115 (2020) »This is a rich and valuable study, offering a nuanced and historically sensitive approach to an important question.« Meredith McKittrick, H-Net-Reviews, 6 (2020) »This monograph provides a superb ethnography and a fruitful resource for understanding most of the core issues that revolve around marriage and the lack thereof in a Namibian community. It has much value as an anthropological study that indicates how new consumption patterns affect 'traditional institutions'.« Stephanie Rudwick, Modern Africa, 7/2 (2019) Besprochen in: Africa Spectrum, 55/1 (2020), Lena Kroeker Journal of Namibian Studies, 28 (2020), Henning Melber

»This monograph provides a superb ethnography and a fruitful resource for understanding most of the core issues that revolve around marriage and the lack thereof in a Namibian community. It has much value as an anthropological study that indicates how new consumption patterns affect traditional institutions.«