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The interplay of structure and agency: the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria
The payment of bridewealth is a near-universal cultural practice among the Igbos of SouthEast Nigeria. Bridewealth used to be a symbolic legitimator of marriage. However, its symbolism has been distorted by expensive items on marriage lists. In this context, bridewealth payment provides an excellent...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Public Law
2019
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| _version_ | 1867613269518188544 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Diala, Jane Chinonyerem |
| author2 | Smythe, Dee |
| author_browse | Diala, Jane Chinonyerem Smythe, Dee |
| author_facet | Smythe, Dee Diala, Jane Chinonyerem |
| author_sort | Diala, Jane Chinonyerem |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The payment of bridewealth is a near-universal cultural practice among the Igbos of SouthEast Nigeria. Bridewealth used to be a symbolic legitimator of marriage. However, its symbolism has been distorted by expensive items on marriage lists. In this context, bridewealth payment provides an excellent analytical tool for the structure-agency debate, which has, in varying degrees, engaged academic interest for centuries. Underlying this debate is the extent to which institutions determine human behaviour and its attendant power relations. While structure refers to the self-replicating, complex elements that sustain institutions, agency refers to the volitional, purpose-driven nature of human activities. In this debate, the structuralfunctionalist-Marxist view, symbolic interactionism, and complementarity view are prominent. From these views, this dissertation develops a needs-based approach to structure-agency interaction, arguing that a focus on the primacy of structure or agency obscures their underlying motivations. It posits that the structure-agency interaction is both the process and product of logical assessments and dialogue, which are driven by socio-economic needs. In the context of this framework, it explored one central question: In what ways do power relations play out in the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria? Using literature review, non-participant observation of bridewealth negotiations, and in-depth interviews of 47 key informants, it reveals an interdependent, complex web linking the custodians of culture with agentic tools such as wealth, religion, and education. Despite cultural inhibitions in spousal selection and bridewealth negotiation, prospective spouses have a range of creative tools for reducing exorbitant items on marriage lists, thereby deconstructing high bridewealth. These agentic tools are driven by socio-economic elements such as desire to marry, economic coercion, cohabitation, threat of extramarital pregnancy, and religious values. The study concludes that bridewealth negotiation reflects socio-economic dynamics within hybrid cultural spaces in which potential couples and their parents may navigate the powerful constraints of tradition or sustain tradition through their inaction. These socio-economic dynamics are so powerful that they produce widespread disregard for legislation limiting bridewealth amounts. The study’s findings demonstrate the ineffectiveness of a top-down approach to law, the value of policy sensitivity to people’s lived realities, and the importance of in-depth consultation in the formulation of legislation. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/30019 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:26.520Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Department of Public Law |
| publisherStr | Department of Public Law |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/30019 The interplay of structure and agency: the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria Diala, Jane Chinonyerem Smythe, Dee Moult, Kelley Structure, agency, bridewealth negotiation, needs assessment, power relations, Nigeria The payment of bridewealth is a near-universal cultural practice among the Igbos of SouthEast Nigeria. Bridewealth used to be a symbolic legitimator of marriage. However, its symbolism has been distorted by expensive items on marriage lists. In this context, bridewealth payment provides an excellent analytical tool for the structure-agency debate, which has, in varying degrees, engaged academic interest for centuries. Underlying this debate is the extent to which institutions determine human behaviour and its attendant power relations. While structure refers to the self-replicating, complex elements that sustain institutions, agency refers to the volitional, purpose-driven nature of human activities. In this debate, the structuralfunctionalist-Marxist view, symbolic interactionism, and complementarity view are prominent. From these views, this dissertation develops a needs-based approach to structure-agency interaction, arguing that a focus on the primacy of structure or agency obscures their underlying motivations. It posits that the structure-agency interaction is both the process and product of logical assessments and dialogue, which are driven by socio-economic needs. In the context of this framework, it explored one central question: In what ways do power relations play out in the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria? Using literature review, non-participant observation of bridewealth negotiations, and in-depth interviews of 47 key informants, it reveals an interdependent, complex web linking the custodians of culture with agentic tools such as wealth, religion, and education. Despite cultural inhibitions in spousal selection and bridewealth negotiation, prospective spouses have a range of creative tools for reducing exorbitant items on marriage lists, thereby deconstructing high bridewealth. These agentic tools are driven by socio-economic elements such as desire to marry, economic coercion, cohabitation, threat of extramarital pregnancy, and religious values. The study concludes that bridewealth negotiation reflects socio-economic dynamics within hybrid cultural spaces in which potential couples and their parents may navigate the powerful constraints of tradition or sustain tradition through their inaction. These socio-economic dynamics are so powerful that they produce widespread disregard for legislation limiting bridewealth amounts. The study’s findings demonstrate the ineffectiveness of a top-down approach to law, the value of policy sensitivity to people’s lived realities, and the importance of in-depth consultation in the formulation of legislation. 2019-05-10T11:14:52Z 2019-05-10T11:14:52Z 2018 2019-05-09T08:22:18Z Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30019 eng application/pdf Department of Public Law Faculty of Law |
| spellingShingle | Structure, agency, bridewealth negotiation, needs assessment, power relations, Nigeria Diala, Jane Chinonyerem The interplay of structure and agency: the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | The interplay of structure and agency: the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria |
| title_full | The interplay of structure and agency: the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria |
| title_fullStr | The interplay of structure and agency: the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria |
| title_full_unstemmed | The interplay of structure and agency: the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria |
| title_short | The interplay of structure and agency: the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria |
| title_sort | interplay of structure and agency the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in south east nigeria |
| topic | Structure, agency, bridewealth negotiation, needs assessment, power relations, Nigeria |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30019 |
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