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Forbidden Fruit in the Compound: A Case Study of Migration, Spousal Separation and Group-Wife Adultery in Northwest Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Isidore Lobnibe
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Abstract

This paper explores the anthropological implications of the notion of adultery by showing how it can improve our understanding of a local debate about descent, migration and local responses to it, among communities belonging to the Dagara of northwestern Ghana. Using a case study of group-wife adultery, that is, a sexual affair between a man and the wife of a fellow member of the same patrilineal descent group in the context of male migration, the paper highlights the tension between a husband's sexual rights over his wife and those of his descent group over the wife's procreation. It further examines the rituals surrounding the resolution of the case and the arguments generated by it as a prism through which to view social change and Dagara social organization. An evaluation of the community views about spousal separation, the punishment associated with group-wife adultery and the multiple responses of its members to the offence is presented with ethnographic examples.

Résumé

Cet article s'intéresse aux implications anthropologiques de la notion d'adultère en montrant qu'elle peut nous aider à mieux comprendre un débat local sur la descendance, la migration et les réponses locales y afférents, au sein de communautés dagara du nord-ouest du Ghana. A partir d'une étude de cas d'adultère d'épouse de groupe (autrement dit, une liaison sexuelle entre un homme et l'épouse d'un membre du même groupe de descendance patrilinéaire) dans le contexte d'une migration masculine, l'article met en lumière la tension entre les droits sexuels d'un époux sur sa femme et ceux de son groupe de descendance sur la procréation de cette épouse. Il examine également les rituels qui entourent la résolution de l'affaire et les arguments qu'elle génère en tant que prisme d'observation de l'évolution sociale et de l'organisation sociale des Dagara. L'article présente au moyen d'exemples ethnographiques une évaluation des opinions de la communauté sur la séparation des époux, de la punition associée à l'adultère d'épouse de groupe et des multiples réponses de ses membres au délit.

Type
Articles
Information
Africa , Volume 75 , Issue 4 , November 2005 , pp. 559 - 581
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2005

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