Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-28T07:55:49.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of Traditional Marriage Habits in Population Growth: the Case of Rural Eastern Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Alfred O. Ukaegbu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The demographic transition which occurred in the West before 1900 has been attributed to the practice of delayed marriage and a significant degree of celibacy (Hajnal, 1953; 1965). In Eastern Europe where this transition occurred much later, the nuptiality patterns have been associated with historical differences in control over the nuclear family by the extended family unit (Sklar, 1974). Sklar has noted that in the late marrying Czech, Baltic, and Polish provinces, nuclear families had long been residentially and economically separate from the wider kingroup, while in the early marrying Balkans, nuclear families were intertwined with ramified kin networks.

Résumé

LES HABITUDES MATRIMONIALES TRADITIONNELLES ET LEUR ROLE DANS LA CROISSANCE DEMOGRAPHIQUE

On examine ici la validité de l'affirmation selon laquelle une chute rapide de la natalité dans les pays en voie de développement aurait lieu si l'on accordait au comportement matrimonial de la population une importance beaucoup moins grande qu'aux programmes d'action (Glass, 1966: 211). Des recherches ont été effectuées au sujet du mariage traditionnnel ou mariage ‘naturel’ au sein d'une communauté traditionnelle type dans une zone rurale du Nigéria Oriental. Les croyances et les pratiques qui tendent clairement à maintenir un taux élevé de fertilité, mais dont les promoteurs des programmes d'action avaient peu tenu compte, sont présentées ici et comparées à la situation qui existait en Europe de l'Est vers les années 1900 et qui entraîna vraisemblablement un retard de la transition démographique.

Les résultats obtenus à partir de l'étude de cette communauté type indiquent que la nature même de l'institution matrimoniale et les croyances qui s'y rattachent, dans les zones rurales du Nigéria Oriental, risquent d'entraver les programmes de planning familial lorsque ceux-ci seront mis sur pied; parallèlement, ces éléments entraîneront le maintien d'un taux élevé de fertilité durant la période de transition. La conclusion qui se dégage de cette analyse est que, afin de réussir, les programmes d'action doivent tenir compte des habitudes matrioniales ‘naturelles’ qui ont cours dans les sociétés traditionnelles et les utiliser comme éléments complémentaires.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 1976 , pp. 390 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agbakoba, Justice. 1972. Law Reports, 1972. Enugu High Court, Enugu (Nigeria): 561 ff.Google Scholar
Coale, A. J., and Lorimer, F. 1968. ‘Summary of Estimates of Fertility and Mortality in Tropical Africa’. In Brass, W.et al. (eds.) Demography of Tropical Africa. Princeton University Press: 179–86.Google Scholar
Daramola, T.et al. 1968. ‘Survey of Attitudes in Nigeria Towards Family Planning’. In Caldwell, J., and Okonjo, C. (eds.) The Populations of Tropical Africa. London: Longmans: 401–9.Google Scholar
Dixon, Ruth B. 1971. ‘Explaining Cross-cultural Variations in Age at Marriage and Proportions Never Marrying’. Population Studies, xxv. 2, July: 215–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekanem, I. I. 1973. ‘Fertility in Eastern Nigeria’. Paper presented at the Workshop on Population Research in Africa, Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa, Lome (Togo).Google Scholar
Glass, D. V. 1966. ‘Fertility and Population Growth’. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (General), cxxix. 2.Google Scholar
Hajnal, John. 1953/1954. ‘Age at Marriage and Proportions Marrying’. Population Studies, vii. 2:111–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hajnal, John 1965. ‘European Marriage Patterns in Perspective’. In Glass, D. V. and Eversley, D. E. C. (eds.) Population in History. London: 101–43.Google Scholar
Heer, David M. 1972. ‘Economic Development and the Fertility Transition’. In Glass, D. V. and Revelle, R. (eds.) Population and Social Change. London: Arnold: 99–113.Google Scholar
Little, Kenneth and Price, Anne. 1967. ‘Some trends in Modern Marriage Among West Africans’. Africa, xxxvii. 4.Google Scholar
Angela, Molnos (ed.). 1973. Cultural Source Material for Population Planning in East Africa. Vol. 111 Beliefs and Practices. Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya p. 7.Google Scholar
Ohadike, Patrick O. 1968. ‘A Demographic Note on Marriage, Family and Family Growth in Lagos, Nigeria’. In Caldwell, J. and Okonjo, C., (eds.), The Population of Tropical Africa. London: Longmans: 99Google Scholar
Olusanya, P. O. 1969. ‘Rural-Urban Fertility Differentials in Western Nigeria’. Population Studies, xxiii. 3. November: 363–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, Hilary J. and Coale, A. J. 1969. ‘Estimates of Fertility and Mortality in Africa South of the Sahara’. Seminar on Population Growth and Economic Development, University College, Nairobi, 14–22 December.Google Scholar
Sklar, J. L. 1974. ‘The Role of Marriage Behaviour in Demographic Transition: The Case of Eastern Europe Around 1900’. Population Studies, xxviii. 2. July: 231–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uchendu, Victor C. 1965. The Igbo of South-East Nigeria, London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston: 11–21.Google Scholar
Ukaegbu, A. O. 1975. Marriage and Fertility in East Central Nigeria: a Case Study of Ngwa Igbo Women. Ph.D. thesis (London).Google Scholar
Van De Walle, Etienne. 1965. ‘An Approach to the Study of Fertility in Nigeria’. Population Studies, xix. 1. July: 5–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van De Walle, Etienne. 1968. ‘Fertility in Nigeria’. In Brass, W.et al. (eds.), The Demography of Tropical Africa, Princeton University Press: 214–5.Google Scholar