Chapter 7: Marriage (Abbey Dahl)

Like many other topics in anthropology, reasons for marriage differ in all societies/cultures. Frankly this week I have been enlightened on all the kinds of marriages and family structures that are practiced all over the world. For example there are the Nuer in East Africa who participate in a patrilineal society, where, "all rights, privileges, obligations, and interpersonal relationships are regulated by kinship," (169) on the father's side of the family. Then there are the Hopi who are involved with the practice of matrilineal, where the mother is creates the strong ties within her family. It is remarkable the reasons why people marry. As in the article "What's Love Got to do With it", it discusses that in medieval times till almost the 19th century love was never incorporated in the reason to marry a person. Also, it was uncommon just to spend your life with just one partner in the beginning of time. I grew up to believe love was based off of finding a partner that you are strongly affectionate towards, and can spend the rest of your life with. Through schooling and reading many Jane Austen books I came to the realization that throughout history at times love was the last thing on family's minds when it came to a marriage. From the article, "Arranging a Marriage in India", we realize that it is a cultural tradition for some families to chose their son's wives or daughter's husbands. People married to strengthen their workforce at the home, for status in society, to keep up with ends meet, and/or to keep royalty in the blood line. The "What's Love Got to Do With It," even stresses how in China the word love had nothing to do with one's feelings and nothing to do with marriage. Over time the reason's for marriage drastically changed. After many centuries and religious battles, love became a huge part of the union between two people in the 1950's. But as anthropology studies, currently they have realized a change in marriage just after half a century. As throughly discussed in the article "Gay Marriage and Anthropology", the divorce rate is exponentially increasing, and blended families are becoming prominent in society. Overall the evolution of marriage changes, and is currently changing in many cultures. People are becoming far more accepting for certain kinds of family structures and it wonderful to see that.

Reading this chapter and these three articles has not really changed my perspective of marriage, but they have made me respect other cultures for their traditions. It is amazing how many family structures there are in the world, and the many reasons behind marriage it is all truly fascinating.