Paper short abstract:

My paper focusses on the multiple and partly conflicting perspectives of rural and urban relatives on marriage decisions. It argues that the decision over the marriage of a girl does not only affect emotions of the involved bride and groom, but also emotions and perceptions of involved relatives.

Paper long abstract:

In the new literature on emerging middle classes and the respective changing life styles in Africa and elsewhere, there is little emphasis on the fact that the process of developing new urban life styles does also effect diverging life paths and future perspectives of close kin. Not only urban middle class households are developing new life standards, but also rural relatives. However, these standards as well as future visions and chances are heavily diverging. This creates new tensions and re-negotiations of the kinship relations that are also affecting marriage decisions.

On the basis of case studies from rural and urban Benin, my papers focusses on the multiple and partly conflicting perspectives of rural and urban relatives on marriage decisions. It argues that the decision over the marriage of a girl does not only affect emotions of the involved bride and groom, but also emotions and perceptions of involved relatives. From the perspective of urban people, rural relatives are often seen as "backwards" for not offering their girls urban perspectives in the future. At the same time, rural kin are arguing that they have to make sure proper rural marriages for their daughters and sons in order to fulfill the normative expectations of their environment. I explain the emotional and social dynamics of these negotiations about the "right" marriage of girls with a re-reading of Jennifer Johnson-Hanks´ concept of "vital conjunctures".