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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
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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

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References

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