The Pragmatics of persuasive in Sesotho bride price discussion

This study is based on the investigation of the pragmatics of persuasive in Sesotho bride price discussions. The study was informed by Austin’s (1962), and Searle’s (1969) speech act theory, and politeness theory. Different linguistic expressions that denote persuasion and various classes of persuasive are used to analyse some insinuations of persuasive expressions function. This is a qualitative study which utilised different methods to collect data. Ten (10) bride price discussion meetings, as well as ten (10), structured interviews from the study areas of Leribe (ButhaButhe and Hlotse) and Berea (Teyateyaneng) districts in Lesotho were conducted. The study revealed that the speakers used various linguistic expressions to reach an agreement. The expressions used were comprehensible to the people sharing the same cultural background context.

The Brides of Boko Haram: Economic Shocks, Marriage Practices, and Insurgency in Nigeria

Marriage markets in rural Nigeria are characterised by bride price and polygamy. These customs may diminish marriage prospects for young men, causing them to join militant groups. Using an instrumental variables strategy, I find that marriage inequality increases civil conflict in the Boko Haram insurgency. To generate exogenous shocks to the marriage market, I exploit the fact that young women delay marriage in response to favourable pre-marital economic conditions, which increases marriage inequality primarily in polygamous villages. The same shocks that increase marriage inequality and extremist violence also lead women to marry fewer and richer husbands, generate higher average marriage expenditures, and increase insurgent abductions. The results shed light on the marriage market as an important driver of violent extremism.

Matrimonial Typology in the Mongolian Heroic Epic, J̌angγar

The Mongolian heroic epic J̌angγar cycles include many independent chapters, which are all connected to the deeds of the king, J̌angγar qaγan and his warriors. N. Poppe, A. S. Kichikov, W. Heissig and Rinčindorǰi studied the structure and pattern of the Mongolian heroic epics and agreed that matrimony is a notable pattern in Mongolian epics. The marriage of Qongγor is a classical story which reflects the typology of matrimony. In this article, I analyse the chapters describing different versions of the marriage of Qongγor in Kalmyk, Mongolia and Xinjiang. In the epic, the hero’s marriage follows the monogamous pattern, and a horse and a knife are presented as signs of engagement. This is evidence of the bride-price system. In addition, the custom of competition for the bride and the exogamy are the most notable features of the matrimonial system described in J̌angγar.

Genderized Implications of Bride Pricing Culture in Igbo Land

The study aims at ascertaining the actual implication of bride pricing system in traditional marriages in Igbo land. A total of fifty respondents (thirty women and twenty men) from the five states that make up the southeast zone in Nigeria were selected for the study. Being a qualitative research, the study adopted the ethnographic research design and employed a purposive non-probability sampling method in selecting the respondents. The study made use of focused group discussions, unstructured interview and participants’ observation method as instruments of data collection. The collection of data lasted for a period of six months from June 2020 to November 2020. The research is anchored on Radical and Snail sense Feminism theories and data for the study were analysed using descriptive thematic method. Findings from the study reveal that payment of bride price does not reduce women to mere commodities in Igbo land. It also reveals that it gives undue privileges to men in Igbo land among other findings. Finally, it was shown that Igbo men and women still regard bride price payment as an important aspect of their culture which should not be abolished.

Analysis of the Formation Mechanism of High Bride Price in Rural Areas in the Context of Rural Revitalization Strategy

The bride price, as a deeply influential marriage custom rooted in traditional Chinese society, is an important and indispensable procedure in the process of marriage conclusion. The existence of bride price in the rural society is not wrong, but the high bride price has brought many inconveniences to the farmers’ life. This paper selects X village in south Henan as the research object, and conducts an in-depth investigation on the marriage culture of the village by using literature research and interview method, and makes a detailed interpretation of the bride price and wedding customs in the village, analyzes the inevitability of the existence of “high bride price”, and then concludes that the imbalance of the gender ratio of marriageable men and women, the change of the main body to which the bride price belongs, the parents’ The four reasons for this are: the imbalance in the gender ratio of marriageable men and women, the change in the main body of the bride price, the unlimited parental support, and the influence of “face” of rural people. “As a prevalent phenomenon, we should deal with it rationally and find appropriate ways to curb the high bride price.

Indigenous maize seed storage using buffalo dung ash practiced by smallholder farmers in Kisar Island

Kisar island is a small island located on the tip of Timor island. Corn is the main agricultural crop, and livestock husbandry also plays an important role in the livelihood of the farmers as a source of income, provide mainly manure for maintaining soil fertility. and in the local culture as a 'bride price' and for the exchange of goods. Considering periodical seasonal hazards, during eight months dry season people suffer from a serious shortage of water. Failure of the harvest is not an unusual phenomenon on the small, dry, eroded coral island. Seasonal pest invasion on maize cultivation threaten their seed security and food security. The objective of this review is to describe the validity of farmers’ indigenous knowledge (IK) of using buffalo dung as a preservative agent in maize storage and its relevancy in the contemporary living of farmers in the island. A phenomenological study was held in June to August 2018. The results showed that applying buffalo dung ash makes the maize dry faster, cleans and kills maize weevil and preserves the grain, It was concluded that the knowledge and practice is scientifically valid and benefited community in the past but has less relevancy to the contemporary living of the farmers in the island.

Polygamy, the Commodification of Women, and Underdevelopment

Family systems shape social institutions, yet they are rarely considered in histories of economic development. In this article, we show that a suite of social conventions—such as age gaps at marriage, bride price, sequestration, and discrimination and violence against women—are overrepresented in polygamous societies as compared to monogamous societies. This dichotomy can be explained on the grounds that polygamy produces a chronic scarcity of marriageable females. We argue that this suite, which we call gamos and which we quantify by two different methods, has demonstrably significant consequences for social, institutional, and economic development.