Cultural Anthropology

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The role of Culture

Culture has often been used to defend the treatment given to other people who are considered inferior in society. Culture is used against those that are powerless to benefit those in authority. We have even gone to the extent of saying it is ‘African Culture’ when we know that we are losing nothing. The question that one could ask is that; does culture really oppress, discriminate and marginalise people. What is culture in any way? According to Kinoti, “Culture is the totality of any given society’s way of life. It comprises a people’s total social heritage, including languages, ideas, habits, beliefs, customs social organization and traditions, art and symbolism, crafts and artifacts (1996:63). In this definition of culture, women play a significant role in transmitting culture to their children generation after generation.

Patrilineal culture

This is practiced in the Northern region of Malawi and some districts in the Southern region. The men own Land in patrilineal systems. Women move after marriage to go and live in their husband’s home. Men in this system of culture are most often the leaders and decision makers. Men have the right to own land and children. In many cases having sons is seen as more of a blessing to the family than having daughters, because it is believed that sons will bring wealth to the family to continue to prosper, while the daughter will get married and move to the husband’s home. Tschirhart et al adds that; “Women can only access land through their husbands and sons. Upon divorce from the husband, the woman loses rights to cultivate her field and has to return to her own village. Upon the death of the husband, the woman, as long as she is unmarried, can use the land her husband owned. As she grows old and as the sons grow old, she shares the land with her sons and may be squeezed out of the land” (2016:137). This means that a widow after the death of her husband has no land. In a country where people highly depend on subsistence farming for a 41 living, this can make the widow lose everything and have nothing to live on for food and thus lives in poverty.

Matrilineal system

According to this system, land is passed on to daughters. When a woman gets married, her husband is expected to come and live with her in her home village. He is given a space by the uncle or brother to build his house. The marriage will make her own land inherited from her mother or from her grandmother. Even though she has the right to own land, her uncle or brother as the custodian of the family clan (mwini mbumba) makes some decisions. Even though she has these advantages, the husband is the head of the family and controls whatever happens to the proceeds of the farmland. Phiri explains the way the Chewa matrilineal system used to work and says; 42 “Historically in matrilineal society, a woman was looked upon as root of lineage (tsinde) and dependant (mbumba).

Cultural Anthropology

The study has discussed the culture of Malawi and how it affects women and widows in particular. This section will continue to look at culture and how the values and beliefs affect humanity. According to the Dictionary of Feminist Theology, Lummis explains that; “Cultural anthropology is the study of cultures of various groups over time and how their values and beliefs interrelate and change” (1996:9). Some of the cultural beliefs have changed with time but there are still some that resist change. This is so because of the socialization process that people go through that makes them think that it is the accepted norm. Parents, especially the mother, play an important role in the upbringing of children. There are basics and life skills that children learn from their mother. This basic knowledge is supposed to be given to children regardless of gender. However, in many cases the female child is expected to learn more of the life skills than the boy child does.

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Biblical Hermeneutics

The Bible is the source of knowledge and wisdom. The Christian church has it as a manual on Christian faith. The Bible has many passages that illustrate God’s love to his people. Many passages talk about God’s care for widows. God as the creator of the universe acknowledges the plight of widows and is ready to deliver them from such misfortunes. The problem with the Christian community is that we take the Bible literally. It has been misinterpreted and misrepresented when discussing God’s purpose for humanity. It is read in favour of those that are in power and benefit from the passages read. This understanding of the Bible calls for the Christian church to re-read the Bible through the eyes of those that are oppressed so that they can see the love of God in their struggles.

The role of the Church

The church is the body of Christ called to care for God’s people and to bring human dignity to all. People join the church for different reasons. The common reason is that people want the church to care for them when they are in need. The church is seen as a safe place where people can go to without being harmed or discriminated against. “We, as a faith community, can be the safe place that people are intuitively 56 searching for” (Holmes and Williams, 2007:13). Unfortunately, the church has been too slow to offer such support. She has allowed culture to control the wellbeing of its members making them suffer. Widows suffer because the church is far from them. As a place of safety, the church is called to holistically look at some of the cultural practices that widows go through and see how these can be changed. The harmful practices that leave the widow a victim. Shisanya agrees that the church has not been able to address some of the critical issues that affect its members and in this case widows. She comments to say that; “The Church as a major liberating agent should show practical commitment to the oppressed and work for their fruitful future. In this regard, the Church needs to address itself to various issues that affect (Abaluhyia) women in the event of death” (1996:192).

Table of Contents :

  • CHAPTER ONE
  • INTRODUCTION
    • 1.1 Background of the study
    • 1.2 Problem Statement
      • 1.3.1 Qualitative Method
      • 1.3.2 Interviews:
    • 1.4 Preliminary Literature Review
    • 1.5 Motivation of the study
    • 1.6 Aim of the Research
    • 1.7 Objectives
    • 1.8 Hypothesis
    • 1.9 Research Gap
    • 1.10 Significance of the Study
    • 1.11 Limitations
    • 1.12 Provisional Chapter Outline
    • LITERATURE REVIEW
    • 2.1 Introduction
    • 2.2 Widowhood Experiences
    • 2.3 Rituals
    • 2.4 The role of Culture
      • 2.4.1 Cultural practices in Malawi
        • 2.4.1.1 Patrilineal culture
        • 2.4.1.2 Matrilineal system
      • 2.4.2 Patriarchy
    • 2.5 Cultural Anthropology
    • 2.6 Biblical Hermeneutics
    • 2.7 The role of the Church
  • CHAPTER THREE
  • METHODOLOGY
    • 3.1 Introduction
    • 3.2 Methodology
    • 3.3 Theoretical Framework
    • 3.4 Qualitative Method
      • 3.4.1 Interviews
      • 3.4.2 Unstructured Interviews
      • 3.4.3 Semi-structured
      • 3.4.4 Group/Focus group interviews
    • 3.5 Narrative
    • 3.6 Case Study
    • 3.7 Sampling
      • 3.7.1 Purposeful sampling
    • 3.8 Analysing Research Data
    • 3.9 Healing Therapy
    • 3.10 Ethical Consideration
    • Preliminary Conclusion
    • WIDOWHOOD IN THE MALAWIAN CONTEXT
    • 4.1 Introduction
    • 4.2 Death of a Husband
    • 4.3 Cultural Practices
      • 4.3.1 Shaving and Bathing Rituals
      • 4.3.2 Other Rituals
        • 4.3.2.1 The use of herbs and old plates
        • 4.3.2.2 The sleeping Place
        • 4.3.2.3 Widowhood Cleansing
        • 4.3.2.4 End of Mourning
  • 4.4 Widowhood Inheritance
  • 4.5 Impact on Children
  • 4.6 Trauma, Pain and Stigma
  • 4.6.1 Trauma
  • 4.7 Lonely and Isolated
  • 4.8 In-laws
  • 4.9 Role played by Women
  • 4.10 Christian Teaching and Prophetic Role
  • 4.11 Presence and Role of the Church
  • 4.12 Long term effects of Widowhood Experiences
    • 4.12.5 Gender- Based Violence Preliminary Conclusion
  • CHAPTER FIVE
  • INTERVIEWS
  • CHAPTER SIX
  • RESULTS and HEALING FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
    • Appendix A: Letters
    • Appendix B: Liturgy for Malawi
    • Appendix C: Consent Letter
    • BIBLIOGRAGHY

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Widowhood within the Malawian Context: A pastoral care model

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