The Great African Weddings: A Study of the Importance of Marriage in the African Tradition through Novels (original) (raw)

Most of the study of African literature has largely been the domain of post-colonial theorists and any other aspects like the social setup, gender studies or human relationships have found lesser space for themselves as subject of in-depth study. Even the most vocal writers, who through their works might appear like iconoclasts, remain traditionally, distinctly patriarchal in their personal approach, supportive of motherhood and focused on issues of bread, butter, culture and power. But what has gone largely unnoticed in literary criticism is the strong socio-cultural roots of the Africans, especially related to marriage –the primary denominator of an aesthetically evolved civilized society. Marriage has been one of the most binding instrumentsof social cohesion and strong inter-personal relationships not only between two individuals, but their family, clan and community as well. The African wedding, that can come to pass through various means –love, arrangement, barter, inheritance or even capture, are all equally sacrosanct and have the involvement of the whole community from its initiation till the end, if at all there be a case. This article looks to study the relevance of marriage and its integration in the African society through the novels of the likes of Buchi Emecheta, Elechi Amadi, Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.