What does Marriage Mean to Each Gender of the Il-Chamus?- Husband-Wife Relationship of an East African Agro-Pastoral People

Abstract

The husband-wife relationship of the Il-Chamus, an agro-pastoral people living in northern Kenya, is analyzed from socio-economical and behavioral viewpoints. Described are: (1) acquisition and inheritance of property, division of labor, and wives' separation from their husbands in polygynous families; and (2) the husband's control of the wife's behavior, adultery, and legitimacy of children. By marriage, Il-Chamus husbands get wives' labor, which is indispensable for daily chores. By co-residence, they try to prevent wives from committing adultery, which endangers children's legitimacy. By marriage, wives getproperty, i.e. livestock and farms, to subsist on. It is not always necessary for them to co-reside with their husbands.