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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Seeking study and resisting marriage in exile
| Panel |
23. Family Dynamics an Migration: Tensions in Gender and Generation Relations
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| Paper ID | 571 |
| Author(s) |
Declich, Francesca
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | Forced migrations may change drastically the setting of peoples’ life therefore modifying patterns of behaviour, aspirations and capabilities. The Somali Zigula and Shanbara, nowadays so called Somali “Bantu”, have now lived in exile for some fifteen years and tensions between generations are clearly visible in many instances. Those who now live in Tanzania, for instance, have experienced a great change overall passing from a society where illiteracy was the most common condition to a country where literacy is the common base for people’s life both in rural and urban centres.
Tensions, therefore, arise between mothers and daughters and parents and children concerning aspirations in life. Particularly, parents used to see their children as a resource for their future while this is no longer obvious in urban African contexts where competition for jobs and salaries is high and educating children implies that parents support them for longer than in rural areas. Mothers cannot count on the support of their daughters as if they were living in an illiterate rural context. Mothers and fathers, therefore, see the projects of their lives failing while children do not see the wedding as the best possibilities for achieving what they seek in life.
This paper highlights some such tensions as they are shown among Somali “Bantu” in exile in two different countries, Tanzania (Dar es Salaam) and the US (San Diego).
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