Abstract
This chapter explores how customary practices shape the process of becoming a father among amaXhosa men in South Africa. In the context of low marriage rates in South Africa, we focus on the customs for acquiring patrilineal affiliation outside of marriage. Based on in-depth interviews with amaXhosa unmarried fathers, the chapter outlines how fathering practices are shaped by customary practices that include relational negotiations with maternal and paternal families. The negotiations can generate tensions along the lines of lineage and seniority. Recognizing the power of customary processes and how they are negotiated through multiple actors allows us to explore the process of becoming a father and the often-hidden power that maternal kin exercise when negotiating fathering and fatherhood.
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Notes
- 1.
The term is referred to as intlawulo in isiXhosa and inhlawulo in isiZulu. Throughout the chapter we will use the isiXhosa spelling unless we are referring to cited work where the isiZulu term is used.
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Acknowledgments
An earlier version of this article was published as “Understanding customary practices and fatherhood: intlawulo, masculinities and relational power. CSSR Working Paper 453. (Cape Town: Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town). http://www.cssr.uct.ac.za/cssr/pub/wp/453
The support of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in the Republic of South Africa towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not to be attributed to the CoE in Human Development.
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Moore, E., Samukimba, J. (2022). Becoming a Father in South Africa: Customary Practices and Negotiating Fatherhood. In: Selin, H. (eds) Parenting Across Cultures. Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15359-4_28
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