Marriage by Force? ─ Contestation over Consent and Coercion in Africa

With forced marriage, as with so many human rights issues, the spectacular hides the mundane, and oversimplified popular discourse misses the range of experiences. In sub-Saharan Africa, the relationship between coercion and consent in marriage is a complex one that has changed over time and place, rendering impossible any single interpretation or explanation.

The legal experts, anthropologists, historians, and development workers contributing toMarriage by Force? focus on the role that marriage plays in the mobilization of labor, the accumulation of wealth, and domination versus dependency. They also address the crucial slippage between marriages and other forms of gendered violence, bondage, slavery, and servile status.

Only by examining variations in practices from a multitude of perspectives can we properly contextualize the problem and its consequences. And while early and forced marriages have been on the human rights agenda for decades, there is today an unprecedented level of international attention to the issue, thus making the coherent, multifaceted approach ofMarriage by Force? even more necessary.

Annie Bunting is an associate professor in the Law and Society program at York University in Toronto. Her forthcoming book is The Invention of Contemporary Slavery, edited with Joel Quirk.

Benjamin N. Lawrance is a professor of African history at the University of Arizona and author of Amistad’s Orphans: An Atlantic Story of Children, Slavery, and Smuggling.

Richard L. Roberts directs the Center for African Studies at Stanford University. His books include Trafficking in Slavery’s Wake: The Experience of Women and Children in Africa, edited with Benjamin N. Lawrance.