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[ Musical Introduction ]
I first went to Africa almost 20 years ago as a student
and I've kept returning;
first as a Peace Corp worker, then a graduate student, then a Professor of Anthropology.
The Africa we see in the media is primarily a place of suffering, but Africa is more than the sum of its wounds.
Nor is it the passive victim of world history that it's often made out to be.
African societies in the 21st century are dynamic living entities,
fully engaged with the economic, political, and cultural processes we call globalization.
Culture in Africa is incredibly complex and in constant flux.
This is why I keep going back.
It's instructive and exciting to watch communities reinvent themselves, and the process is often surprising.
In July 2010 I traveled with Sophia Covarrubias and Sarah Steinberg,
two Lehigh University anthropology students, to Bamako, Mali on the banks of the Niger River.
We went to begin a new research project and learn about marriage in what some believe is Africa's fastest growing city;
now home to two million inhabitants.
Since my initial visit in 1997 I've watched Bamako steadily morph from a modest town to a booming city.
Its streets bustle with an ever-rising number of people and vehicles,
and the city struggles to keep up with its population growth.
Entire neighborhoods are springing up where there were just mango trees and millet fields ten years ago,
and new construction is visible throughout the city.
Bamako's residents are mostly Muslim and come from a wide variety of ethnic and economic backgrounds.
When the time comes to get married, however,
they are adopting an increasingly hybrid yet homogenized set of wedding practices that transcends the bounds of ethnicity
and sometimes even religion.
Moreover, the very meaning of marriage is shifting among Bamako's youth.
The average age of first marriage has risen dramatically over the past 20 years,
especially for women who are more and more determined to complete their studies before marrying.
Young urbanites articulate a fervent desire for modern forms of marriage
and have progressively turned away from unions arranged by kin in favor of the mutual choice of partners
and the realization of romantic love.
They also desire elaborate western style wedding ceremonies.
On the popular Malian reality TV show, engaged couples compete to win an all-expenses-paid nuptial extravaganza.
In many respects the practice of marriage in Bamako seems to be modernizing along with the rest of this society,
but other indicators complicate this picture.
For example, polygamy rates have remained generally stable for decades,
and the rate of men with multiple wives has even edged upward.
[ No audible dialogue ]
To study this seeming contradiction and learn about marriage in Bamako today,
Sarah, Sophia, and I did what cultural anthropologists do;
we spent time getting to know people,
we talked with Malian university students to discover their attitudes towards marriage,
we talked to local journalists and scholars,
we hung out with Malians as they socialized and celebrated weddings,
and we spent time waiting in stuffy government offices and sitting through interminable traffic jams.
[ Music Playing ]
Wedding ceremonies themselves provide a fascinating glimpse into cultural hybridity and change.
In Bamako you can choose any or all of three different types of nuptials;
customary rituals coupled together from various local traditions,
religious ceremonies, which in this majority Muslim city tend to be austere and brief without the bride or groom being present,
and civil ceremonies, the only legally binding form of marriage in Mali and nowadays also the most expensive.
White gowns have become almost mandatory for Bamako's brides,
and the pomp surrounding civil ceremonies affords urbanites an unprecedented occasion for conspicuous consumption.
[ No audible dialogue ]
The timing of marriage is also increasingly tied to the Islamic calendar.
More and more couples get married in the days leading up to Ramadan,
extensively so new brides' dedication and domestic skills
can be put to the test during this sacred month of predawn meals and daytime fasting.
My students and I arrived in Bamako just weeks before Ramadan, approaching the height of the city's wedding season.
Local municipal offices where civil ceremonies are held
were overrun with brides, grooms, and their retinues of kin, praise singers, and photographers.
One local cartoonist captured the crush of people at a peak season wedding.
All over town during this time of year, one sees multiple rented awnings where receptions are held.
At these gatherings the bride, groom, and their families and friends enjoy food and dancing.
Neighbors also join in the festivities.
Sometimes nightclubs are rented out for the youth to celebrate in their own fashion, with DJs and even a couple's first dance.
For all these displays of marital modernity, the ideals of romantic love and companion at marriage are under-stressed in Bamako.
Infidelity is widely perceived to be rampant
and as much as young people strive for secure monogamous relationships,
many wonder if such a goal is impractical in their society.
Illiterate and educated Bamako dwellers alike often believe that women vastly outnumber men in Bamako.
Some, like this university student I interviewed, even sites scientific evidence backing up their claim.
In fact, demographic data shows that Bamako has slightly more males than females,
but this doesn't make a dent in the myth of female overpopulation, which only empowers elder males
and makes young women more anxious about their prospects for marriage.
Many young women, even educated urbanites,
settle for polygamous unions out of the fear that marriage will pass them by all together.
[ Music Playing ]
Another destabilizing influence on marital relationships comes from Bamako's new opportunities for leisure and socializing.
This once sleepy city now offers an energetic nightlife with an array of music joints and nightclubs.
Over the last decade Bamako has seen a proliferation of so called Bar Chinois
where customers not only buy alcohol but can rent rooms by the hour.
These establishments, run by Chinese entrepreneurs, are present in every neighborhood.
One Malian journalist told us Bamako is now home to 178 Bar Chinois, accounting for nearly half the city's bars.
They're widely believed to be dens of prostitution and other types of elicit *** activity.
If hotel room trysts were once the privilege of Bamako's wealthy, the explosion of Bar Chinois has made them accessible to all.
The advent of cellphones and cheap motorcycles imported from China has also made it easier for urbanites to communicate
and meet outside the surveillance of their families.
[ Birds Chirping ]
The research project I began with Sarah and Sophia is still in its preliminary stages.
I have much to learn about changing marriage and social life in this vibrant west African city.
How is the practice of polygamy adapting to modern urban life?
Can polygamy coexist with aspirations of companion at marriage?
Or, will notions of romantic love turn out to be just a passing fad for Bamako residents?
How will young urbanites reconcile their dreams of modern marriage
with systemic unemployment and limited economic prospects?
These are important questions for the community and for Mali as a whole.
I look forward to exploring them in the years to come.
The road to knowledge promises to be full of surprises.