Bride Price and Polygamy in Africa

I have found that sometimes in order to truly understand a difference, I must be willing to let go of my own frame of reference and immerse myself into the frames of reference of the culture I am experiencing.  In doing so, I am able to see cultural practices and behaviors from a new perspective.  Having said that and knowing that most Americans may not have done so when it comes the role of women in the context of African cultures, let me begin by describing some of the things that were a part of my experience of a traditional cultural wedding in my wife's home village of Ubulu-Okiti (Delta State, Nigeria).  The practices that continue to take place today are based on practices that have existed for 100s if not 1000s of years.  However, they are adapted to modern realities.  Thus, they have become ceremonial in practice but represent the core values and beliefs of the people.  One of the things that was a big part of marriage process was the negotiation and payment of the "bride price."  On the surface from an American perspective it might sound like the man must buy his wife.   However, the "bride price" has more to do with reinforcing the connection that the woman has with here community as a valued member, than actual compensation for her removal.  Ibo or Igbo culture like other sub-Saharan African cultures are very collectively oriented as opposed to the more individualized orientation of American culture.  When the man pays a "bride price" he is acknowledging that his wife has been a highly valued member of the community and he will honor that value.

Having said that, it is also the reality that Igbos exist in a global community that includes many cultural perspectives.  While villagers may be quite comfortable with how power is shared between men and women in village affairs, Igbo men and women working in the city or for a global corporation must be willing to adapt to differing perspectives of the role of women in society.  One of the things that I have found that is present within Igbo culture, that assists with such adjustments, is the fact that the culture tends to be very high context.  The actual practice and outcomes are more important than the rules, details or traditions.  It is precisely this high context orientation that allows for adaptation to western influence without totally abandoning age old cultural traditions.  The tolerance for variation is very high.  As a result, in Nigeria, the Muslim north is more adherent to cultural rules and customs than the Christian south but less than Muslim countries like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.

Finally, you may have heard about Kenya's President signing into law legislation that officially recognizes polygamy (Karimi and Leposo, 2014).  On the surface, to Americans, such a law sounds like a huge step backwards for women.  However, when it is viewed within context, I can see why the law passed.  Persons who are most likely to engage in polygamy are those men who are traditional village rulers.  These men are often educated and hold a healthy degree of respect and influence in communities outside of their own village.  The reality is that, for such men it would be a disgrace if they did not practice polygamy.  They would actually lose the respect of people in the community (even from those that did not believe in the practice of polygamy for themselves).  Since this influential group of village rulers transcends regions and ethnic groups their views are likely to be respected by politicians.  The result, an African country flexes its cultural independence muscles and once again officially recognizes an age old cultural practice.

Reference

Karimi, F. and Leposo, L. (2014). New Kenya law legalizes polygamy; women's group applauds it. CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/01/world/africa/kenya-polygamy-law/

Cultural PTSD in Academics

As an undergraduate student in the 70s at what was then Claremont Men’s College (CMC), now Claremont McKenna College, I was an active student.  I majored in psychology, ran track, participated in other intramural sports, was active with the Black Student’s Union (BSU) and worked with the local Upward Bound program tutoring high school students.  In general I enjoyed my years at CMC in spite of the many challenges faced.  There were a relatively small number of Black students at the Claremont Colleges and most of us got to know each other. 

Black Studies courses were offered through the Claremont University Center (CUC) but the professors that taught the courses were hired as adjunct faculty and were not eligible for tenure.  Even though Black Studies courses were offered, a major in Black Studies was not an option.  Nevertheless, I took as many Black Studies courses as I could, including courses in literature, psychology, history, sociology and political science.  While enrolled in a Black Psychology course I attempted to have a discussion with one of my white psychology professors about Black Psychology.  Her response was confusion.  From her perspective there could be only one human psychology.  I attempted to explain how differing cultural values, language, beliefs and attitudes resulted in differing patterns of thinking and behavior and to understand these differences it was necessary to study them as a unique subject.  She didn’t buy it. 

During that semester I turned in a paper, to this same professor, that I had worked on really hard.  She graded it with a “C.”  Her reaction when I discussed what I thought was a poor grade was to tell me “a “C” is not a bad grade.”  I knew that for her a “C” would have been the same as an “F.”  The unspoken message was that “a “C” is not a bad grade for a Black student.”  She refused to reconsider the grade and I walked away feeling defeated. 

In another incident while protesting plans by CUC to discontinue the Black and Chicano Admissions Office, at a meeting involving the Provost and other high ranking professors, one of the professors stated in response to our demands that “Black and Chicano Admissions had outlived its usefulness.”  One of my most memorable experiences that resulted from being a Black student on a predominantly White campus was being stopped and questioned by campus security one evening while on the way to the library at Harvey Mudd College (one of the five campuses of the Claremont Colleges).  These and other incidents would be described now as “microaggressions” (Sue, Capodilupo, and Holder, 2008).  What I didn’t realize at the time is that they would become the basis of what I am calling Cultural PTSD in Academics.

I only became aware of the damage that had been done when a new incident triggered a flood of memories and emotions from those days.  Currently, I am a doctoral student at the University of the Rockies.  I am pursuing a PsyD with a specialty in International Leadership.  I am in my 16^th out 17 courses and have maintained a 4.0 GPA.  I will very soon begin work on my dissertation.  The triggering incident took place recently in my current class, Globalization & Diversity in Cultures.  I had been looking forward to this class for quite some time.  I had been impressed in general since returning to school and discovering that there is much more openness regarding discussing diversity issues in the classroom.  I have really enjoyed taking all the courses, reading and learning about globalization, African Economic Development, diplomacy and more.  And then I started this course.

First of all, the course guide for this course is a little out of date and targeted toward students that are at a basic entry level when it comes to diversity in cultures.  I have been involved in studying one aspect of this topic or another since 1980.  I have travelled internationally and live in Hilo, Hawaii. There are people and cultures present here in Hawaii from places most people on the mainland US have never heard of.  I entered the class knowing that I am already at high level of expertise on the subject.  I expected, as had been the case in nearly all of my previous classes, that the professor would be flexible enough to acknowledge the level of expertise of the students and make adjustments accordingly.  The only other student in the class is a man of Latino origins in his mid-40s who is bi-lingual and with extensive international business experience.  We are not novices.  Yet, the professor seemed reluctant to acknowledge that we are very advanced students.

Then it happened, after getting a lower than expected grade on my first paper, I worked hard to incorporate her suggestions to get a better grade on the second paper.  I got a worse grade. She wrote in her comments:

 

I am very concerned about the lack of application of citation to proprietary information, in one section in particular as highlighted.  Remember, your reader can only review what is written, not what is intended.  However unintentional, your writing must be protected from plagiarism, which means the ability to pass off information that is not ours as our own. Your writing includes many paragraphs with proprietary information yet there is no attempt at citation.  I know this is not what you may have intended, however that is what is presented.  Remember, to protect ALL proprietary information EVERY time.  It is possible that EVERY sentence may have a citation, or multiple citations to support the evidence offered.

 

Remember, U of R has a zero tolerance policy and our classes are audited.  I prefer to work with the student then submit to the Ethics Review Board.

 

What?!!  Plagiarism?!!  Ethics Review Board?!!  What is going on?

I have never in my life had my name associated with the word plagiarism.  I reviewed how I used in-text citations in the paper.  I reviewed the requirements from the APA manual.  The APA manual does not include how frequently in a paragraph an in-text citation must be present.  I have never had a professor that interpreted the APA standard as meaning every sentence in a paragraph should include a citation. 

I did speak with her and she stuck to her guns. I believe at most she could have criticized my paper as including a technical error in the frequency of my in-text citations.  When I re-read my paper it was abundantly clear where the information came from that I was paraphrasing.  There is no way that anyone would think that I had engaged in plagiarism unintentionally or otherwise.  Credit was given to the appropriate writers.

I had to go through a process of becoming grounded before speaking to her directly so that I would not lose my cool.  I knew I had to present myself as very confident and knowledgeable (which I am).  What I did not know until later was how profoundly impacted I was from this incident.  The following day after speaking with her I literally became sick to my stomach and could not work.  Today is two days since I spoke with her and I am still feeling shaky.  I feel violated and demeaned.  The memories of all the microaggressions from undergraduate school at CMC have come flooding back.  Needless to say I am very disappointed.  The class I thought would be one of the most enjoyable classes has become my worse class.  I have reported the incident to my Academic Adviser and sent her a copy of the paper with the comments.  For now I will continue in the class and continue to do my normal high quality of work.  I hope that the professor heard some of what I said during our phone conversation because my patience only goes so far.  It will be me taking her the Ethics Review Board and not the other way around. What she did, unintentional or not, was abusive.  I will not tolerate any further abuse.

Reference

Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M. and Holder, A. M. B. (2008).  Racial microaggressions in the life experience of black americans.  Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39(3), 329–336.  doi: 10.1037/0735-7028.39.3.329