Browsing by Author "Nahashon, Onkwani Orera"

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    Change and Continuity in Marriage among the Abagusii of kenya during the Colonial Period (1895-1963)
    (Kenyatta university, 2024-04) Nahashon, Onkwani Orera
    Marriage in many communities is attributed to the numerous fundamental social and individual roles that it plays, such as sexual fulfillment and regulation, sex-based divisions of labor, economic production, as well as personal longing for affection, prestige, and companionship. With the advent of colonialism, significant socioeconomic developments in Africa led to shifts in marriage demographics with an increase in the age of marriage, a decline in the number of official cultural marriages, and more unauthorized unions. Though this was so, early decades of colonial encounters witnessed the resilience of Africans to change. A catastrophic shift away from traditional marriage began on the eve of the 1930s. There had been reports of wives abandoning their husbands, some of whom fled with other men, fathers forcing their girls to marry, and a category of desperate men abandoned by their wives. This study will investigate how the colonial period influenced and shaped marriage customs over time. It will shed light on issues such as social and economic influences on marriage during the colonial era, connections between social and economic life and the institution of marriage, and the nature of marriage customs among the Abagusii of Kisii County between 1895 and 1963. The choice of change and continuity of marriage practices among the Abagusii is crucial because it clarifies what transpired in Gusii's marriage during a time when gender conflict and the marriage traditions' growing dynamic nature made change inevitable. The objectives of the study were to: Examine the key characteristics and functions of the Gusii marriage institution in the pre-colonial period up to 1895, Characterize the encounter between Christianity and western culture on the Gusii institution of marriage in the early colonial period (1895-1930), Establish change and continuity in the Gusii marriage institution in the period between (1930-1963). The study used modernization and social constructivism theories. A descriptive research design was used for the investigation. This project's primary data collection instruments included interviews and questionnaires, and archival data from Kenya. Secondary data came from public documents, magazines, journals, and national archives. Data in the historical form was analyzed qualitatively. The ethics of research was closely scrutinized. The research found out that marriage among the Abagusii of Kenya had amenable history consisting of changes and continuities in its various aspects.