Mercy Oduyoye—commentary on polygyny

My reading between now and August will be focused, of course, on preparation for the trip.  I thought it might be interesting to share things from that reading from time to time.

Right now, I'm reading Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy by Mercy Oduyoye, a Ghanian Methodist Feminist theologian.  The plan is to read this book in my Liberation Theologies class.   I have just read a section on polygamy or what Oduyoye calls polygyny in African society.  She says that what keeps polygyny prominent is the "psycho-religious force" that defines procreation as "the essence of being a husband."  At the end of her discussion she writes:

"The question of polygyny has occupied more time and space than I feel it merits.   The challenge for me lies in a critical assessment of the meaning of marriage, not only in Africa but throughout the world where the institutions is in crisis.  Both churches and governments are unable to regulate its most intimate yet public of institutions.  It is not whether a marriage is polygynous or monogamous that defines the status of women; rather it is the dependence and domination mentalities of the women and men sharing marriage that needs transformation.  Above all, I feel that real change will come about when women can say—with or without husbands, with or without children—that the most important fact is that women are human and will find fullness in reaching for goals that we set for ourselves."  (Oduyoye, Mercy Amba; Daughers of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY, 1995, 146-147.)