Marriage and Family System among Bench People in South Western Ethiopia (PDF)

Fachbuch aus dem Jahr 2019 im Fachbereich Ethnologie / Volkskunde, , Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The overall objective of this study is to investigate the marriage practice and family system in Bench people. Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic country with over eighty-five different ethnic groups and diverse cultural traits scattered throughout the country. Each ethnic group has their own cultural beliefs and practices that play a dominant role in shaping the behavior and action of its members. Bench people, as any other societies in Ethiopia, have their own forms of marriage and family system based on their culture. Families exist in all societies and they are part of what makes us human. However, societies around the world demonstrate tremendous variation in cultural understandings of family and marriage. Ideas about how people are related to each other, what kind of marriage would be ideal, when people should have children, who should care for children, and many other family related matters differ cross-culturally. Therefore, this study attempts to assess the marriage and family practices among Bench people.

This study has both thematic and geographical delimitations depending on budget and scope of the study. Thematically, it assessed customary marriage practices of Bench people, types of marriage, kinds of marriage payment, the role marriage and family in the Bench people.

Geographically, the study is delimited to Bench sheko zone, in SNNPR on the selected two kebeles namely Shasheqa and Hibret. The target group of the study (interview) is selected from both the rural and urban places which incorporated different areas engaged in marriage and also who are not engaged of males and females. It will focus on identification of the marriage and family aspects of the Bench community.