Volume 12, Issue 2, July 2015, Pages 312–324
Emmanuel DEKANE1 and Jonas NDIH2
1 Chercheur au Département des Etudes Politiques et Juridiques du Centre National d'Education, Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique et de l'Innovation, Cameroun
2 Attaché de Recherche au Centre National D'Education, Ministère de le Recherche Scientifique et de l'Innovation, Cameroun
Original language: French
Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Years back, in northern Cameroon, the bride price was a matrimonial compensation made of things and services which are destined to the parents of a girl by a suitor. This compensation paid before and after marriage depended on the behaviours of the members of both families and on the virginity and fertility of the girl. In the past, many girls got married early in life due to the fact that the bribe price was small. Today, the marriage of young girls have become uncertain or they get married in their advance ages either due to the adoption of Fulani culture, respect of the principles of contemporary religions, the introduction of money as the main medium of exchange and the emancipation of girls. These factors that have transformed the bride price culture of northern Cameroon have resulted in the multiplication of late marriages. Besides, these factors have contributed to the ageing of the girls in their natal or parental families, the increase of single parent families, the resurgence of prostitution and the legitimization of concubine relationships.
Author Keywords: bride price, exchange, late marriage, prostitution, single parenthood.
Emmanuel DEKANE1 and Jonas NDIH2
1 Chercheur au Département des Etudes Politiques et Juridiques du Centre National d'Education, Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique et de l'Innovation, Cameroun
2 Attaché de Recherche au Centre National D'Education, Ministère de le Recherche Scientifique et de l'Innovation, Cameroun
Original language: French
Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Years back, in northern Cameroon, the bride price was a matrimonial compensation made of things and services which are destined to the parents of a girl by a suitor. This compensation paid before and after marriage depended on the behaviours of the members of both families and on the virginity and fertility of the girl. In the past, many girls got married early in life due to the fact that the bribe price was small. Today, the marriage of young girls have become uncertain or they get married in their advance ages either due to the adoption of Fulani culture, respect of the principles of contemporary religions, the introduction of money as the main medium of exchange and the emancipation of girls. These factors that have transformed the bride price culture of northern Cameroon have resulted in the multiplication of late marriages. Besides, these factors have contributed to the ageing of the girls in their natal or parental families, the increase of single parent families, the resurgence of prostitution and the legitimization of concubine relationships.
Author Keywords: bride price, exchange, late marriage, prostitution, single parenthood.
Abstract: (french)
Jadis au Nord-Cameroun, la dot est une compensation matrimoniale constituée des biens matériels et des services rendus dont doivent bénéficier les parents d'une fille de la part d'un prétendant. Cette compensation versée avant et après le mariage tient compte du comportement des familles des prétendants, de la virginité et de la fécondité de la fille. N'étant pas trop couteux, les filles allaient très tôt en mariage. Mais de nos jours, le mariage des filles est incertain, sinon passé à un âge avancé à cause de l'adoption de la culture peule, du respect des principes des religions révélées, de la conversion des biens matériels en argent et de la prise en compte de l'émancipation des filles dans la fixation des compensations matrimoniales. Ces facteurs qui ont bouleversé la culture dotale du Nord-Cameroun ont entrainé la multiplication des mariages tardifs et par ricochet, le vieillissement des filles dans leurs familles parentales, l'augmentation chiffrée des familles monoparentales, la recrudescence de la prostitution et la légitimation des mariages hors normes.
Author Keywords: compensation matrimoniale, mutation, mariage tardif, prostitution, famille monoparentale.
How to Cite this Article
Emmanuel DEKANE and Jonas NDIH, “Evolution de la culture dotale au Nord-Cameroun modernisé comme facteur de la décrépitude du mariage des jeunes,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 312–324, July 2015.
