Bruce Whitehouse
Lehigh University, Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty Member
- Brown University, Anthropology, AlumnusLehigh University, Africana Studies, Faculty MemberWenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Dissertation Fieldwork Grants, Department Memberadd
- Transnational migration, Mali, Marriage, Polygamy, Polygyny, Anthropology, and 13 moreSociology and Anthropology, Africa, Transnationalism, Diaspora and transnationalism, Muslim Minorities, Racial and ethnic discrimination, Political Legitimacy, Infertility, Islam (Anthropology), France in Africa, Afropolitanism, Gender, and Saheledit
- Areas of interest:Cultural anthropologyMarriage and genderUrban ethnographyTransnational migrationFamily dynamicsDemo... moreAreas of interest:Cultural anthropologyMarriage and genderUrban ethnographyTransnational migrationFamily dynamicsDemographyMarriagePolygynySub-Saharan AfricaMaliBamakoCongo BasinBrazzavilleNigeriaedit
Why hasn’t polygamous marriage died out in African cities, as experts once expected it would? Enduring Polygamy considers this question in one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities: Bamako, the capital of Mali, where one in four wives is in... more
Why hasn’t polygamous marriage died out in African cities, as experts once expected it would? Enduring Polygamy considers this question in one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities: Bamako, the capital of Mali, where one in four wives is in a polygamous marriage. Using polygamy as a lens through which to survey sweeping changes in urban life, it offers ethnographic and demographic insights into the customs, gender norms and hierarchies, kinship structures, and laws affecting marriage, and situates polygamy within structures of inequality that shape marital options, especially for young Malian women. Through an approach of cultural relativism, the book offers an open-minded but unflinching perspective on a contested form of marriage. Without shying away from questions of patriarchy and women’s oppression, it presents polygamy from the everyday vantage points of Bamako residents themselves, allowing readers to make informed judgments about it and to appreciate the full spectrum of human cultural diversity.
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In cities throughout Africa, local inhabitants live alongside large populations of “strangers.” Bruce Whitehouse explores the condition of strangerhood for residents who have come from the West African Sahel to settle in Brazzaville,... more
In cities throughout Africa, local inhabitants live alongside large populations of “strangers.” Bruce Whitehouse explores the condition of strangerhood for residents who have come from the West African Sahel to settle in Brazzaville, Congo. Whitehouse considers how these migrants live simultaneously inside and outside of Congolese society as merchants, as Muslims in a predominantly non-Muslim society, and as parents seeking to instill in their children the customs of their communities of origin. Migrants and Strangers in an African City challenges ideas of Pan-Africanism, transnationalism and diaspora in today’s globalized world.
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In long intertwined constructions of political and household authority, the figure of the domestic patriarch has served as an analogy for the centralized postcolonial state of Mali, even as it clashes with discourses of natural rights... more
In long intertwined constructions of political and household authority, the figure of the domestic patriarch has served as an analogy for the centralized postcolonial state of Mali, even as it clashes with discourses of natural rights stemming from the European Enlightenment. In early twenty first-century Mali, anxieties ran rampant among senior men who feared losing their status and privileges. These anxieties came to a head during efforts by the Malian government and civil-society groups to eliminate gender discrimination from Malian family law in the early 2000s. A broad coalition of patriarchal interests emerged to defend senior males’ prerogatives against the perceived threats posed by gender equality. This backlash challenged the legitimacy of Mali’s governing elite and exposed its weaknesses in the run-up to Mali’s 2012 political collapse.
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The neoliberal transformation of Mali's burgeoning capital city, Bamako, has undermined men's capacity to provide for their households and dependents even as it has boosted women's economic participation, leading senior males to express... more
The neoliberal transformation of Mali's burgeoning capital city, Bamako, has undermined men's capacity to provide for their households and dependents even as it has boosted women's economic participation, leading senior males to express mounting anxieties over their declining economic power. As more men find themselves unable to assure economic stability for the women and children under their charge, many double down in their bid to exercise authority over women, particularly their wives. Some men use polygynous marriage as a means of performing certain masculine ideals, acquiring social prestige despite their diminished roles as breadwinners. Others find maintaining multiple female partners outside marriage similarly useful for offsetting their economic disadvantages. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with men and women in Bamako, this paper examines the extent to which modern masculinity in the city remains predicated on the control of women and their bodies.
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Formal and nonformal education has increased access and opportunity to adolescent girls in Mali during the last few decades. As enrollment in primary education improved, the value placed by parents and their daughters on marriage has... more
Formal and nonformal education has increased access and opportunity to adolescent girls in Mali during the last few decades. As enrollment in primary education improved, the value placed by parents and their daughters on marriage has remained consistent. When formal education does not offer opportunities to improve economic outcomes, the educational focus shifts to marriage preparation. This study examines the formal and informal educational experiences of child domestic laborers in Mali through interviews and observations conducted in their homes, places of work, and within selected schools. Ethnographic data collected over a period of ten years demonstrates the value of informal education, when high-quality formal education is inaccessible, through employment as a domestic laborer to improve marriage
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Located in Africa's Sahel region, the Republic of Mali enjoyed various fruits of its transition to political pluralism and liberal economic restructuring from the 1990s to the early 2000s. When the Malian government sought to amend civil... more
Located in Africa's Sahel region, the Republic of Mali enjoyed various fruits of its transition to political pluralism and liberal economic restructuring from the 1990s to the early 2000s. When the Malian government sought to amend civil laws governing marriage and family life, and eliminate legal discrimination against women, however, it faced considerable political opposition. Islamic civil society groups capitalised on men's heightened anxieties to claim a more assertive role in the national public sphere. Subsequent legal reforms constituted a clear political victory for political Islamism in the country and a corresponding setback for Western-backed women's organisations. Tracing the evolution of Malian marriage and family law from the 1960s to the 2020s, this article argues that conflicting notions of what it means to protect women, coupled with the structural failings of Mali's post-colonial state, have stymied efforts to ensure women's rights within a secular, egalitarian legal framework.
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Alors que des chercheurs occidentaux avaient autrefois prédit la disparition de la polygamie dans les villes africaines, cette forme de mariage s'est avérée résistante face à une croissance urbaine rapide et face aux changements sociaux.... more
Alors que des chercheurs occidentaux avaient autrefois prédit la disparition de la polygamie dans les villes africaines, cette forme de mariage s'est avérée résistante face à une croissance urbaine rapide et face aux changements sociaux. Cet article retrace les forces sociales qui sous-tendent la résilience de la polygamie moderne à Bamako (Mali) où une femme sur quatre se trouve dans un mariage polygame. Sur la base des données issues de recherches ethnographiques et d'enquêtes démographiques dans la ville de Bamako, cette étude met en avant trois catégories analytiques : la culture (y compris la religion musulmane), la démographie, et le droit postcolonial. Elle conclut que la polygamie restera une composante du système matrimonial à Bamako malgré les bouleversement liés à l'urbanisation et à la mondialisation.
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The West African region has the world’s highest rates of polygyny, the practice of one man marrying two or more wives. Many scholars once foresaw polygyny’s eventual demise, and indeed polygyny appears to be on the decline even in West... more
The West African region has the world’s highest rates of polygyny, the practice of one man marrying two or more wives. Many scholars once foresaw polygyny’s eventual demise, and indeed polygyny appears to be on the decline even in West Africa. The practice is adapting to social change within the region, however. Most notably, polygyny is being reshaped in West Africa’s cities, where men and women are bound by very different conventions than their rural counterparts with respect to gender relations, nuptiality, sexuality, and allegiance to kin. Urban polygyny has also been affected by modern notions of romantic love and companionate marriage, and by the informalization of marriage. At the same time, polygyny retains a powerful influence as a cultural institution despite its diminishing prevalence. This chapter considers polygyny’s ongoing reconfiguration amid sweeping changes in African marital norms and behaviors. Drawing from a range of social science data, including large-scale surveys and ethnographic research as well as analysis by demographers, sociologists and anthropologists, the chapter reviews the current state of polygynous marriage and surveys its ongoing transformation in West Africa.
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Although the 2012 takeover of northern Mali by a coalition of jihadi groups (including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa) caught much of the world by surprise, armed jihadism... more
Although the 2012 takeover of northern Mali by a coalition of jihadi groups (including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa) caught much of the world by surprise, armed jihadism had been present on Malian territory for several years. Malians harbor widely divergent views of these groups and the threat they pose to the Malian state. To analyze this range of views and interpret what they suggest about the place of armed jihadism in Malian society, I examine social surveys and media discourse since the onset of Mali's present crisis.
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While the rate of polygynous marriage has declined among Malian urbanites since at least the 1980s, monogamy remains a highly problematic marital ideal for most Malians, even in cities. In Bamako, Mali's capital city, roughly one in five... more
While the rate of polygynous marriage has declined among Malian urbanites since at least the 1980s, monogamy remains a highly problematic marital ideal for most Malians, even in cities. In Bamako, Mali's capital city, roughly one in five couples with the option to commit to a formal monogamy contract during their civil wedding ceremony chooses this option. Focus group discussions and individual interviews with a broad cross-section of Bamako residents reveal that although monogamy is theoretically appealing to men and women alike, the prospect of a legally binding pledge of monogamy arouses strongly gendered suspicions and tensions. These pertain to power differentials as well as women's low expectations both of male sexual fidelity and the rule of law under the contemporary Malian state, which is responsible for enforcing the country's civil marriage code. As a result, polygyny continues to shape marital choices, discourses and practices in Bamako to a degree that belies its diminishing prevalence.
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If the sudden downfall of Mali’s officially democratic system in early 2012 surprised many observers, the failings of the Malian state—including public disaffection with the political process, weak rule of law, and inadequate delivery... more
If the sudden downfall of Mali’s officially democratic system in early 2012 surprised many observers, the failings of the Malian state—including public disaffection with the political process, weak rule of law, and inadequate delivery of basic services—were widely known both at home and abroad. Focusing on activists based in Bamako, this article assesses Malian civil society’s response to these challenges since the March 2012 military coup and considers prospects for wider political engagement by the Malian public.
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This article analyzes the public response to the story of a young woman who rejected her fiancé during her wedding ceremony in Bamako, Mali. Controversy over her actions revealed divergent opinions about the rights and responsibilities of... more
This article analyzes the public response to the story of a young woman who rejected her fiancé during her wedding ceremony in Bamako, Mali. Controversy over her actions revealed divergent opinions about the rights and responsibilities of individuals regarding marriage and spousal choice in contemporary Malian society, where economic insecurity, tense gender dynamics, and the demands of kin undermine young persons’ aspirations for romantic fulfillment and companionate marriage. Using evidence from online discussion forums, ethnographic interviews, and focus-group discussions conducted in Bamako, this article explores the gap separating young Bamako residents’ ideals of marriage from their lived realities. It finds that concerns about materialism in love and marriage are shared by young men and women alike, indicating deepening uncertainty over ongoing social change.
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In framing its analysis around the concept of northwest Africa, this article examines not only the challenges for regional security and state authority in that region but also the processes through which regions are constructed by both... more
In framing its analysis around the concept of northwest Africa, this article examines not only the challenges for regional security and state authority in that region but also the processes through which regions are constructed by both local and international actors. It focuses especially on northern Mali and the various types of separatist, jihadist, and criminal networks that operate in this territory. The goal of this article, and of the special issue to which it is an introduction, is to illuminate emerging political orders in northwest Africa.
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Although infertility causes women considerable grief, social stigma, and economic deprivation, scholars have paid little attention to infertility's definitions that may depart from the standard Western usage and how such definitions... more
Although infertility causes women considerable grief, social stigma, and economic deprivation, scholars have paid little attention to infertility's definitions that may depart from the standard Western usage and how such definitions influence the way women experience the condition. This article, by listening to individual women's experiences of infertility in two Nigerian communities, examines these definitions and differentiates between culturally salient categories of infertility. In distinguishing between different kinds of childless women and those with low fertility, we intend to enhance understandings of infertility by considering women';s subjective understandings of the condition and thus moving beyond the current medical definition. By comparing women's experiences in two different ethnic groups in Nigeria, we show how distinct forms of kinship structures and social organizations shape the ways low fertility is defined, managed, and experienced.
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This paper considers how and why settled stranger populations in Africa have maintained discrete identities despite longstanding economic integration into their host societies. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork in Brazzaville, Congo, it... more
This paper considers how and why settled stranger populations in Africa have maintained discrete identities despite longstanding economic integration into their host societies. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork in Brazzaville, Congo, it describes the dynamics regulating interactions between Congolese and the West African ‘strangers’ in their midst. Despite being present in Congo for generations, strangers cannot claim full citizenship there. A set of widely shared expectations about the rights and duties of these outsiders vis-à-vis their hosts, which I call the ‘stranger’s code’, restricts strangers’ participation in the city’s political and social life. The paper contends that this informal behavioural code, enforced by hosts and strangers alike, shows parallels with other settled stranger populations but is also rooted in African societies’ colonial history.
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This paper examines the experiences of women with infertility in two Nigerian communities with different systems of descent and historically different levels of infertility. First, the paper focuses on the life experiences of individual... more
This paper examines the experiences of women with infertility in two Nigerian communities with different systems of descent and historically different levels of infertility. First, the paper focuses on the life experiences of individual women across the two communities and second, it compares these experiences with those of their fertile counterparts, in each community. In doing this, women who are childless are distinguished from those with subfertility and compared with high-fertility women. The research is based on interdisciplinary research conducted among the Ijo and Yakurr people of southern Nigeria, which included a survey of approximately 100 childless and subfertile women and a matching sample of 100 fertile women as well as in-depth ethnographic interviews with childless and subfertile women in two communities: Amakiri in Delta State and Lopon in Cross River State. The findings indicate that while there are variations in the extent to which childlessness is considered to be problematic, the necessity for a woman to have a child remains basic in this region.
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Research Interests: Infertility and Nigeria
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Drawing on ethnographic research conducted at two ends of an intra-Africa migration flow (Mali and the Republic of Congo), in this article I examine the role of childrearing practices in the maintenance of transnationalism. I consider... more
Drawing on ethnographic research conducted at two ends of an intra-Africa migration flow (Mali and the Republic of Congo), in this article I examine the role of childrearing practices in the maintenance of transnationalism. I consider different approaches to transnational childrearing by migrant parents and their reasons for adopting them, and delineate three common modes. The most widespread and socially validated approach is to send children home from Congo to their parents’ places of origin, where child fostering is widespread, to be raised by relatives for long periods; this approach increases the durability of transnational ties. I use childrearing approaches as an analytical lens to demonstrate the complementarity of multiple forms of domestic organization, mobility and settlement in the inter-generational production and transmission of durable transnational identities. By arguing for greater focus on phenomena such as transnational childrearing, I seek to promote a broader conceptualization of transnationalism.
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Research Interests: Infertility and Nigeria
Research Interests: Transnationalism and Mali
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In early 2012, just months before he was due to leave office, Mali's democratically elected president Amadou Toumani Touré faced a severe political crisis. His government's ineffective response to a separatist rebellion in the country's... more
In early 2012, just months before he was due to leave office, Mali's democratically elected president Amadou Toumani Touré faced a severe political crisis. His government's ineffective response to a separatist rebellion in the country's northern regions had caused many citizens to lose faith in their leaders. Many Malians suspected that their head of state had manufactured the crisis to prolong his hold on power. On March 21, Touré was toppled in a coup mounted by a few dozen junior army officers and the country was plunged into turmoil. Public mistrust of politicians, aided by new information technologies and stoked by a free but often unprofessional press, fostered manifold accusations of malfeasance, generating new " facts " received as truth in the media and by ordinary Malians. This paper explores the production of public knowledge amidst political uncertainty and shifting power dynamics, focusing particularly on Malian media coverage and public discourse pertaining to a few
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: If the sudden downfall of Mali’s officially democratic system in early 2012 surprised many observers, the failings of the Malian state—including public disaffection with the political process, weak rule of law, and inadequate delivery... more
: If the sudden downfall of Mali’s officially democratic system in early 2012 surprised many observers, the failings of the Malian state—including public disaffection with the political process, weak rule of law, and inadequate delivery of basic services—were widely known both at home and abroad. Focusing on activists based in Bamako, this article assesses Malian civil society’s response to these challenges since the March 2012 military coup and considers prospects for wider political engagement by the Malian public.
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Research Interests: African Studies and Mali
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Being "modern" is an aspiration for many in sub-Saharan... more
Being "modern" is an aspiration for many in sub-Saharan Africa and entails certain widely held expectations regarding material living conditions and social status. Using ethnographic and survey data on female fertility from two communities of southern Nigeria, this article describes some of the ways women are becoming modern and analyzes the forces behind these changes. The discussion includes education, initiation rites, premarital pregnancy, marriage, and the influence of Pentecostal Christianity. In agreement with modernization theory, there is a trend toward women becoming more educated and autonomous. They also increasingly valorize monogamy, companionate marriage, smaller families, and inclusion in the formal economy. In contradiction to the expectations of modernization theory, there is no decline in supernatural beliefs. Contemporary Christian churches are important to women becoming modern by helping them develop networks through voluntary associations, responding to women's aspirations for material goods, alleviating kin obligations, and encouraging personal spiritual advancement. (Southern Nigeria women, fertility, modernity, Pentecostal Christianity).
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This article analyzes the public response to the story of a young woman who rejected her fiancé during her wedding ceremony in Bamako, Mali. Controversy over her actions revealed divergent opinions about the rights and responsibilities of... more
This article analyzes the public response to the story of a young woman who rejected her fiancé during her wedding ceremony in Bamako, Mali. Controversy over her actions revealed divergent opinions about the rights and responsibilities of individuals regarding marriage and spousal choice in contemporary Malian society, where economic insecurity, tense gender dynamics, and the demands of kin undermine young persons’ aspirations for romantic fulfillment and companionate marriage. Using evidence from online discussion forums, ethnographic interviews, and focus-group discussions conducted in Bamako, this article explores the gap separating young Bamako residents’ ideals of marriage from their lived realities. It finds that concerns about materialism in love and marriage are shared by young men and women alike, indicating deepening uncertainty over ongoing social change.
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In framing its analysis around the concept of northwest Africa, this article examines not only the challenges for regional security and state authority in that region but also the processes through which regions are constructed by both... more
In framing its analysis around the concept of northwest Africa, this article examines not only the challenges for regional security and state authority in that region but also the processes through which regions are constructed by both local and international actors. It focuses especially on northern Mali and the various types of separatist, jihadist, and criminal networks that operate in this territory. The goal of this article, and of the special issue to which it is an introduction, is to illuminate emerging political orders in northwest Africa.
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Being "modern" is an aspiration for many in sub-Saharan Africa and entails certain widely held expectations regarding material living conditions and social status. Using ethnographic and survey data on female fertility from two... more
Being "modern" is an aspiration for many in sub-Saharan Africa and entails certain widely held expectations regarding material living conditions and social status. Using ethnographic and survey data on female fertility from two communities of southern Nigeria, this article describes some of the ways women are becoming modern and analyzes the forces behind these changes. The discussion includes education, initiation rites, premarital pregnancy, marriage, and the influence of Pentecostal Christianity. In agreement with modernization theory, there is a trend toward women becoming more educated and autonomous. They also increasingly valorize monogamy, companionate marriage, smaller families, and inclusion in the formal economy. In contradiction to the expectations of modernization theory, there is no decline in supernatural beliefs. Contemporary Christian churches are important to women becoming modern by helping them develop networks through voluntary associations, responding...
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Being "modern" is an aspiration for many in sub-Saharan... more
Being "modern" is an aspiration for many in sub-Saharan Africa and entails certain widely held expectations regarding material living conditions and social status. Using ethnographic and survey data on female fertility from two communities of southern Nigeria, this article describes some of the ways women are becoming modern and analyzes the forces behind these changes. The discussion includes education, initiation rites, premarital pregnancy, marriage, and the influence of Pentecostal Christianity. In agreement with modernization theory, there is a trend toward women becoming more educated and autonomous. They also increasingly valorize monogamy, companionate marriage, smaller families, and inclusion in the formal economy. In contradiction to the expectations of modernization theory, there is no decline in supernatural beliefs. Contemporary Christian churches are important to women becoming modern by helping them develop networks through voluntary associations, responding to women's aspirations for material goods, alleviating kin obligations, and encouraging personal spiritual advancement. (Southern Nigeria women, fertility, modernity, Pentecostal Christianity).