High bridewealth,migrant labour and the position of women in Lesotho

An attempt is made to explain the persistence of high bridewealth in Lesotho. It is argued that the structural conditions of its persistence have changed over time, and a macroeconomic perspective is developed in which to comprehend its contemporary significance. Bridewealth (Bohali) transfers in Lesotho at this time, at least in the Lowlands, are derived largely from the cash earnings of migrants and are no longer provided in livestock by a variety of agnatic and matrilateral kin on the side of the husband and distributed among a similar variety of kin on the wife's side. They are drawn from and contribute to a general subsistence fund concentrated largely within the household. To the extent that bohali transfers constitute items of expenditures for migrants and items of income for the heads of women's natal households, they effect a redistribution of income in favor of the senior generation, which thus has a clear interest incontinuing to demand high bohali. In addition migrants have an interest in substantially fulfilling their bohali obligations. Their own longterm security is best assured by establishing access to legitimate dependents within a rural household. Given a high rate of conjugal dissociation, a consequence of oscillating migration, the migrant must balance 2 considerations: the rationality of investment in the next generation, of the sort that bohali transfers represent, is qualified by an initially tenuous attachment to the rural household where his dependents reside; and so long as bohali remains the idiom in which interhousehold competition for the earning capacity of the next generation is rationalized and resolved, such investments continues to be the only way in which he can legitimately assert his own interests against those of his affines. The household viability in Lesotho depends on control over the earning capacity of migrants and over the productive and reproductive capacities of relict women. These are the structural conditions for the persistence of high bridewealth. Bohali is sustained by the realities of housekeeping, not merely by the ideology of keeping house. 3 detailed household profiles presented in an appendix give ethnographic sustenance to propositions concerning high bridewealth, migrant labor, and the position of women.     

趁早逮住内心正在滚动的雪球

虚假友情使我们贪图荣誉，追逐知识、财富以及珍爱毫无节制的东西，像我们肢体一般的东西，也非追逐奢侈享乐的不得体的友谊，这样的友谊像常春藤常见的情况，不会腐蚀并摧毁它     

全球行政法的产生(下)

(四)全球行政法的原则性特征:正在出现的原则和要求 除了不同类型的机构性机制外,全球行政法还包括一些基本的程序和实体方面的法律原则和要求.     

50th Anniversary In Beijing

Sofia and I were in Beijing from September 25 to Oc-tober 10, 1999. We went to seeold friends, to see the changessince our last visit in 1991, andto be there for the celebration ofthe 50th anniversary of the Peo-ple's Republic. We also were cel-     

对毛泽东、邓小平社会主义理论的比较研究

1999年5月,俄罗斯科学院远东研究所所长季塔连柯教授来中央党史研究室访问,送给我一本他刚出版的新书《中国的文明与改革》,其中有一篇文章专论有中国特色社会主义的理论和实践,特别引起了我的兴趣。我读了几遍,觉得作者对邓小平理论做了较深入的研究,提出一些新鲜的和有见地的观点。文章论述了8个问题,篇幅较长,这里仅选译其中第1、第2和第6个问题,供研究者参考(本文题目为译者所加)。     

迈向21世纪的中国

不论过去还是现在,中国一直是使每位造访者兴趣盎然的地方。从1949年人民共和国成立以来,它与世隔绝了几十年,然而,70年代中期它开始实行对外开放,将其多年来形成的有些神秘的地方有意无意地展示给世人。     

二十一世纪武汉城市形象策略

2000年10月,市政府国际咨询顾问团第二次会议在武汉召开,会上,顾问们对武汉的发展提出了许多极富建设性的意见。“它山之石,可以攻玉。”为了进一步开阔各级领导和全市人民在新世纪发展武汉的视野和思路,增强实现“十五”计划目标的信心和决心,武汉市人民政府“十五”计划目标的信心和决心,武汉市人民政府决策咨询委员会与本社决定,从今年第一期起,共同开辟“海外谈武汉”专栏,发表海外专家学者有关评论武汉经济社会发展的文章。我们期待广大读者关注这个栏目,并踊跃赐稿或提供信息。     

Egyptian Chinese Relations In International Context

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