Keine romantische liebe in Africa? Mission, Manner, Monogamie
2013
The sparse historical and anthropological research on romantic love in Africa south of the
Sahara gives the impression that the phenomenon may merely be of marginal importance.
Instead, the reasons for the apparent impossibility to write about love in Africa are largely
rooted in its epistemology: Western stereotypes of a continent inhabited by tribal, atavistic
people, barely modernised by colonialism or touched by globalisation which introduced
romantic love to the world region have been in part responsible for this dearth of academic
knowledge, as have recent identity politics and practical concerns that focused research in the
area on sexuality. Here, the main argument is that the almost complete silence about love in
Africa may be addressed by applying a more inclusive concept of love that embraces
ideologies and practices hitherto neglected, such as polygyny, and that expands the one which
has been developed by historians of the medieval and early modern periods. This, in turn,
enriches the research on the history of love in Western societies.
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