AN    INTERNATIONAL     JOURNAL     OF
CULTURAL  AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Volume 47, no. 3 (Summer 2008)
SPECIAL ISSUE: POLYGYNY

HALF A HEART: DENATURALIZING POLYGYNY IN BANGKOK, THAILAND

Jiemin Bao
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Polygyny is practiced throughout Thai society and often attributed to a "man's nature." This study reveals that polygyny is informed by the political economy and identity politics. By analyzing polygynous practices among second generation Chinese Thai family businesses, polygyny can be understood as an economic enterprise, a sexual relationship, and an affair of the heart. The naturalization of Thai men's sexual privilege not only conceals power relationships but also compels men and women to perceive conjugal problems as personal instead of expressions of larger social issues. Notions of family business, masculinity and femininity, and money and sex are intricately intertwined with polygynous relationships. (Polygyny, family business, masculine and feminine identity, Chinese Thai).

CO-WIVES, HUSBAND, AND THE MORMON POLYGYNOUS FAMILY

William Jankowiak
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Mormons in polygynous communities glorify plural or celestial marriage, disapproving of romantic intimacy between a man and any "favorite" wife. Most men prefer, but do not readily acknowledge, forming a close bond with a particular wife. Many husbands experience guilt over their inability to uphold the community's ideal of harmonious or plural love. Romantic passions unite and divide the polygynous family. The interplay between romantic passion, the desire for dyadic intimacy, combined with a deep-seated commitment to religious principles create stress and anxiety. (Polygynous Mormons, fundamentalism, family, pair bond).

POLYGYNY IN ISLAMIC LAW AND PUKHTUN PRACTICE

Charles Lindholm
Boston University

The Pukhtun of Swat in Northern Pakistan refer to Islam to justify their practice of polygamy and female subordination. However, Islamic law is far more egalitarian than Pukhtun practice. Using case studies and statistical evidence, this article argues that husbands in Swat take second wives mainly in a spirit of revenge, reflecting the endemic hostility between spouses that exists within this strongly patriarchal segmentary lineage organization in which romantic love is ideally reserved for chaste extramarital relationships. An ideology of the primacy of paternal blood underlies the misogynistic attitudes characteristic of Swat, and prevalent elsewhere in the Middle East and the Circum-Mediterranean region. (Polygyny, Islamic law, patriarchy, misogyny).

POLYGYNOUS MARRIAGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: STORIES OF SUCCESS AND FAILURES

Vered Slonim-Nevo
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Alean Al-Krenawi
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Bar Yuval-Shani
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Qualitative data were collected from interviews with 100 Bedouin-Arab husbands, wives, children, and some extended family members of polygynous families in the Negev of Israel. Respondents were selected on the basis of self-reported levels of family functioning. Distinct contrasts were found between familial relationships in high functioning families and low functioning families. Differences occurred between husbands of low and high functioning families regarding reasons for a second marriage, how the marriage was received, and relationships with wives and their children. Such constructs can help enrich anthropological theory and improve professional psychosocial intervention. (Bedouin-Arab, family functioning, Middle East, polygynous families).