Ethnography. A Comparison Between Zulu Culture And American Culture.

A Comparison Between Zulu Culture And American Culture
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According to the book Kinship and Gender by Diane King and Linda Stone, despite the changing mobile world, kinship and family cultures still influence the different roles that women and men play in different cultures (Stone, 2011). In this paper, we analyze the role of Zulu men and women in parenthood, labor and economy, child-rearing, marriage/divorce practices, sexuality, reproductive issues, kinship, and family structures. Also, we compare the roles of Zulu men and women with those of US women and men. Zulu is one of the dominant ethnic groups in South Africa.
In the Zulu culture, in matters of parenthood, most of the aspects of parenthood like child disciplining and feeding are left to the woman. While Zulu men are tasked with the responsibility of working to bring food for the children, women cook and feed the children. In matters of discipline, during the early years of a child’s life, Zulu women are responsible for instilling discipline, but as the child starts adolescence, the man takes over the disciplining role. Also, distinctly, Zulu fathers are responsible for molding their sons into the desired men they envision in the future, while Zulu women mold girls into responsible women and mothers of tomorrow.
Marriage and divorce issues are another aspect of Zulu culture that is worth discussing. In the Zulu context, it is the man who marries a woman. The man usually takes dowry in the form of cows, goats, or other domestic animals to the woman’s parents to own the woman and appreciate those parents for upbringing the woman from childhood and to adulthood. After dowry payment, the woman officially becomes a wife, moves to the man’s house or home, and has to submit to the man. The woman becomes the man’s wife and cannot initiate divorce whatsoever. If the woman walks out of the marriage, she still remains to be the man’s wife traditionally. Though white weddings and judicial marriages are done, the traditional dowry payment remains to be the most important aspect of Zulu marriages. On the other hand, in the US culture, marriages are either done through church or garden weddings or at an attorney’s place.
Also, Zulu men are allowed to marry as many wives as possible, so long as they can satisfy all their needs. A Zulu woman has no say whatsoever in the decision...