Tamar as victim of levirate marriage? : reading Genesis 38 within a Zulu cultural context of marriage

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Zulu society for the most part is deeply patriarchal in nature and rooted in male dominance that is supported by androcentric cultural beliefs and practices that have led to the oppression of women. Because of patriarchy, Zulu marriage for many women implies victimization and objectification. In particular, the inability to bear male children has resulted in the victimization of the wives that subsequently diminishes their worth as human beings and also has implications for their religious life. In this study, the story of Tamar as told in Genesis 38 is read in the context of the ostracism and oppression that many Zulu women continue to experience in marriage. Reading the story of Tamar, who can be described as a victim of levirate marriage gone wrong, by means of an African Feminist and a Postcolonial Feminist exegetical approach, this study proposes that the story of Tamar may offer Zulu women an alternative way of understanding their own situation, not just as victims, but as survivors as well. In Chapter 2 of this study, I explore Zulu culture and identity in relation to gender by venturing into the cultural folktales to discover the hidden oppression over its women. The purpose of this chapter is to show how cultural symbols like folktales reflect the culture of subjugation and domination over women. But, more importantly, I demonstrate how these folktales serve as a way of socialization of girls and the perpetuation of the male idealization of women in marriage. Furthermore, I show in this chapter how the dominant paradigm of Zulu life in relation to marriage to a great extent continues to centres on the necessity of procreation. I moreover show that the reality of infertility and barrenness and the social consequences reveal some of the layers of ambiguities within the Zulu context of marriage that is rooted in a patriarchal culture that oppresses women and is detrimental to their health. In Chapter 3 of this thesis, the story of Tamar will be read by means of an African Feminist approach that will employ the experience of Zulu women's oppression in the context of marriage in order to expose the different practices that allow men to victimise, objectify and control women in the cultural marital context. And in Chapter 4 of this thesis, the same text will be read through the lens of a Postcolonial Feminist approach in which themes such as hybridity and mimicry will be used to explore the imperial elements in Genesis 38 when it will be shown how the character of Judah comes to represent Israel as the 'coloniser who is subjugating the Canaanite 'Other, Tamar. Reading Tamar's story through an African Feminist as well as a Postcolonial Feminist lens affirms that subalterns like Tamar as also many Zulu women today do have a voice after all. Through this study, the possibility for the voices of Zulu women regarding their oppression they experience in terms of marriage is opened up. Female survivors of such oppression are called to help liberate the women of our culture by teaching them how one subverts the oppressive structures in order for every woman in the Zulu culture to flourish. This is a society in which Zulu men treat their women with the same dignity and respect that they themselves demand and which Zulu women are able to reach their full potential and not judged in terms of their ability of bringing a male child in the world.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University