Citation

Colson E. Cult. Surv. Q. 1995; 19(1): 35-38.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Cultural Survival Inc.)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12295013

Abstract

A longterm study (begun in 1956) of the people of four villages in Gwembe District in Zambia provides information on deaths due to Rhodesian action or to Zimbabwean freedom fighters and on deaths due to domestic violence (which is likely to have been underreported because it is considered shameful). During the decade of the 1970s, one woman and three men died from Rhodesian action and 5 women were killed by kinsmen (two husbands, two sons, and one brother). The police left the kin to settle the case of the sister killed by the brother. One man who killed his mother persuaded a younger, unmarried kinsman to be charged and punished in his stead; another left the community. One of the men who killed his wife was released because of his age (he paid damages to his children in accordance with matrilineal tradition); the other was released for lack of evidence. Battered women usually do not press charges against their husbands but may leave them and, if young, marry again. In some cases, battered women seeking divorce have also won compensation for broken bones. Domestic violence may have been especially prevalent in this period because the economic situation deteriorated, men could not find work, and the Rhodesian war added stress and disrupted the local transportation system. In response, men began to drink more heavily and male violence directed against women and men brewed along with locally-produced alcohol. Domestic violence may be exacerbated when men use women as an outlet for their anger and frustration in stressful times of war.

Language: en