An analysis of the incorporation of Western practice in Black South African traditional weddings

Abstract

Black South Africans conduct their matrimonial ceremonies by practising African indigenous traditional customs, however, they simultaneously conduct white weddings in addition to their African traditional customs. The celebration of white weddings by black people should be understood within the context of their colonial history which has had an impact on cultural practices. This study aimed to gain a critical understanding of, and to explain the reasons that motivate black people to conduct white wedding customs in conjunction with traditional ones in South Africa. It traced the history of wedding conduct or practices of black South Africans and the dialectical process of those practices. The researcher employed a qualitative research methodology, utilising a focus group discussion for data collection and a critical discourse analysis for analysing the research results. The results of the study are discourses focusing on opposition, societal pressure, legal discourses, religious imperialism, economic discourses, and condemnation of African culture. These results pivot towards an overarching discourse centering on the impact of colonisation on African marriage which leads to its incorporation of Western practice. This is causing incongruence of thoughts, feelings, and behaviour in black people’s marriage conduct, where black people exist in a double conscious experience, particularly in terms of marriage conduct.