A Reflection on the African Traditional Values of Marriage and Sexuality

It is the ‘opinion consensuses of a few scholars that the institution of marriage has continued to dwindle because of a lot of social economic and cultural factors. With the passing of time, certain ills have befallen marriage that it has dealt a devastating blow to society. This has produced along it trails a myriad of social problems as a result; single parenthood, divorce, separations, rape, homosexuality, lesbianism and prostitution, the list continues. These cases are rapidly on the increase.
This reflection will adopt a social cultural analysis of the problem as it is viewed today, especially regarding various scholars who have contributed to this issue and have tried to tackle it in various aspects. It hopes to be critical not just analytic of some to the options and opinions adopted. The reflection also seeks to interpret within the context of the African traditional marriage and sexuality, the values attached especially to marriage.
The objective of the reflection is to establish that though marriage suffers handicaps in the society, there exists within the African traditional marriage system resources available, which if discerned and learned properly can help checkmate or even stalemate some of the ills it suffers today.
The underline contribution is that there is value especially in the traditional marriage system this value is underscored in life. Marriage was geared towards the procreation and promotion of life. Seen within this context, there exist the ‘kernel’ essential properties that held traditional marriage systems, even though there existed also the ‘husk’ material elements that fade with the passage of time in marriage. Underlining all this was the life of the community.
The reflections assumes and expect that at the end of the day reverting to the basic essential value of marriage will go a long way in the prevention of some of these ills that are associated with marriage. It expects that society including Christianity will be able to learn from the traditional system, that indeed not for nostalgic reasons, the core of marriage is to be preserved in life.