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The historical background on non-monogamous global practices
The purpose of this sub-section is to show that non-monogamy is not only a sexual practice observed on a global scale, but is also not a chronic illness that exists in South Africa and the rest sub-Saharan Africa. As indicated elsewhere in this dissertation, the scholarship of concurrency in this region is replete with highly racialised overtones. A pronounced example of this is evident in Caldwell, Caldwell, and Quiggin’s (1989, p. 187) historical work in which the context of concurrent partnerships within the ‘Black’ sub-population in sub-Saharan Africa constitutes “a distinct and internally coherent African system [of] embracing sexuality”. One of the ways in which to debunk narratives such as this is to show that non-monogamy is not a sub-Saharan African problem or pathology. In fact, in wider contexts, the meaning associated with non-monogamy including concurrency characterizes a legitimate form of organizing sexual relationships.
The global phenomenon of non-monogamy
In order to understand the meaning attached to the practice of non-monogamy, it is important to investigate its point of origin. Determining the origins of non-monogamy may, perhaps, prove a task too imaginative. What is possible, within limits of course is archiving the history of this practice. An understanding of the history of non-monogamy could change the way health researchers and social scientists approach this topic. This is important in light of certain scientific approaches where concurrency is studied in a way that constructs sexual dissimilarities, especially between the global north and global south (discussed elsewhere in this dissertation). Of all the disciplines that may provide a rich source of scholarship related to this field, none is more suitable than Anthropology. For example, an anthropologist, Cairncross (1974), asserted that non-monogamy, in the form of polygyny, was prevalent in most societies (both existent and extinct). In the study by Pasternack, Ember, and Ember (1997), it was reported that anthropologists had determined that non-monogamy was common in most societies; in fact, 83.5 per cent of all human societies permitted polygyny (one husband with multiple wives), 16 per cent allowed only monogamy, and 5 per cent approved of polyandry (one wife with multiple husbands). Furthermore, the wider prevalence of non-monogamy was quantified in the Human Relations Area Files, which showed that of 1154 societies described, 93 per cent allowed some form of polygamy (Pasternack et al., 1997).
The 1986 Ethnographic Atlas, by G. P. Murdock, is a seminal scholarly production which explored the field of non-monogamy in great depth. In this book, Murdock explored the patterns of non-monogamy by observing different societies, with the exception of cultures from industrialised countries. He found that, of the 1157 societies studied, 70 per cent preferred polygyny as the choice of sexual relationships (Clark, 1998). The patterns of monogamous sexual relationships were also observed and its practices were quantified at 15.4 per cent, a marginal existence in comparison to non-monogamy (Clark, 1998). Davenport (1976) is another scholar who gave non-monogamous sexual lifestyles a thorough empirical treatment. In his tour de force survey of human sexuality, he explored several Polynesian cultures in which concurrency was part of the cosmic order and thus celebrated (Davenport, 1976). For example, in the society of pre-Christian Tahiti, self-masturbation, as well as premarital intercourse, was fully embraced and young people were initiated into these practices by their elders (Davenport, 1976). In addition, marital and extramarital intercourse were topics that were not taboo in that society. There were also not considered an illness, but were a facet of human sexuality which formed part of a societal discourse (Davenport, 1976). These topics were routinely discussed by young and old alike, and a prominent topic for discussion was safer sex practices (Davenport, 1976). This may also explain why the rates of HIV and AIDS were very low in this country (Davenport, 1976). In a different study that was conducted by Burton, Moore, Whiting, and Romney (1996) which included 348 societies, 20 per cent of those were reportedly as monogamous, 20 per cent practised limited polygamy, while 60 per cent allowed widespread polygynous relationships. In addition, MacDonald (1995) investigated non-monogamy in specific countries, such as China, India, and Muslim and New World civilisations, identifying the inclination towards having mistresses and concubines as a common predisposition among men.
Non-monogamy in the African continent
In the broader continent of Africa, particularly in pre-colonial times, polygyny was the primary value system for the establishment of sexual relationships (Hayase & Liaw, 1997). According to Hayase and Liaw (1997), as a way of organising sexual relationships the non-monogamous pattern was especially pervasive in sub-Saharan Africa. In 1850, Livingstone, for example, administered a survey on 278 married Tswana couples. His findings revealed that 43 per cent of the respondents were involved in polygamy (Delius & Glaser, 2004). Similar observations were reported in Delius and Glaser’s (2004) thesis where the wider representation of polygyny was estimated at between 30 per cent and 50 per cent in all sub-Saharan countries. Only in Lesotho, however, a much lower rate of polygyny, with a figure of 9 per cent, was noted. The ubiquitous shifts towards monogamy became significantly clear in 1946 when the official census showed that non-monogamous marriages in Southern Africa had decreased dramatically to a reported figure of 11 per cent (Delius & Glaser, 2004). It is important to note that non-monogamy was not only widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, as indicated by Hayase and Liaw, but also prevalent in West Africa. According to Dalton and Leung (2014) the rates of women who were involved in polygynous marriages in the Western African countries of Guinea, Togo and Benin were 44 per cent, 21 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. In this region, polygyny is particularly common among the sub-population of the Animist and Muslim communities (Dalton & Leung, 2014).
CHAPTER 1: ORIENTATION AND BACKGROUND
1. INTRODUCTION
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3. AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.5 THE RATIONALE OF THE PRESENT STUDY
1.6 THE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH APPROACH TO SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP STUDIES
1.6.1 Qualitative relationship studies allow for exploration of meaning-making in interaction
1.6.2 Qualitative relationship studies permit representation of sexual minorities
1.6.3 The focus of qualitative relationship studies on psychological attributes
1.6.4 Understanding the interaction of relationships through qualitative relationship studies
1.7 THE STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY
CHAPTER 2: TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 DEFINING PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY
2.2 THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY .
2.4 THE PARTNER REDUCTION POLICY AS AN HIV RESPONSE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
2.5 THE OVERVIEW OF THE PARTNER REDUCTION POLICY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
2.5.1 Botswana’s ‘O Icheke’ Campaign
2.5.2 Swaziland’s Secret Lovers Kill
2.5.3 South Africa’s Soul City’s OneLove campaig
2.5.4 Lesotho’s HIV/AIDS prevention, control and management documen
2.5.5 Angola’s 2009-2013 HIV and AIDS prevention strategy
2.5.7 Namibia’s Combination Prevention Strategy and Operational Plan for HIV, 2015 – 2017 37
2.5.8 Zimbabwe’s National Behavioural Change Strategy for Prevention of Sexual Transmission of HIV 2006-2010
2.5.9 Mozambique’s Andar Fora E Maningue Arriscado (stepping outside – cheating – is risky business)
2.6.0. Zambia’s National Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) strategy
2.6.1 Malawi’s HIV and AIDS Extended National Action Framework, 2010-2012
2.7 CONCURRENT PARTNERSHIPS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRIC
2.7.1 Types of concurrent partnerships .
2.7.2 Steady and other side partners
2.7.3 Transactional relationships .
2.7.4 Intergenerational sexual relationship
2.8 WHAT IS MEAN BY SEXUALITY IN THIS STUDY?
2.8.1 The focus on personal meaning of sexuality
CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW
3. TOWARDS DEFINING POLYAMORY
3.1 THE VALUE OF CATEGORISING POLYGAMOUS RELATIONSHIP
3.1.1 Primary or/ secondary model
3.1.2 Poly/mono model
3.1.3 Swinging
3.1.4 Multiple primary partners model
3.1.5 Polyfidelity or group marriage
3.1.6 Summar
3.2 THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON NON-MONOGAMOUS GLOBAL PRACTICES
3.3 THE HISTORY OF NON-MONOGAMY IN SOME NORTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES51
3.4 THE CRITIQUE OF MORRIS AND KRETZSCHMAR’S MATHEMATICAL MODEL
3.5 BACKGROUND
3.6 THE RELEVANCE OF POLYAMORY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
3.7 THE SECRETIVE AGENDA UNDERPINNING CONCURRENT RELATIONSHIPS
3.8 THE CRITIQUE OF POLYAMORY
CHAPTER 4: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
4. SECTION A: SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
4.1 THE BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
4. SECTION B: THE MEANING-MAKING INDIVIDUAL
4. SECTION C: THE MEANING-MAKING MODEL
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN
CHAPTER 6:INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 7: DATA CODING
CHAPTER 8: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS
CHAPTER 9: THE INTERPRETATION OF THE FINDINGS
CHAPTER 10: CONCLUDING REMARKS.
