Cenogamy: It means literally 'Common Marriage' So why on earth does Websters describe it as a state of sexual promiscuity in a closed society? Surely marriage infers a state of commitment and promiscuous infers a state of being indiscriminate and therefore the term more accurately desribes a Group marriage?
Well as you can see I have been reading! I finally brought the Patricia Dixon book I spoke of in the comments section of my last Apolyglot post and the Introduction/Preface of this book is nearly exactly what I wrote in the blog post, I am astounded and pleased. It is nice to know that the ideals that I have been forming through experiences which bring together wider social issues, observations about race, sexuality, gender, capitalism, environmentalism, Polyamory and family have been reached by other people also. Of course her conclusions (at least from what I know so far) are based entirely towards what is of benefit to her community (heterosexual African Americans) I have yet to see whether she takes into account those of us who do not fit that demographic.
One thing I do find funny with American racial politics though, is their near inability to recognise that not everyone is 'American' and so, I had a bit of a laugh at the 'African Americans all over [the world]' bit, though she does write in a distinction between Africans and African-Americans at many points, she has not mentioned the cultural differences but historical similarities between African Americans and many other members of the African diaspora, which is very much a problem with American Afrocentricism.
Still I think the book would be of benefit to anyone interested in how Monogamy was forced upon us to the detriment to our families and the benefit of the State and Industry. If we truly wish to build strong, self- sustaining families we need to break away from allowing ourselves to be bound to the State, by allowing them to have a stake in our personal relationships, in fact, we the people, do their job quite nicely for them by social pressure and sanctions.
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One Love Natja.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this post. I really appreciate these points that you make in such an academic style. I am a minority within a minority in the U.S. I am the child of immigrants from the Caribbean and that issue is rarely address by mainstream academic works because they use the same brush strokes to refer to us all when they know that the realities are diverse and different. More than that as a someone who has trained in Sociology, I know that the census statistics count folks like me as African American that is how we come to have Sydney Poitier and Heavy D and so many others referred to as African Americans when their socio-cultural realities are other.
More than that, I also have chosen to live a lifestyle that is vigorously heterosexual and heteronormative to the point where homophobia is commonplace. And that makes it even harder to be ME even in a so-called identity obsessed post-modern world.
I think that the black artists and academics who have done work that address homosexuality have done a really good job at pushing the enveloppe for equal rights and acceptance but bi-sexuality and polyamory have not received the same effort. I know that you can make a difference with your work and I hope that someday soon we'll be reading your works alongside those of noted figures like Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Isaac Julien and so many others.
Bless.
Hello again Marijannayiti,
ReplyDeleteYes I am from a Caribbean background also so I feel this situation of disregard for our unique cultural background keenly.
>vigorously heterosexual and heteronormative to the point where homophobia is commonplace.
The homophobia in the black community is SO distressing to me. It is one of the reasons that I rarely hang out with people from my own community because I find the reactionary attitudes painful. I am lucky that my family is not as bad as all that and I am glad I have been given the opportunity, by being out to teach them even further how destructive those kinds of attitudes.
Thank you :o)