ANTH/WMGS 326 Issues in the Anthropology of Kinship
Winter 2018

Mar. 26: The number of partners
Required reading: Charsley, Katharine and Anika Liversage (2013) “Transforming polygamy” Migration, transnationalism and multiple marriages among Muslim minorities.” Global Networks 13(1): 60-78.

Charsley and Liversage:
- why does it matter whether people engage in polygamous relationships or not?
- how has polygamy been viewed, according to Charsley and Liversage?
- what do they argue?
- how do they define “polygamy”, their important concept?
- notice the description of context (Islamic views of polygamy, polygamy and migration, the legal contexts of Denmark and Britain)
- what forms of polygamy occur because of legal pluralism?
- how do dual marital aspirations spur polygamy?
- what happens in cases of “technical” polygamy?
- their conclusion discusses the evidence and draws out its significance in terms of how polygamy has transformed through migration, transnationalism and distance;
- also note how gender affects the possibilities and forms of polygamy 


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