ABSTRACT

Brideprice refers to payments made by the groom’s to the bride’s kin that establish the groom’s family’s rights to her children. Often the goods received by the bride’s family are then used, in turn, to acquire a wife for one of their men. Such payments vary from one society to another, and brideprice payment of some sort has been practiced in societies otherwise as different as those of central Asia, ancient northern Europe, and Africa. Brideprice can also vary historically within the same society. The payments may be made in installments over many years or all at once; they may be given and received by a single person from each side or they may consist of numerous separate transactions among group members; the payments may be in currency or include stipulated valuable items; they may fluctuate relative to economic forces or remain stable.