ABSTRACT
The marriage talk analyzed in this chapter reveals some rather stark differences in how Fulbe men and women engage with this social institution. Fulbe men talk about the marriage of younger men to older women as being determined by "sauce". They say "Their sauce is too good." It spoils their younger husbands, giving their women control over them. Men's social adulthood depends on the presence of submissive female bodies; this submission is always, to some extent, voluntary and dependent on a morally grounded reciprocity. The flow of material substances between husband and wife is a constant subject of negotiation in the Fulbe household. Though men use generalizing talk about the world to discuss personal, intimate problems, women rely on the bodily idioms of bad sauce, cheap cloth, wasting flesh, and restless nights of longing to speak of their experiences of scarcity and dissatisfaction with particular marriages.
