ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the informal conversations in the homes of office workers, as well as participant observation at seven Lutheran and Catholic weddings and three Muslim weddings. Many comments by Tanzanians on modern life center on concepts of gender roles and relations between the sexes. Professionals are shifting to a 'modern' model of marriage - two people as partners, companions who found each other through their own networks. Gender roles permeate wedding preparations, and the kin often meet in sex-segregated 'vikao', taking on different responsibilities for making the event a success. The Master of Ceremony's light-hearted spoofs embed serious images of marriage and gender roles. Residents of Dar es Salaam often say that in mixed ethnic marriages, children may belong to the father's group kinship-wise, but culturally, they will follow the mother's group. In Dar es Salaam, office workers focus on an idealised household division of labour, gender roles, and gender relations.
