With forced marriage, the sensationalized hides the mundane, and oversimplified popular discourses miss the range of experiences. In sub-Saharan Africa, the relationship between coercion and consent in marriage is a complex one that varies over time and place, rendering impossible any single interpretation or explanation. The legal experts, anthropologists, historians, and practitioners contributing to Marriage by Force? focus on the role that marriage plays in labor mobilization, wealth accumulation, and domination versus dependency. They also address the crucial slippage between marriage and other forms of gendered violence, bondage, slavery, and servile status.
