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Only Death Will Separate Us: The Role of Extramarital Partnerships among Himba Pastoralists

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Abstract

Extramarital partnerships are highly stigmatized in many societies and are typically excluded from studies of family dynamics and social support. Nevertheless, in many societies such relationships are common and can have important impacts on resource security and health outcomes. However, current studies of these relationships come mainly from ethnographic studies, with quantitative data extremely rare. Here we present data from a 10-year study of romantic partnerships among a community of Himba pastoralists in Namibia, where concurrency is common. The majority of married men (97%) and women (78%) currently reported having more than one partner (n = 122). Using multilevel models comparing marital and nonmarital relationships, we found that, contrary to conventional wisdom surrounding concurrency, Himba form enduring bonds with extramarital partners that often last decades and are very similar to marital ones in terms of length, emotional affect, reliability, and future prospects. Qualitative interview data showed that extramarital relationships were imbued with a set of rights and obligations that, while distinct from those of spouses, provide an important source of support. Greater inclusion of these relationships in studies of marriage and family would provide a clearer picture of social support and resource transfers in these communities and help to explain variation in the practice and acceptance of concurrency around the world.

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Availability of Data and Material

Anonymized data will be available on OSF upon publication at https://osf.io/4q3ne/

Code Availability

R code used for these analyses will be available on OSF upon publication at https://osf.io/4q3ne/.

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost we wish to thank the Himba community who has welcomed and worked with us for the last 12 years. John Jakurama, Cancy Louis, and Gita Louis provided research assistance and translation work in Namibia. Dr. Jacob Sheehama also provided support in Namibia.

Funding

This work was funded by the National Science Foundation, BCS-1534682, awarded to Brooke Scelza.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCLA Department of Anthropology, Los Angeles, 341 Haines Hall, Box 951553, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1553, USA

    Brooke A. Scelza

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Sean P. Prall

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  1. Brooke A. Scelza
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  2. Sean P. Prall
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Both authors contributed to the study conception and design, data collection and writing of the manuscript. Sean Prall prepared the data and conducted the analyses. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Brooke A. Scelza.

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Ethical Approval

This work was approved by the [Institution name here] Institutional Review Board (#10–000238). Community support was granted by the Chief of Omuhonga Basekama Ngombe. All participants provided oral consent.

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Scelza, B.A., Prall, S.P. Only Death Will Separate Us: The Role of Extramarital Partnerships among Himba Pastoralists. Arch Sex Behav 52, 1355–1363 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02553-2

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