Friday, May 9, 2008

Spirituality and Luo Marriage

Sunset on Polygamy
(A Novel by JOSEPH R ALILA):

(PublishAmerica, 2007)

http://www.publishamerica.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?catalogid=18178

In this African, cultural-anthropological drama, the author (Joseph R Alila) explores such universal issues as competitive love and romance, spirituality and moral conduct and order, farming, fairness, power structure, conflicts and conflict resolution, all within the context of a polygamous Luo home, as seen through a grown-up child's eyes. Beyond the polygamous home, the author takes us through an anthropological, communal tour of the spiritual underpinnings of such issues as farming, death, mourning, marriage, remarriage, courtship, morality and order, and power within a Luo communal unit. Alila delicately addresses the conflict between (arcane) cultural practices and spiritual understanding of a disease and its possible cures, on one side, versus proven modern medical evidence and understanding of a disease epidemic and its management, on the other.
In Sunset on Polygamy, the author teaches that, even in a polygamous home, the man and every woman must communicate, must play, must occasionally visit, verbally, physically and mentally, one-on-one, so as to survive `the grind' that is life in polygamy. This one-on-one communication among all parties must continue even as families move through crises.

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