The Special Collections Book of the Week this week is:

Marriage, Land and Customs edited by A Claassens and D Smythe

Significant processes of change and adaptation are currently underway in relation to marriage and the land rights of single women living in ‘communal’ areas in South Africa. Marriage rates are declining. African women are the main recipients of government social security grants and are also those directly affected by the Recognition Customary Marriages Act. Alongside changes in marriage patterns we see single women increasingly claiming and being allocated, residential sites for themselves and their children in ‘communal’ areas. This practice appears to confound the customary law premise of land rights vesting exclusively in men.

Access: https://univofpretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/870897550

This book is available at Special Collections, housed on level 5 of the Merensky 2 Library, and is part of our Africana (ZA) Collection.

The Special Collections unit of the Department of Library Services plays a stewardship role in the acquisition and preservation of the Library's rare and valuable information resources, making t hem accessible to students, staff and researchers, as well as safeguarding them for future generations.