Managing Uncertainty, Creating Stability

Abstract The role of kin in contemporary Africa is closely linked to both the marriage process and the rearing of children. Kin recognition of the union is essential for legitimizing it in the eyes of the community and securing support for the children it produces. Kin also play a critical role in the monetary and material exchange between the partners and their families, including the eventual payment of bride wealth. Whereas much of the extant scholarship on family formation in Africa has examined on the challenges of attaining a modern marriage, the focus here is on the process through which women and men aspire to achieve social and economic stability. The chapter draws on sociological theories of risk and intimacy and analyzes existing survey data along with qualitative data collected in a low-income community in Nairobi, Kenya. Examining this process shows how people are combining “modern” resources, such as the state, with “traditional” institutions, such as kinship, in distinctly gendered ways. It identifies not only the risks and benefits for the health and well-being of children but also the longer-term intergenerational effects. This analysis should encourage policymakers to move away from interventions that are rigidly prescriptive about the timing of childbearing and union formation and instead to support couples and their children as they navigate the process of attaining economic and social stability.