The State of Marriage in Somalia, Djibouti, and Comoros

There are many types of marriage in Somalia, Djibouti, and Comoros, the main ones being arranged and great marriages. One of the main differences in arranged marriage is that the ethnic Afar group in Djibouti does not give strong consideration to the bride-price and material gains during the marriage process, while ethnic Somalis do. Instead, Afar people put a lot of emphasis on the attitudes and attributes of the girl’s suitor, as well as the best ways to strengthen social bonds within the kinship group that both the bride and groom belong to. For the ethnic Somalis, marrying outside one’s own clan is encouraged in order to widen social relationships and create alliances, or to reconcile warring groups from different clans. In the great marriage of Comoros, the economy is the main factor that enables people to have this costly marriage, which influences social attitudes, views, and mainstream society’s perceptions of the groom and his bride.