Department of Anthroplogy, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Cult Health Sex. 2010 May;12(4):415-27. doi: 10.1080/13691051003586906.
This paper calls attention to an ideal of romantic love among young unmarried mothers in Mali. It demonstrates that romantic love constitutes a motivating force for the agency of young Malian mothers who invest themselves in hopes of romantic outcomes from their relationships. Like the majority of people in Mali, the young mothers in this study dedicated a considerable time each weekday to watching a Venezuelan soap opera, which could be regarded as offering a modern version of Romeo and Juliet. Yet, romance is not the only thing that matters in young mothers' ideals of love. Materiality plays an important role as well. Thus, young mothers have multiple motives for engaging in relationships with men: they seek both romance and material stability, which is why an either love or exchange perspective is insufficient when examining the topic of romantic love in a Malian context.
本文关注马里未婚年轻母亲群体中的浪漫爱情理想。研究表明，浪漫爱情是马里年轻母亲能动性的驱动力，她们希望从恋爱关系中获得浪漫的结果。和马里的大多数人一样，这些年轻母亲每周工作日都会花大量时间观看委内瑞拉肥皂剧，可以说这为她们提供了现代版的《罗密欧与朱丽叶》。然而，浪漫并非年轻母亲爱情理想的唯一要素，物质也扮演着重要的角色。因此，年轻母亲与男性建立恋爱关系有多种动机：她们既寻求浪漫，也追求物质稳定，这就是为什么在马里背景下研究浪漫爱情这一话题时，仅从爱情或交换的角度来分析是不够的。
