"Snapshots of a Wedding," published in 1977 in The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales, presents a story of young people in an African village dealing with forces of tradition and change in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Botswana is a republic in central southern Africa, located north of South Africa. It became independent in 1966. Much of its territory consists of the Kalahari region, an area of desert and grassland. Cattle-raising, the traditional source of wealth and sustenance, continues to be a mainstay of the economy. The Tswana people who make up most of the population tend to reside in large villages in which extended families live together in their own compounds. Tribal institutions and customs remain strong.

Nonetheless, as in the rest of Africa, modern ways are beginning to disrupt the traditional way of life. Beef exports and the developing mining industry have...