I also need to know what the good and bad economical, environmental and social factors are. The subject of "traditional family patterns in Africa" is so broad that it cannot be adequately addressed by many scholars. Yanomamo, as described by Napoleon Chagnon "In a word, everyone in Yanomamo society is called by some kinship term that can be translated into what we would call blood relatives. The characterization of traditional African religion would, thus, lead me to assert—to generalize on logical grounds—that the moral system of each African society—in the traditional setting—does not derive from religion: thus, it is an autonomous moral system. for women and men in society and in the family; it obliges States parties to take action against the social causes of women's inequality; and it calls for the elimination of laws, stereotypes, practices and prejudices that impair women's well-being. This really helped. Young people tend to have different values, attitudes and aims in life from those of older people. (2) Generation: Kinship tie is established between the persons in relation to generation. It is straightforward to see that the choice variables X and l do not affect the demand for the production factors L and K (provided second order conditions are also met). African Systems of Kinship and Marriage. The cultural and physical diversity added with the dramatic social changes of the last three decades on the continent makes the family pattern situation so variegated as to defy any sweeping generalizations. Kinship relation is differentiated in each society on the basis of sex. •In large-scale industrial societies impact of kinship on daily life is lessened by factors such as: •Occupation •Social class •Ethnicity (nationality) •Education •Political affiliation •Religion . The complexity of African society with different cultural and religious practices also reflects on the people's attitude and understanding of their health matters. The term ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ shows the sex of blood relations. Main factors which affect social change can be discussed a follows: 1. Extended kinship ties affect contraceptive choice. I This is still a common practice today. Bourdillon, Michael. It can determine a person's political identity and the way money and property are transferred. the worship of honored ancestors . Programmes must be put in place to compensate for this loss. But if, as Schneider argued, kinship involves any number of social ties, then kinship—and its rules and norms—regulates how people from specific groups, or even entire communities, relate to each other in every aspect of their … It is often combined with elements of Christianity and Islam. 85. Kinship is one of the main organizing principles of society. Natural Factors: Natural forces and factors play an important role in unifying or disintegrating the society. 86. There have been a number of factors leading to the changes in African family structure. Kinship performs these social functions in two ways. Modernization through industrialization which included westernized educational system has affected some communities and individuals in Africa making them embracing a lifestyle that was previously unknown to traditional African communities (Ocholla-Ayoyo 1997). The women worked, caring for the house, the crops, the children. Descent, the system of acknowledged social parentage, which varies from society to society, whereby a person may claim kinship ties with another. In addition to joking kinship, Gambians may construct ties by drawing upon myriad potential factors such as extended family members growing up in the same compound, sharing the same name, friendships between relatives, religious ties, mentor relationships, ties built through the participation in ceremonies. BY DAVID ROSS, EDITOR. The traditional African healer unlike a doctor trained in western biomedicine, looks for the cause of the patient's ailments as misfortune in relationship between the patient and the social, natural and spiritual environments. Kalee. How did a power-sharing government in Africa work? In rural areas, the family typically remains the basic unit of agricultural production. Some researchers have gone so far as to describe ethnicity as being an elaborated form of fictive kinship (Yelvington and Bentley 1991). Pakistani social life revolves around family and kin. This social institution ties individuals and groups together and establishes a relationship between them. KINSHIP. If no limitation were placed on the recognition of kinship, everybody would be kin to everyone else; but in most societies some limitation is imposed on the perception of common ancestry, so that a person regards many of his associates as not his kin. The most basic bonds are those […] This institution establishes relationships between individuals and groups. Aboriginal kinship ties, values, beliefs, identity and language are maintained by the family. People in all societies are bound together by various kinds of bonds. Kinship defined inheritance, where one lived, and what a person's responsibilities to his or her family and society were. This explains why dynasties waxed and waned so quickly. People of the same age usually have similar interests and attitudes. 124 FACTORS AFFECTING CONTRA CEPTIVE USE being the western African market women's associations;44 (S) mutual aid societies and rotating credit networks;45 (6) a plethora of colonial-era asso- ciations including Christian missions, youth associations (Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, YMCA and YWCA), and church women's groups, the latter being particularly vigorous in eastern and southern Africa… Lastly, this author will argue that the Eurocentric nature of the descriptions and characterization of the traditional African family patterns by earlier scholars has tended to distort and obscure many of the strengths of the African traditional family. Source: Extracts taken from: Family and Kinship by … In Traditional Aboriginal society children are the responsibility of not only their biological parents but their entire extended family. The strongest ties in Anglo-Saxon society were to kin and lord. Even among members of the most Westernized elite, family retains its overarching significance. Some African ethnic groups do not seem to have divinities, while some were known to have no special shrines or worship places designated to the divinities or to the Supreme … In South Africa under the impact of industrialization the demographic composition of family is changing but geographically dispersed members of the family address to the needs of each other at the time of crisis. Traditional Kinship Patterns. The research seeks to show how society changes in the contemporary world have weakened the cultural values of the Nigerian rural traditional society, which in fact was the custodian of our ancient culture and civilization. KINSHIP SYSTEMS AND FAMILY TYPESKinship systems are mechanisms that link conjugal families (and individuals not living in families) in ways that affect the integration of the general social structure and enhance the ability of the society to reproduce itself in an orderly fashion. Family plays a central role in African society. The basic type of bond is marriage and reproduction. Kinship is also about economic life. ADVERTISEMENTS: Kinship: Meaning, Types and Other Details! There was no real concept of patriotism or loyalty to a cause. Social Change characterizes every society. It is one of the basic social institutions found in every society. The continuance of Aboriginal society is dependent on keeping Aboriginal families strong and healthy both physically and culturally. But there are exceptions to this general observation, especially in Southern Africa and some parts of West Africa. The more external kinship ties households have, the more likely women in those households are to use modern forms of temporary contraception. Descent Social groups based on descent The family Marriage The life cycle Everybody has kinship in one form or another. The issue of whether kinship ties influence marital outcomes is important given the overwhelming influence of lineage or kinship ties in Africa. As the African society has not been static, changes in the traditional family patterns will be briefly alluded to. Although human beings have made tremendous progress during the last 150 […] Hope . It is important to prepare schools for the Ebola virus disease management and regain lost learning hours. Therefore the bearing of industrialization on family system is not uniform. The family is the basis of social organization, providing its members with both identity and protection. It could be remarked in passing that the tradition of … Kinship — which can be initially described as the study of the links between people established on the basis of descent, marriage, or adoption — has been a defining domain of anthropological investigation since the inception of this discipline in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. Divisions within a society can be based on several different factors, including age, sex, religion, residence, kinship and common economic interest. ANT 379 Africa Africa Readings. What aspect of traditional African religious belief reflects the importance of family and kinship ties? So used were the women to work that a polygamous situation would at times be provoked by the first wife's asking her husband to take a second wife who could be a help to her in her work. The ties of loyalty were to the person of a lord, not to his station. We analyse whether traditional sharing norms within kinship networks affect education decisions of poor black households in KwaZulu-Natal. The term ‘father’ and ‘son’, grand-father and grandson show the relation between two generations. If kinship involves only blood and marriage ties, then kinship defines how family relationships form and how family members interact with one another. From East to West or North to South you will find this everywhere in the society. What is kinship? A traditional society is marked, in the words of Talcott Parsons, by ‘particularistic’ values as opposed to ‘universalistic’ values which characterize a modern society. Good website though because I found a little of what i needed to know. Age. It shapes such daily experiences as how and where individuals live, how they interact with the people around them, and even, in some cases, whom they marry. The most important thing is that in the new South Africa religion and spirituality are used to create greater understanding and harmony rather than to divide people as was done in the past. Traditional African religion is very popular and arrived here with our North and West African ancestors. Re-establishing livelihoods and kinship ties that were functioning before Ebola is also critical to strengthening the resilience of communities. In Poland the elderly people live in the countryside along with their grandchildren. How did a person's kinship affect his or her place in society? Sep 11, 2014 @ 9:09 am. p119. African traditional religions in some parts of Africa, have had an elaborate pantheon of divinities. Traditional cultural practices reflect values and beliefs held by members of a community for periods often spanning generations. There is, for example, a growing body of literature describing the importance of fictive kin ties in U.S. African-American urban communities and their effects on everything from child care to educational achievement (Fordham 1986; Johnson and Barer 1990). Geography is hard, and so, I think we all know how that works. The total number of learning hours lost to school closures is extremely high. However its direction, speed and nature are affected by several factors. Anglo-Saxon Life - kinship and lordship. In traditional African society, men guarded the home and the cattle, or went to war. Family and kinship ties are very strong. Pakistan Table of Contents . The forms we find in Africa are not unique to Africa, but they are an important part of African social organization. A kingdom was only as strong as its war-leader king. Contents. Religion and Society: A Text for Africa, 1990. Sep 17, 2014 @ 5:17 pm. 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