- Life is also seen as communal. Human society is unique, he argues, in that we are "working with the same raw material as exists in the animal world, but [we] can conceptualize and categorize it to Power and authority in matrilineal societies ultimately lies in the woman and her brother. In fact cases where the father-in-law has to issue orders are perhaps such a minority that it is ironical that they are used to characterize the whole social interaction. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1961. Download Now. 16. People who have gone to school see the aged as old fashioned (generation gap) 6. The issue to emphasize, is not so much that there are no weaknesses or shortcomings in the traditional African family, but that the Eurocentric Anglo-Saxon descriptions (that are believed to be objective and describe social phenomena as accurately as possible) eliminate, and over shadow the strengths and positive aspects that might have existed and may still exist in the African traditional family patterns. He was a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies of the University of Zambia from 1977 to 1990. traditional agricultural systems of production and the increasing ownership of land by women, as well as education and access to contraceptives have reduced the demand for large families. largest kinship network of any descent system ever invented. The literature on the subject is truly as vast and reflects traditional patterns that are as diverse as the variations of the physical looks of the people found on the continent. - During this period of seclusion:- i. ii. Education of children has been left to teachers. - People write wills to share or decide who should inherit their property. This shows that children seals marriage. It symbolizes the union between the living and the dead. vi. There was fair distribution of wealth to even those who did not have. 3. Permissiveness in the society has eroded . The author obtained his B.A in Sociology and Psychology at University of Zambia in 1976, M.A, Ph. A community has distinct beliefs, customs and cultural practices. Changing Family Patterns: Sub-Saharan Africa, in World Revolution and Family Patterns. The youth are taught to be courageous in order to be able to face challenges in life e.g. First, there is the local unit of matrilocal marriage .. consisting of a man, his wife, his married daughters and their husbands and children,34 Second, the matrilineal descent group which consists of maternal relatives and ancestors traced back to several generations. According to Mair, .the polygynous joint family, consisting of a man, his wives, and their children, is the ideal for most Africans.5 Studies conducted from the 1930s to 1950s indicate that polygyny was common virtually in all regions of Africa.6, In spite of the perversity of polygyny, there was evidence that it was on the decline. Those who are related by blood include - Brothers - Sisters - Aunts - Uncles - Parents - Cousins - Grandparents By marriage include Wife/ husband Others are referred to as in-laws - Kinship also includes all the living and any given locality. 2. They face challenges from medical practitioners who argue that they should go for formal training. Hotel Hope Ministries is a fully registered South African non-profit organisation established with aim of ensuring that each and every child is brought up in a safe, happy and healthy home so that they can grow up and develop into responsible and positive adults. Some communities have abandoned initiation rites like among the luo; removal of six lower teeth is a practice of the past. Courtship gives the two families time to prepare in advance for the real marriage. Many communities made clothes from animal skins, bark of trees, sisal and leaves. It was used to bury the dead, the spirits were believed to dwell on land or below the ground. First, two animal totems from one of which the clan derives its name. The major reason cited is that with increasing modern influences, marrying more than one wife became an economic burden. Priests/prophets v. Blacksmiths The religious specialists acquire their skills through:- i. Inheritance from a relative ii. 9) The practice has also been affected by belief in conventional medicine. 6 It separates one from the loved ones. They also do the work of advisors e.g. The gifts also act as security in case the marriage breaks then the gifts could be returned. That is to say a man goes to live in his wifes village, at any rate for the first years of his married life.22 This is also true of marriage among other Zambian tribes like the Bisa, Lala, Lamba, Chewa, Kaonde, and many others. - In some communities e.g. 3. Urbanization: Where people of different cultures interact with one another. ii. - Diviners are people who are believed to have the ability to reveal hidden things by use of magical powers Role of mediums and diviners in the societies i. Mediums link the living, spirits and the ancestors. During initiation the initiates are given special instructions that prepare them for future life. vi. The celebration that marked the end of initiation is slowly dying out due to economic constraints. The blood the binds the initiates and ancestors. 2) Some students also consult them to succeed in exams and career. Makini. 10. Some of them are (i) Rites of passage (2) Good morals (3) Participation in communal activities such as ceremonies, work, leisure activities and worship (4) Sharing of property and ideas (5) Division of labour. - Marriage raised the status of the couples once somebody was married he was given a lot of respect. Extended Family: It ensures that children, orphans and the widows are well taken care of by the other members of the extended family. Explaining these changes would require a different chapter. 2. 2. Land ownership: The ancestral land is communally owned and nobody is allowed to sell it. Dowry payment is no longer a communal affair but an individual affair. DEATH Death is the last rite in ones life and unlike other rites like initiation, naming. iv. - It is against Christian teaching on circumcision because God instructed Abraham to circumcise male descendants - It lowers the dignity of the individual (dehumanizing) - One can contract dangerous diseases such as HIV and AIDS. A Bemba belongs to his mothers clan (umukoa), a group of relatives more or less distantly connected, who reckon descent from real or fictitious common ancestries, use a common totem name, and a series of praise titles, recite a common legend of origin and accept certain joint obligations.30. Communal worship prayers are offered to God to thank Him for whatever he has done. T/F: Through slavery, forced separation of spouses, siblings, and parents from children led to a more expansive definition of kinship, and thus an extended family model took root. It is kinship, which controls social relationship between people in a given community: it governs marital customs and regulations, it determines the behavior of individuals towards another. In traditional African society this entails a bride-exchange in form of cattle, services, foodstuffs, family ties, or other expressions of the marriage contract. Virginity is not highly valued and many people break their virginity at stage of adolescence. 3. Western Culture: Has provided the spirit of individualization. It is also a taboo to marry close relative. - It also shows that the woman is fully integrated to the husbands family - There are certain rules and regulations she is expected to observe. ELDERS They are people who are elderly in society. Magic, sorcery and witchcraft. Matrilineality is the major influence in what children learn and come to accept about their society. But rather the matrilocal extended family comprised of a man and his wife, their married daughters, son-in-laws, and their children. The size of the clan could differ from one to the other. Dishonoring or insulting God. He has no rights on his paternal clan. theories regarding family structure" (D . Current notions of kinship still owe a great deal to ideas about the physiological connections between kin. vi. 5. - There is individual ownership of property. This again is true among other Zambian tribes like the Bisa, Lamba, Lala, Chewa, Kaonde, Luba, and others. Schooling where children spend most of their time with teachers depriving them the time to be with elders. However, the role of these traditional religious leaders has been greatly affected by influence of Christianity, western culture and formal education. 5. This may be due to urbanization and economic constraints. Anything described in these terms must inherently be bad, primitive and, therefore, undesirable.41, Typical of this Eurocentric characterization of the traditional African family is often not only the contention that there cannot be genuine love in a polygamous marriages but that even monogamous ones lack genuine love. -Close and supportive extended-family relationships -Strong kinship ties with non blood relatives from church or organizational and social groups -Family unity, loyalty, and cooperation are important -Usually matriarchal African American Folk and Traditional Healthcare: 6. Birth and naming 2. - It is through marriage that children are born to the community. 4. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1956, 1966, 1971). 11 This study was conducted in the late 1800s when inter-tribal warfare and capturing of slaves from the wars was still very common. Edited by Arthur Phillips, (London: Oxford University Press, 1953), 24 Audrey I. Richards, Bemba Marriage and Present Economic Conditions, The Rhodes-Livingstone Papers, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1969). A Modern Introduction to The Family, Glencoe: The Free Press, 1960. 9. 7. They are not supposed to take part in heavy duties or carry heavy loads. Girls take care of the babies and fetch firewood. i. 12. It offers a general survey of the geographical environments they inhabited; their settlements, social structures and economies; and their religions and cultures. - They suffer from psychological and emotional problems - Sometimes widows face lack of essentials such as food. - Among the Luo the bride could be accompanied by her other sisters and on the first night, the people would witness the breaking of virginity. Such influences as end of intra and inter-tribal warfare with the coming of European colonialism, the Western money economy, industrialization, migration, and urbanization have certainly transformed the traditional African family from what it was 50 to 100 years ago. Importance of Kinship System and Ties. d. If it is a man, the wife is supposed to stay around the corpse among them show clearly she would miss the husband. Through apprenticeship iv. 5. 3. Leisure Activities: This is the time that one has at his disposal. The paternal grandmothers drop the cords into a can, which contains beer, milk, and water. Death is believed to be a next journey to the world of the spirits. 8. It is the kinship ties which determine a person's rights, responsibilities and behaviour. FACTORS AFFECTING THE SYSTEM 173 THE SIB: DESCENT AND EXOGAMY Kinship ties necessarily begin within the family as a pro- creational unit. 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