Introduction
Family is considered a basic cell of the society. All social and cultural practices find their connection with a notion of family, either supporting or distorting it.
Family plays a crucial role in Africa. Mbiti says that “each person in African traditional life lives in or as a part of the family” (1975, p. 175). Kisembo asserts that “the family community was the fundamental element of the African, this basic sphere of action, through which he became integrated with the larger, human community… he always acted from within the sphere of the family” (1998, pp. 202-203).
In this work I will try to provide a description of the wider family and its functions in the traditional African society. After that, I will focus on some sociological changes taking place in the contemporary society in order to find out whether those changes affected the traditional meaning of wider family.
Traditional understanding of family
Shorter defines family as a “minimal effective group of relatives by blood and /or marriage and analogous groups” (1998, p. 83). By analogous groups he means those members who are not related by blood or marriage, e.g. adopted children.
Nuclear family would consist of parents and their own children. Shorter (1998, p. 83) sees such a family as autonomous and operating without reference to other relatives. Often their place of residence would be neolocal.
Extended/wider family comprises more people. Mbiti says that “for African people the family has a much wider circle of members than the word suggests in Europe or North America. In traditional society, the family includes children, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters who may have their own children and other immediate relatives” (1969, p.106). The relationships within extended family would be based on kinship (biological or putative blood relationship) and affinity (relationship between blood relationships of one marriage partner and those of the other marriage partner). Such a family would include adopted and fostered children.
In the traditional society polygamous marriages were a preferred form of marriage (Waruta, 2005, p. 105). Such marriages contributed to the extension of relationships of the family by incorporating more people.
Mbiti (1969, p.107) and Shorter (1998, p. 84) assert that a wider family would include the deceased members of the family as well as those who are yet unborn. The unborn children were an important element in such a family, because they were assuring the survival of the family.
The members of the extended family could live together in a traditional compound consisting of several houses, live close to one another or be separated by some distance. In case of geographic separation, they would gather together to make important decisions concerning the family. Usually the members of the wider family would belong exclusively either to a paternal or maternal descent.
Functions of the wider family
Ayisi sees the extended family as forming raison d’etre of all social co-operations and responsibility (1992, p. 16). The wider family was the primary place where an individual exercised his freedom.
An individual existed in connection with a larger group, including his or her wider family. He acquired his identity from that group. He depended on that group for his physical and social survival. Through various rites of passage he progressively became a fuller member of that community and took on a role in ensuring the survival of that group through marriage and procreation. Mbiti says that “in traditional life, the individual does not and cannot exist alone except corporately. He owes his existence to other people… The community must therefore make, create or produce the individual… Only in terms of other people does the individual becomes conscious of his own being, his own duties, his privileges and responsibilities towards himself and towards other people” (1969, p. 108).
The extended family was providing an individual with a personal and corporal identity. One was associated with a particular community with clear roles that were assigned to him at various stages of his life. The cultural and moral norms of the community, that were applied within the extended family, helped an individual to grow into a productive and respected member of the community. Those norms served as a blueprint for his life.
The extended family was the first religious community to which an individual belonged. It was through grandparents, parents and other members that one learned about religious and spiritual heritage. It was most probably the first place where one heard about God, spirits, ancestors and afterlife.
The extended family was as a means of mutual support. Since ‘one was because others were’, members of the extended family supported each other psychologically and practically, e.g. in farming, rearing of children, supporting elder persons and the sick. In case of any need, an individual could count on support within his extended family. It was also a means of ensuring security, since usually a number of members of the extended family would live in the same compound or close to each other.
Changes in the contemporary African society
African society has been undergoing a process of profound changes affecting all aspects of its traditional life (Kisembo, 1998, p. 208, Vahakangas, 2004, p.43, O’Donovan, 2000, p. 40). I would like to, generally, mention just few of them that in my view are most relevant to the topic. A lot of these changes directly affect the family which is “the logical outcome of marriage” (Ayisi, 1992, p. 15).
For various reasons, natural and human, the standard of life in Africa, in many cases and for most people, either did not improve since independence or actually reduced. Put together with an ever increasing cost of life, it contributes to the fact that many people live in poverty. It prevents them from fulfilling their traditional obligations (Timberlake, 1985; Wasah, 2008).
Christianity brought some challenges to traditional African practices such as polygamy by equating it with adultery and sin. It also promotes monogamy as the only morally accepted type of marriage. Monogamy, though present and practiced in traditional Africa, was not as widely spread as polygamy (Waruta, 2005, pp. 108-109).
Other changes referred to by various authors that affect directly or indirectly the concept of wider family are: westernization of the African society with its stress on individual success, competitiveness and financial gain, modern education that often promotes personal values at the expense of communal values, modernization of the society with an increased pace of life demanding more time to be dedicated to work, the process of globalization that increases the gap between the rich and the poor and the process of urbanization that encourages many people to move to cities in search of work and contributes to the phenomenon of slums (Timberlake, 1994, Kisembo, 1998, Vahakangas, 2004, Magoti, 2004, Waruta, 2005, Wasah, 2008).
Effects of the changes on the concept of wider family
The changes taking place in the society affect the concept of wider family. In rural areas the family is less affected – people live together, often in physical proximity, support each other and may often be relatively well off because they would have some livestock and farms. That was my experience during my work among the Wasukuma people in the area of Shinyanga and my visit to Masai in Arusha.
During my interviews for MIASMU assignments I had a chance to visit such places like Kibera, Kuwinda, Dangora and others. People in those places are often very poor, live in rented rooms that are very small, they have very little income and to a certain degree lost touch with their roots in rural areas. Poverty, crime, low education and daily struggle for survival contribute that those people don’t want or cannot afford to support other members of the family, even if they wanted. Those who come to ask me for financial assistance, once I inquire about their relatives, they usually answer me that either they have nobody or that those who are their relatives cannot support them because of the lack of means.
From my experience working in some parishes in Nairobi, even though people may live a polygamous lifestyle, they tend to prefer monogamous marriages. It is due to the influence of Christianity and basic economic considerations. Some families limit the number of children due to the high cost of education. Nuclear families become more and more the norm of family life in urban areas.
My research on bridewealth indicates that for some Luo residents in Nairobi, due to economic situation, they find it difficult to pay bridewealth and because of that they cannot fulfill all the obligations related to being members of extended families.
One could argue that the concept of wider family could be expanded to look at an ethnic group as a very wide family. It may be a source of support for the members of such a group. When it used exclusively and at the expense of other groups, it leads to favoritism in providing jobs and other opportunities. Lamb describes it in the following way: “to give a job to a fellow tribesman is not nepotism, it is an obligation. For politician or military leader to choose his closest advisers and his body guards form the ranks of his own tribe is not patronage, it is good common sense” (1985, p. 9). He provides an example of Liberia at the time of Tolbert where a number of members of his family held crucial posts in the country. Applied to the extreme, the concept of the tribe as a wide family may largely contribute to such events like genocide in Rwanda in 1994, postelection violence in Kenya and the phenomenon of ‘negative etnicity’ (Koigi, 2008, pp. 95-99).
On the other hand, the wider family support system seems also very much alive. Those members of the family who are better off are expected to support the other members of the family. Those who are living in towns are expected to provide accommodation to those coming from villages to look for job in towns or studying there. Kayongo-Male (1984, p. 59) comments that “many Africans virtually live with relatives, either seeking job or getting education. Hence one enters marriage with a fleet of relatives, living with a spouse depending on whether accommodation is available”.
The spirit of ‘harambee’ is another good example of mutual support, that is rooted in the concept of wider family. People on such occasions tend to help each other because their might have experienced support coming from others. Church organizations, such Christian Women Association, can also be seen as practical expressions of the spirit of wider family based not on blood relation but faith relation.
General conclusion
I believe that it is difficult to provide a straightforward answer whether or not the wider family in African risks being replaced. My choice of examples to support both positions clearly indicates that the concept is being affected by the changes taking place in modern society. On the external level they affect it positively and negatively: they may prevent people from doing what was traditionally expected from them and on the other side they encourage people to find new ways of offering support to the members of the wider family.
I would argue that the spirit behind the concept of wider family is very much alive in people even though it is expressed in forms that were not traditionally there. As pointed out above, the concept can be applied exclusively and at the expense of other people. It can also be used in an inclusive way. Generally, the diversity of ways of applying it to the daily situations proves that the concept can adapt to new cultural circumstances. Such a flexibility could be seen as a factor determining its existence in the future.
I believe that the concept of wider family, as a kind of safety network, on which everybody can rely, especially in times of need, will survive in spite of being challenged. If the notion of extended family were to disappear from the African cultural worldview, traditional African culture would be greatly affected. I hope it will never happen because otherwise African culture would lose one of its foundations.
Bibliography
Ayisi, E.O. (1992), An introduction to the study of African culture, (2nd ed.), Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers
Kisembo B. Magesa L and Shorter A. African Christian Marriage, (2nd ed.). Nairobi: Paulines Publications
Koigi wa Wamwere, (2008), Towards Genocide in Kenya, Nairobi: MvuleAfrica Publishers.
Koyango-Male, D and Onyango P, (1984), The sociology of the African Family, Burnt Hill: Longman Group.
Lamb, D. (1985), The Africans, New York: Vintage Books
Magoti, E. (2004). “Globalisation in Africa: its impact on families and Christian responses” In Kyomo, A and Selvan, S (Eds).Marriage and Family in African Christianity pp. 29-52. Nairobi: Acton Publishers
Mbiti, J. (1969), African religions and philosophy, London: Heineman Educational Books, Ltd.
Mbiti, J. (1975), Introduction to African Religion, (2nd ed.), Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, Ltd.
O’Donovan, W. (2000), Biblical Christianity in modern Africa, Carlislie: Paternoster Press.
Shorter, A. (1998). African Culture. An overview, Nairobi: Paulines Publications
Timberlake, L. (1994), 1994), Africa in crisis. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers.
Warah, R. (Ed) (2008). Missionaries, mercenaries and misfits, Central Milton Keyes:Author House UK Ltd.
Waruta, D.W. (2005). “Marriage and family in contemporary African society: challenges in pastoral counseling” In Waruta, D.W. and Kinoti, H, W. (Eds.), Pastoral care in African Christianity pp. 101-119. Nairobi: Acton Publishers
Vahakangas, A. (2004). “The crisis of Christian marriage” In Kyomo, A and Selvan, S (Eds). Marriage and Family in African Christianity pp. 53-75. Nairobi: Acton Publishers.
Source: http://mojaafryka.weebly.com
0 comments :
Post a Comment