vii. But this is not an independent nuclear family unit. By combining the patrilocal rule of residence with consanguinal descent, the Baganda have built a formidable system of clans.13, Among the Baganda, the clan has remained the most important kinship entity. Factors that have affected Kinship system 1. iii. A curse by the community. 3. Because of this, extended families among the Bemba are not really as large as those found, especially among patriarchal polygynous traditional families in other tribes be it in Southern, Eastern, or West Africa.28 Polygamy is relatively speaking uncommon in this area and the institution is not an essential part of the Bemba family and economic life as it is among so many Bantu peoples.29, The Bembas kinship is based on descent in the matrilineal line. vii. Similar systems of kinship terminology can be found, for example, among the Ndebele of Zimbabwe, the Zulu of South Africa, the Ngoni and Tumbuka of Eastern Zambia. Importance of kinship ties to TAS - In most African communities a widow was inherited by the husbands close relatives. Africa's traditional religion is based on the Ubuntu philosophy, which is a Zulu word for human-ness, and was developed over many centuries in traditional African culture. Kinship is at the heart of First Nations society. - After the cutting of the skin, the initiates are put in special huts for a period of time. Girls at an early age are taught a wide range of household and agricultural duties including cooking, cultivation and tending children. They believe iron implements attract lightning. 6. 4. Those who did not have were assisted to acquire property by the community. v. It brings people together; relatives and friends co me together hence strengthening kinship ties. - They preside over important occasions such as initiation, planting and marriage. iv. This symbolizes new life. viii. - They could also observe the weather conduction and interpret the movement of clouds and wind. Would you say in the Western marriage ritual of the priest leading on the saying of vowes, that the priest orders the groom to now kiss the bride, or put the ring on the brides finger, or ordered to be married for that matter? Urbanization: Where people of different cultures interact with one another. In difficult times such as during famine, those who have share what they have with their relatives. Land ownership: The ancestral land is communally owned and nobody is allowed to sell it. This chapter only focussed on the matrilineal and polygynous patrilineal African traditional family patterns because they seem representative of the broad patterns that exists on the continent. African spirituality is truly holistic. 6. - Marriage was a source of wealth for the family. 4. - There are traditional midwives who help in delivery. 6. PRIESTS/PROPHETS OR SEERS - These are other religious specialists who play a special role as intermediaries between God and human beings. Goldthorpe, J.E., The Sociology of the Third World: Disparity and Development. It is a source of food for the people and the animals. Makini. 2. The common descriptions of the African traditional family in the literature is Eurocentric and biased. 9) The practice has also been affected by belief in conventional medicine. That is one cannot escape it 2 It brings impurity to the family and thus several rites are observed after death 3 It deprives the family and the community of the individual. The following day, the naming ceremony takes place. - The bathing symbolizes the beginning of a new state in life. Meanwhile, the median income of married-couple families is much higher ($72,589). 9 J.A. Wealth was seen in terms of: 1. There are counselors that give the aged hope and love. iv. They at times suffer from loneliness and psychological problems How the aged are taken care of today 1. 5. 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. This difficulty in generalization bone of diversity was already apparent to many early scholars of the African traditional family like Mair(1) and Goode(2). Kinship is reckoned through blood and betrothal (engagement and marriage). - A lot of bleeding can lead to the death of an individual. Second, an identifying drum beat used at ceremonies. Edited by G.A. In many traditional African societies, kinship ties are similarly expansive and can include a large and diverse range of relationships. - Also include the dead and those yet to be born and the departed relatives. They are believed to be full of wisdom. The midwives perform the following:- 1. - Life is also considered to be more precious and highly valued. In fact a woman was part of the property of the man. - It causes physical injury to the victim. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1958, 1967, 1975). ix. - Kinship system provides the peaceful ways of settling disputes in a community as all are treated as brothers and sisters. food, beer drinking. The case studies presented will be those of the Baganda of Uganda and Bemba of Northern Zambia. The naming of a child is therefore an important occasion, which is often marked with ceremonies. p119. WIDOWS AND ORPHANS - A widow is a woman whose husband is dead. Edited by Arthur Phillips, (London: Oxford University Press, 1953) p.1, 10 Stuart Queen, Robert W. Habenstein, and John B. Adams, The Polygynous Baganda Family, in The Family in Various Cultures. 6. Impact of Modernism on Family. - The children born after his death were still referred to as his. 6. For example, sickness in the indigenous African worldview is not only an imbalance of the body, but also an imbalance in one's social life, which can be linked to a breakdown in one's kinship and family relations or even to one's relationship with one's ancestors. - They are kept company. 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. 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. 26 Audrey I. Richards, Bemba Marriage and Present Economic Conditions, The Rhodes-Livingstone Papers. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1969) p.30. KINSHIP SYSTEM - Kinship refers to being related to another either by blood or marriage. There are two main types of leisure: (1) Passive leisure: This is where there is minimal use of physical energy. They also play the role of priests and pray for people. They could also give aid to increase productivity e.g. Establishing that traditional Kenyan culture and custom was supportive of high fertility in no way establishes how strongly held are these practices today or how quickly they may change as the socioeconomic basis of the real day-to-day society changes. These carried with them all the heavy social obligations demanded of a mother or father, daughter or son. The clan chooses the heir. Before this ceremony, the child is not considered a complete member of the clan or society. - In most communities the child and the mother are kept in seclusion for a number of days, depending on the sex of the baby. It marks change from childhood to adulthood. This background is essential to any application of Christian spirituality in Africa. vi. Problems experienced by widows and orphans - They suffer from lack of company because they feel abandoned. Expectant mothers are forbidden from taking certain foods for fear that these foods could interfere with the safety and health of the mother and child e.g. 3. - Alcoholism. The traditional healers are still important today especially to those who had let down by medicine prescribed by doctors. Once the negotiations are over then dowry payment would begin. After initiation one is now free to marry and has a right to inherit his fathers property. Traditional kinship structures remain important in many First Nations communities today. ELDERS They are people who are elderly in society. 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. v. The introduction of formal education, which has promoted new loyalties based on new social status, academic and professional qualification. iii. 2. Kinship ties definition: Kinship is the relationship between members of the same family. Others bury the dead with property with a belief that they would continue to use them in the next world. 7. Second, an identifying drum beat used at ceremonies. LEISURE Leisure is the free time that an individual has at his disposal when he is not bound by duty. They affect all aspects of Africa, including care, marriages, and social status, since kinship controls people's relationships, moral values, and attitudes. Elders iv. The book describes and explains Chewa traditions and customs including Ukamwini. 4) Some people who falsely claim to be diviners today simply exploit the ignorance of the people. Dowry payment is no longer a communal affair but an individual affair. Department of Sociology Same ancestry: People of a particular community believe that they have the same origin e.g. Factors contributing to harmony and Mutual Responsibility in African Traditional Societies In traditional African Society, every individual is related to all. iv. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1969) p.33 Lucy P. Mair, African Marriage and Social Change, in Survey of African Marriage and Family Life, Edited by Arthur Phillips, (London: Oxford University Press, 1953). There is no bride price in our society. 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 vii. However dowry payment has been hindered by several factors today e.g. 6. This article looks at the societies and cultures of sub-Saharan Africa in pre-modern history. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1961. - They can foretell the future by receiving visions, dreams or words from God. During initiation the young adults are taught matters relating to sex and adulthood. - Taking of dangerous drugs. they are consulted before installation of a new king in some communities. Thorne, Barrie., and Yalom, Marilyn., (Eds.) They would also announce the sex of the child. Rules and Regulations: People in the community are governed by rules and regulations, which are strictly followed. 3. They are important because they have a lot of experience. h. Among the Luos animals are driven over the graveside, people run in the homestead with spears. false T/F: Female slaves generally worked outdoors while male slaves did domestic work. Other names can refer to place of birth e.g. drought, famine etc. GAZETTE: How have ancestors . ii. However, the influence of mediums and diviners has been affected by Christianity, which is against consulting any power apart from God. OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY AND WEALTH In the traditional African community anything that was owned is referred to as part of property or wealth. - They negotiate for peace in time of war with another community. This is meant to send it clean into the world of the living dead. In a typical traditional African society, the family comprised of a number of individuals, ranging from grandparents,aunts,uncles, father, mother, children etc sometimes the "sahwira" is also regarded as part of that family in some sense. Prophets or priests also have political role e.g. .. Relevance of diviners and medicine men today 1) Diviners and Mediums are still important in Kenya today. Are made up of smaller units called clan. TOPIC 9:AFRICAN MORAL AND CULTURAL VALUES MEANING AND WHOLENESS OF LIFE- In the African traditional society, life is believed to originate from God. Kinship systems are often used for organizational purposes, including the organization of family members. Diseases such as epidemics would kill people. Angering the living dead and the spirits e.g. - Life also progress from one stage to another. v. The land was believed to belong to the ancestors and nobody was allowed to sell or lease it out without the consent of the other members of the family. Researchers have examined the effects of matrilineal kinship systems for women's preferences, including preference for competition, altruism, risk, and political participation. Culture and values are adaptive .. 2003). 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