African families are supposedly much bigger and family cohesion is much stronger than elsewhere in the world. The "extended family" is a concept many Europeans are unfamiliar with. Can you explain it and give examples from within your own families? Do you agree that imperialism has changed your traditional family structures over the past decades and that it has eroded traditional family values? Was that a good or bad thing?
6) Traditional family
African families are supposedly much bigger and family cohesion is much stronger than elsewhere in the world. The "extended family" is a concept many Europeans are unfamiliar with. Can you explain it and give examples from within your own families? Do you agree that imperialism has changed your traditional family structures over the past decades and that it has eroded traditional family values? Was that a good or bad thing?
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3 comments:
yeah, some traditional values have changed, but there are still many there:
for example a man still has to pay dowry before marriage, boys are circumcised at the age of 14, and we have deep respect for our elders who can give us advice.
I think one of the changes is that our family unit is not as stable as it was before. Avarice, fraud and dishonesty have overtaken our former simple natures. We are just not as happy with a simple life anymore as we used to be. Competition has definitely harmed our traditional family structures. But can I really say this is due to colonialism?! I don't know.
Let me give you a definition of the extended family:
The extended family links its members through a broad network of mutual duties and responsibilities which shape almost every aspect of African life. Whatever one person has is shared. What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine if we are both members of the same extended family.
The extended family is far larger than the nuclear family in Europe: among its members are parents and children, grandparents, uncles and aunts, in-laws, cousins of varying degrees, as well as persons not related by blood.
The titles of members of that family may be confusing to Europeans. We will refer to an older person as auntie or uncle. Siblings of parents will be called father or mother rather than uncle or aunt. Cousins will be called brother or sister.
This family provides a sense of community, security, and stability. There are always people to turn to in difficulties.
You might ask: Why do you have this strong bond in your families? Why help my third cousin whom I barely know?
Well, the extended family is our day-care, social security, and welfare system. It baby-sits the children of working parents and keeps the elderly from feeling useless. It feeds the unemployed and gives refuge to the disabled and mentally ill. It pays for all this by redistributing resources between have and have-nots. The extended family is our social security system because we don't have one provided by the state like Europeans.
The extended family is a great concept, but it also has a big disadvantage:
When you get a job in the city, your entire family may regard you as a financial resource for paying the costs of its food, clothing, schooling, and other things. So, you can't save money and invest it because there will always be somebody who needs that money right away. And if you can't accumulate any money and lose the job again, then you're back to where you started from.
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