The continued, persistent and wide use of the term bride price to describe the valuables that were often given to the brides parents before marriage was legitimated is one excellent example of evaluating and perceiving a custom from a biased Eurocentric perspective. It marks change from childhood to adulthood. It can determine a person's political identity and the way money and property are transferred. Land was also a source of medicine in the form of herbs and minerals. Explaining these changes would require a different chapter. They could also clean newly born baby. The medicine men lead the community in religious rituals. People could also die due to shortage of food. For example, when a man dies among the Baganda, his power over the property ends. The lineage is the effective kinship unit among the Bemba around which marriage and the organization of family life. revolves.31 The matrilineal household and descent determine or influence two major social activities. Through apprenticeship iv. - The naming of the child takes place some days after birth. - They could also feel their body senses to predict rain. The male head has control over children produced by the children of the group. The husband could take his wife home if the marriage was thought stable especially after the couple has had two or more children. f. The grave is dug in a special place e.g. Young men are taught to be honest in all their undertakings. Some names are given according to the time one was born. 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. 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. 11. 2. the outcome of a war 5. It could also show how the bridegroom is capable of taking care of the bride. The youth are believed to be free with them. It gives the mans family time to prepare for the dowry payment. They are people who claim a common ancestry and are related by blood. ix. IV, pp.66-87. Caution should be applied when sweeping generalizations are made which make the traditional African family is made to appear static, rigid, and lacking in vitality. The youth are ritually introduced to the communal living. 3. They do not have good food or accommodation. Names could also depict the character of the child. 2. Pregnant women are not allowed to handle certain types of tools. b) Explain the purpose of bride wealth in the traditional African community. 9) The practice has also been affected by belief in conventional medicine. In addition, the women who have got gainful jobs seek more freedom in many aspects. 4. bribery, robbery and stealing. Indeed this sense of kinship binds together the entire life of the "tribe . They are important because they have a lot of experience. The book describes and explains Chewa traditions and customs including Ukamwini. - They give direction on funeral ceremonies and advise on what should be done about the ceremony. ii. in the garden or when one is building a new house. 1. Everyone has an obligation to marry or get married. Bridgewater, VA 22812 - In some communities e.g. Opiyo and Odongo among the Luo. Aboriginal kinship ties, values, beliefs, identity and language are maintained by the family. In fact Chondoka finds the use of the terms dowry, bride price to refer to particularly traditional Zambian marriages to be serious misnomers introduced by European missionaries and colonialists in Africa. 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). Almost 30% of all single-parent families headed by women are officially poor. 8. Twins are also given special names e.g. v. They drive a way witches and evil spirits. 7. 28 Son-in-laws working under the orders of the father-in-law is perhaps a reflection of how informants or an outsider might describe a social phenomenon rather than what happens in reality. PRIESTS/PROPHETS OR SEERS - These are other religious specialists who play a special role as intermediaries between God and human beings. h. Among the Luos animals are driven over the graveside, people run in the homestead with spears. Marriage 4. People who have gone to school see the aged as old fashioned (generation gap) 6. During initiation the young adults are taught matters relating to sex and adulthood. largest kinship network of any descent system ever invented. Physical causes of death i. drought, famine etc. It is a source of food for the people and the animals. Once the negotiations are over then dowry payment would begin. In the late and early 19th century, a detailed study conducted among the Baganda found that, Polygyny, the type of marriage in which the husband has plural wives, is not only the preferred but the dominant form of marriage for the Baganda.8 Commoners had two or three, chiefs had dozens, and the Kings had hundreds of wives. The degree of which witchcraft as a cause of death is emphasized varies from one community to another. - Attending discos and nightclubs. WIDOWS AND ORPHANS - A widow is a woman whose husband is dead. Scholars of the African traditional family agree that the one widely known aspect that distinguishes the African traditional family, say from the European one, is the perversity of polygamy3. Christianity and Islam were able to absorb many African religions because of each religion believed in a single supreme being that was the creator and ruler of the universe. As such disputes over land ownership were rare, this is because:- i. When one dies, he joins the world of the living dead. Although among the Baganda, the nuclear family of the mother, father, and their children constitutes the smallest unit of the Baganda kinship system, the traditional family consists of several nuclear units held in association by a common father.9 Because the Baganda people are patrilineal, the household family also includes other relatives of the father such as younger unmarried or widowed sisters, aged parents, and children of the fathers clan sent to be brought up by him. In difficult times such as during famine, those who have share what they have with their relatives. 6. Changing attitudes towards marriage 1. Religious (invisible) causes of death They included: i. The author obtained his B.A in Sociology and Psychology at University of Zambia in 1976, M.A, Ph. Ngulube, Naboth M. J., Some Aspects of Growing Up in Zambia, Lusaka: Nalinga Consultancy/Sol-Consult A/S Limited, 1989. The clan is linked by four factors. - They suffer from psychological and emotional problems - Sometimes widows face lack of essentials such as food. This ensured that nobody remained landless. 2. 2. - Some people acquire wealth through dishonest means e.g. - In some communities, marriage is not recognized without children. These could be through words or deeds. Western culture and education has really affected marriage. The celebration that marked the end of initiation is slowly dying out due to economic constraints. Once the proposals are made, the parents and relatives would begin marriage negotiations. They also perform light duties for relatives. (1) According to the Dictionary of Anthropology, "Kinship system includes socially recognized relationships based on supposed as well as actual genealogical ties.". Kinship is at the heart of First Nations society. So the relationship is often based on mutual expectations and is more beneficial for both parties than confrontational and fraught with issuing of orders. Angering the living dead and the spirits e.g. 5. Download Now. The mother and the child is no longer secluded. Death -The rites or ceremonies conducted on such occasions differ from one community to another. Yet in some communities when a woman is pregnant she is not allowed to talk to her husband directly. Explain the importance of Kinship in traditional African society african cultural and moral values 1 Answer 0 votes answered Aug 9, 2021 by anonymous Control social relationships in community of people related by blood and marriage Bind whole community hence social cohesion Makes people live in harmony/ peace Promotes mutual responsibility and help Many communities made clothes from animal skins, bark of trees, sisal and leaves. 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. 2. - Alcoholism. iii. - Land can now be sold or auctioned. p.19, 45 Naboth M. J. Ngulube, Some Aspects of Growing Up in Zambia. This explains why the family household included servants, female slaves, and their children. It starts at birth and continues through to death. These relationships which are described in this way are rituals of respect between a son-in-law and his mother-in-law, a daughter-in-law and her father-in-law. Urbanization: Where people of different cultures interact with one another. Prayers are offered also during time of calamities. 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. - The wife or orphans sometimes get mistreated. The basic kinship unit of Bemba society is not the individual family, but a matrilocal extended family composed of a man and his wife, their married daughters, and the latters husbands and children.24, A young Bemba couple live in the same hut with a child of pre-weaning age whom they may have. A total of 68 linguistic terms of relationships are used by the Baganda.12, The Baganda have a very important aspect of the social or family structure; the consanguinal kin group or blood line which is a line of descent traced through the male members of the family or patri-sib. However dowry payment has been hindered by several factors today e.g. Everybody in the community is expected to work hard. Famous Sociologist H.M. Johnson identified six important bases of kinship which are described below: (1) Sex: Kinship relation is differentiated in each society on the basis of sex. The study of African societies has become an established area of scholarship, with sophisticated analyses that are far from earlier works . 5. Power and authority in matrilineal societies ultimately lies in the woman and her brother. There are also cases of inter-tribal marriages. [1] Bantu Migrations Stateless Societies Bantu Societies did not depend on elaborate hierarchy of officials of a bureaucracy Governed through Kinship groups - extended families consisting of about 100 people. These are many. 7. Second, an identifying drum beat used at ceremonies. 5. The midwives perform the following:- 1. 2. ELDERS They are people who are elderly in society. In rural areas, the family typically . -Responsibility. - During this period of seclusion:- i. - A white bed sheet is spread this is to collect blood during the breaking of virginity. 5) Modern science and technology also discourage people from believing mysterical powers. v. Polygamy is encouraged for sexual satisfaction for men. Polygyny was widely practiced in Africa and it often formed the backbone of the traditional African family patterns. - They could also observe the weather conduction and interpret the movement of clouds and wind. 1967. - Marriage extended relationship and therefore enlarged kinship ties. 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. Second Edition, London: Cambridge University Press, 1984, Ch. Land was also the habitat of people, animals and plants. This background is essential to any application of Christian spirituality in Africa. Marriage has been commercialized - many people demand higher payment for their daughter. However, as a prospective husband, you are told to pay for the marriage and not the bride. - The practices vary from one community to another. 6. 5. They have the ability to foretell what would happen in the future. Spirit of sharing: In African Traditional Community there is the spirit of sharing of resources among the members of a community e.g. Elders act as role models to the youth i.e. ..it is not until this ceremony is completed that the childs legitimacy is once and forever established.17, People gather at the clan chiefs house. Elders iv. Edited by G.A. Other names may also refer to the characteristics of the mothers pregnancy or the nature of delivery e.g. Large tracts of land 4 Large herds of cattle. 2) Some students also consult them to succeed in exams and career. The elderly are physically in active. - Life is also seen as communal. - Different communities have different rules on where the delivery should take place. 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). They live in one Geographical area. Through the kinship system, people learn the importance of sharing what they have with others. Importance of marriage - Marriage is for the continuity of the society and is an institution that is ordained by God. The naming ceremony is very important early in the childs life. ii. 2. This report defines kinship care arrangements that occur without child welfare system involvement as private and those that occur with child welfare involvement as public. Goode, William J. They face challenges from medical practitioners who argue that they should go for formal training. Economic hardships that has been due to introduction of money economy. v. There was a lot of fairness in the distribution of property. - Wife inheritance has become risky due to HIV/AIDS. Introduction to Kinship. - There are cases of destruction of land and environment through dumping of wastes. 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. - They act as a court of law to errant members of the society. Death always strikes unexpectedly. iv. Rain makers ii. 6. It does not give warning. Good, Changing Family Patterns: Sub-Saharan Africa, in World Revolution and Family Patterns. OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY AND WEALTH In the traditional African community anything that was owned is referred to as part of property or wealth. 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. Changing attitude towards death rites Some of the death and funeral rites are still being practiced however some are slowly dying out. They are taught about morals of the society. iii. Mothers and children would die at childbirth to cases where there is no skilled mid-wife. But this is not an independent nuclear family unit. Christianity: Christianity has weakened African Kinship ties by introducing new ties by the Christian family. All rights reserved. One could also die due to breaking a taboo in such instances elders would identify the offender and perform an act of cleansing. Each stage has its own features, some of which are perhaps peculiar to the Baganda customs and system of socialization in their traditional family pattern. 3. The houses of grandparents form their sleeping places. Through supernatural powers iii. 7. To give the mother time to recover the lost energy. The government, the church and non-governmental organizations have built homes for the aged. They are made aware of their responsibilities in adulthood. The Baganda use classificatory system of kinship terminology which seems common to virtually all the Bantu peoples of Central and Southern Africa. However, the influence of mediums and diviners has been affected by Christianity, which is against consulting any power apart from God. In some communities there is feasting and drinking of beer. It symbolized death and resurrection. Download to read offline. After initiation, one has the right to marry. Main factors which affect social change can be discussed a follows: 1. A mock wrestling sometimes would be organized between the boy and the girl. Some of the major issues raised will include polygamy, tribe, clan, the extended family, bride price and the raising of children. Even traditionally, ordinary citizens could not achieve marrying more than one wife. - In others the bridegroom and its party have to fight the brides party in order to get her. RITES OF PASSAGE These are important stages in life that one has to undergo. It was written in 1988. iv. First, two animal totems from one of which the clan derives its name. Others bury the dead with property with a belief that they would continue to use them in the next world. giving the expectant mother certain herbs. But typically news, information, and gossip flow readily through the network, with some individuals acting as "kin . 4. - When the baby arrives, the sex of the baby is announced by ululations. It is also a way of showing respect to God for the gift of the children. - There is individual ownership of property. iii. 4. Headmanships of villages, court offices, ritual titles, and chieftainships are passed on in this way. (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). Such include: - - Birth - Initiation - Marriage - Death 5. In the African understanding, it is believed that there is no natural death.