Chapter 18 States and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1 Effects of Early African Migrations Bantu-speaking peoples settle south of equator Agriculture, herding spreads with Bantu migrations Iron metallurgy…
Attempting to define “Family” may seem to be a simple concept however, there is no simple definition. A family is a group of individuals that share a genetic and legal bond. A union But, for most people family is the symbol of so much more complicated than it may seem. Mayntz, (2006-2013)…
Family is a historical construct, and is what we remember it to be-a social memory. In other words, the understanding of a family is shaped by ones past or experiences. It can never be described as just a social unit, because it is considered as an ideal, important structure and has countless values in the context of its use. For example, Frances Stewarts had a patriarchal economic, co-operative family. Her three daughters were under the age of 16 but all had a great deal of responsibilities of taking care of younger siblings, and being caretakers for poultry.…
As is known to all, definitions of the family may vary and change over time and according to areas of interest. One early definition of the family was that offered by the anthropologist George Peter Murdock (Erera 2001): The ancestors are amusing accumulation characterized by accepted residence, bread-and-butter cooperation, and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at atomic two of whom advance a socially accustomed animal relationship and one or added children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.…
What does family mean to you? “People you share love with a guess. I don’t think that it means only blood relation. Friends can be family because you can become so close and trust each other,” explained Bridgett Terry, the subject of my ethnography interview. What is family? She went on to describe that technically family is a social group made of parents and their children, whether they all live together or not. No matter where you are in the world, your family is always your family. It is not a geographically relative term. However, the concept of family can be less strictly applied to everyday life. For example, a person can have many different families. Some are of choice and some are ascribed. Some types of families may be preferred over…
This resilient value of family is the foundation of the kinship bond between the Navajo. They are a people that love their homeland and are spiritual connected to it. The Navajo Nation is one of the largest tribes in the United States, and the Navajo reservation encompasses over 16 million acres (Davina, R. T. B. 2006). As for kinship, the Navajos are a matrilineal society, where property, status, etc. are inherited through women. The Navajo people have a kinship system that follows the lineage of women (Carey, 2013). Women either bring a clan name with them, or are assigned a clan on acceptance into the tribe. Some come from existing clans of other tribes, while others may be created out of circumstance. The Diné society is based primarily upon kinship arising from clan affiliation, as each person is a member of the tribe by reason of his or her affiliation to one of the numerous clans (Carey, 2013). Each Navajo belongs to four different, unrelated clans. He or she belongs to his or her mother’s clan. He or she is born from his or her father’s clan. He or she has maternal and paternal grandfather’s clans. Traditionally, the people were forbidden to marry into the first two clans; today they are still strongly discouraged from doing so. The Navajo people are always living among relatives. This is an essential element that bonds this pastoral culture. Caring for and raising animals is a fundamental part of the culture. Younger family members learn the pastoral ways from grandparents, mothers and fathers. Even today, many Navajo children raised on the reservation continue to herd sheep and livestock. Although Navajo traditional life remains strong, like many cultures they’ve adapted to modern…
Our Western Cultural have similar beliefs in family kinships like the Inuit, we refer to ancestors and families…
In the Aboriginal culture the importance of family is somewhat different from most other foraging societies. The nuclear family is still the basic kinship unit. Everything outside of the nuclear family is where the Aboriginal kinship organization starts to get more complex. In an article written by M.H. Monroe, he states that, “Aboriginal Australia kinship is one of the most complex systems in the world” (Monroe, 2010). In the Aboriginal kinship system the nuclear family is important, but there is more emphasis on the importance of the extended family. Kinship is so important to the Aborigines that they created Aboriginal Law that dictates the behavior of one member towards different relatives.…
“Family” can have many definitions and meanings. To one person, family may consist of having a mother, father, and children. While to another, family may mean a mother, grandmother, aunts and uncles. Regardless of how one interprets this term, child development can be directly affected by the family system in which a child is raised.…
There are three kinds of family in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Each family has their own rules and standards, they all are different than each others. These three are, the Ewells, the Cunninghams, and the Finches. Each one is different in its own way.…
Kinship can best be defined as a system of social relationships, or in simpler terms a system of family. “Kinship involves how people classify each other, the rules that affect people’s behavior and people’s actual behavior” (Nowak and Laird, 2010). Kinship can be seen in our everyday lives within our circle of family and friends, and how we classify them in regards to importance and how we treat them based on our classifications of them. For example, you may love your best friend and treat them with respect but would you respect your best friend more than you respect your mother? This provides us with an insight of the kinship systems.…
Defining family is somewhat challenging as each of us has a unique worldview of what family means to us. Are they the people who offer us…
A family is made up of people who care and love one another. A positive childhood and family tradition is what keeps a person connected to their family. No family is perfect and they will go through things, but it’s the love that keeps them together. Family traditions and cultural contribute to an individual self- identity because people who have knowledge of their family history are well-adjusted. Some people may disagree that family history is not shared and valued among individual family members. However, family history is shared and valued among individual family members because it’s what makes the individual who they are as a person which inhibits the person-identity.…
The first group we belong to, the family, has more influence than any other group on forming our identity.…
Family is a group of people who are related or connected through a common bound. They rely on each other for support, identity, stabilization. Through the interaction of family the members derive their meaning of life and the society around them. Through family the members gain an…