Read more
African families face serious crises today. They are under economic, demographic and political pressures of all kinds; yet, families are not mere hapless victims of global change. They are proactive, resilient agents and creators of change. This volume studies global and national transformation from the point of view of families in local communities. Contributors are from Africa, North America, and Europe, and provide socially and historically based, culturally rich, multigenerational, and comparative perspectives on family life in Africa today. The essays explore contemporary change in African families, and consequences for children and parents, the elderly, gender roles, moral values, fertility, health (HIV and nutrition), and economic development. Ultimately, despite desperate economic, sociohistorical, demographic and political circumstances, African families remain vitally important for social and psychological support throughout an individual's life span.
List of contents
Foreword by Beatrice Whiting and John Whiting
Introduction: Crisis in the African Family by Candice Bradley and Thomas S. Weisner
Human Development, Values, and Family ChangePsychological and Institutional Defense Mechanisms in Times of Change by Joshua Akong'a
Support for Children and the African Family Crisis by Thomas S. Weisner
Morality and Change: Family Unity and Paternal Authority among Kipsigis and Abaluyia Elders and Students by Carolyn Pope Edwards
Gender, Status, and Values among Likuyu and Appalachian Adolescents by Susan Abbott
HealthHIV/AIDS Risk Factors and Changing Sexual Practices in Kenya by A. B. C. Ocholla-Ayayo
The Social and Cultural Contexts of Food Production in Uganda and Kenya by Michael A. Whyte
Malnutrition and Gender Relations in Western Kenya by Susan Reynolds Whyte and Priscilla Wanjiru Kariuki
AgingThe Discourse of Neglect: Family Support for the Elderly in Samia by Maria G. Cattell
Pronatalism and the Elderly in Tiriki, Kenya by Walter H. Sangree
Stigma, Role Overload, and Delocalization among Contemporary Kenyan Women by Philip L. Kilbride and Janet C. Kilbride
Gender and ReproductionWhy Fertility is Going Down in Maragoli by Candice Bradley
Gender and Life Course Strategies among the Gusii by N. Thomas Håkansson and Robert A. LeVine
Resource Allocation and Polygyny in the Lake Victoria Basin by Joseph W. Ssennyonga
Changing Women's Rights over Property in Western Kenya by Ruth Nasimiyu
Logoli Childhood and the Cultural Reproduction of Sex Differentiation by Robert L. Munroe and Ruth H. Munroe
Culture, Family, and EconomyRight Values and Good Fortune: Bukusu Responses to Ecological Opportunity by Jan J. de Wolf
Changing Roles in the Bukusu Family by Simiyu Wandibba
Modernization, Family Life, and Child Development in Kokwet by Charles M. Super and Sara Harkness
Index
About the author
PHILIP L. KILBRIDE is Professor of Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College, where he has taught for 25 years. He has coauthored Changing Family Life in East Africa (1990) and Encounters with American Ethnic Culture (1990).
