Promotional Information

Examines the notion of family and its deeper meaning in the historical context of the African experience, while explaining the roles that modernization, urbanization, and migration play in the transformation of families in post-colonial Africa.

Table of Contents

Preface Introduction to the Study of African Families: A Framework of Analysis by Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi and Baffour K. Takyi Northern Africa Continuity or Change: Family Law and Family Structure in Tunisia by Mounira M. Charrad and Allyson B. Goeken Diversity and Family: The Example of Egyptian Families by Bahira Sherif-Trask The Sudanese Family: Past Reflections and Contemporary Realities by Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban Western Africa Senegalese Families: The Confluence of History, Ethnicity, and Social Change by Loretta Bass and Fatou Sow Structural Change and Continuity in the Ivoirian Familiy by N'Dri T. Assie-Lumumba Gender and the Family in Ghana: Past and Present Perspectives by Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf The Nigerian Family: Contrast, Convergence, Continuity, and Discontinuity by Obioma Nnaemeka Central Africa Reflections on the Changing Family System in Cameroon by Chuks J. Mba and Martin W. Bangha Eastern Africa Kenyan Families by Miroslava Prazak Southern Africa Social Change, Family Dynamics and Women's Empowerment in Malawi by Agnes M. Chimbiri Family Life in South Africa: The Case of Soweto, Gauteng by Sylvia N. Moeno Conclusion African Families of the New Millennium: Concluding Remarks by Baffour K. Takyi and Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi Subject Index Appendices

About the Author

Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi is Professor and Head of the Africana and American Indian Studies Program at California State University, Fresno. The author of Female Autonomy: Family Decision Making and Demographic Behavior in Africa, he has also published several articles in respectable journals. Baffour K. Takyi is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Akron, Ohio. His varied research interests include reproductive related behavior, family dynamics, and African immigrants in the U.S. He has published extensively with some of his papers appearing in edited volumes on family and in journals such as Journal of Marriage and Family, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Comparative Family, Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Sociological Focus, Family Perspectives, Sociology of Religion, African Journal of Reproductive Health, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Western Journal of Black Studies.

Reviews

Geography, area studies, sociology, anthropology, and history are among the disciplines represented by contributors either from or in Africa, or specializing and having worked there. They provide a historical context for understanding the many types of families in the continent, and show how family systems have changed in country-specific contexts and the consequences of these changes. To counter the prevalence of studies on English-speaking countries, they include countries from North Africa and Francophone Africa.
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