Abstract
There is much to be made from the claim that the notion of the family in African societies (traditional and modern) is significantly different from that typically found in many societies particularly those in the West. Whereas in the former societies the family can be taken to be extended, and that found in the latter societies can be said to be nuclear. In the extended family, its members will include not only the nuclear family, i.e. parents and children, but also other immediate relatives such as brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunts and spiritual beings (the unborn and spirits). In this chapter, I discuss the conception of the extended family in the context of justice and obligations. I present some thoughts and themes about the extended (African) family structure, in contrast to the nuclear family structure, that touch on their justifying grounds, issues of obligations and changes or threat to the extended family in our modern world. The first thought and theme is that of some emerging consequences in respect of obligations of the African communal and holistic ontology, which I take to ground the notion of the extended family structure. The second is about the extent of the extended family structure in traditional African societies, how it has changed today and threats to it. The third concerns the wide-ranging obligations that are imposed by the extended family structure, in contrast to the obligations that are imposed by the nuclear family structure. I conclude by briefly suggesting that when properly harnessed, the obligations that are imposed by the extended family structure can provide a strong foundation for social and political development.
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Etieyibo, E. (2020). Justice, the “African Family” and Obligations. In: Odimegwu, C. (eds) Family Demography and Post-2015 Development Agenda in Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14887-4_3
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