Family System: Mogtlane And Zweig

Introduction

A Family can be simply defined as a “basic unit of economic cooperation and stability” that generally includes at least one parent or parent substitute who acts as an anchor to provide both economic and social support for its members (Bonvillain 2010: 211). This definition highlight to a greater extent the core things that help to explain what a family system is. This anthropological essay seeks to analyse how Mogtlane and Zweig portrays the concept of the family in their two respective articles and how they challenge traditional anthropological concepts of the family/ household.

Families go from nuclear families to extended families. Nuclear families are those with father, mother and children and extended families are those with

But also it may take the understanding of having relatives in one home namely, grandparents, children and other people like cousins. The reason of the parents to the children is that they provide protection, economic stability and social balance and the rest of the family is for the purpose of strengthening the social balance and lift the spirit of oneness and blood sharing love amongst each other.

The authors look at the fact that back in the day traditionally there was no such thing as a child headed family. If children lost their guardian or parents they would move to their relative or a relative assume would the role of parenting the children. The discussion of the authors is within the background of the cause, the impact and the

Marriage in the western minds is assumed to involve things like, a legal unions of the man and of the woman and commencement of a new residence unit, comprising of the two parents and their legitimate offspring.

In most cultures marriage requires giving over of goods, livestock, money and all other things between the two families of the groom and the bride. By doing things like this the two families are building a form of relationship as they are about to be one family at the end of the day.

KZN tradition

Take the Zulu culture for example, it starts with a man being in a relationship with a woman and after that the man ask the woman for a hand in marriage and in most cases the woman is virgin so the man is not allowed to have sexual intercourse with the woman until they get married or he will have to pay more for the woman. After the man asks the woman for a hand in marriage he has to send his elders to go to the woman’s home to ask for her properly and that is when lobola negotiations