La coexistence des générations en milieu urbain au Burkina Faso: Entre logique de sélection et obligation de parenté

Abstract

In Africa, household are traditionally characterized by residential arrangements with several generations cohabiting. This is partly linked to economical production systems and social reproduction scheme governed by a tacit intergenerational agreement. Due to modernization and urbanization, traditional patterns are differently affected resulting in a diffusion of modern standards of nuclear family. Given the plurality and complexity of urban family residential arrangements, this study aims to focus on the case of urban families arrangements in Burkina Faso and to analyse possible changes of residential arrangements in this country. The analysis models highlight an urban intergenerational residential patterns characterized by a duality based on a kind of reconciliation between traditional extended kinship and adapting to new social requirements of modernization resulting in a preference for a small size of family.