African Families Research Articles

North African Family With Recessive PYROXD1 Mutation Cause Adult-Onset Limb-Girdle-Type Muscular Dystrophy. (2774)

North African Family With Recessive PYROXD1 Mutation Cause Adult-Onset Limb-Girdle-Type Muscular Dystrophy. (2774)

The work-family interface and polygamy in Africa: A demands-resources perspective

ABSTRACT Work-family (WF) research in Africa has just begun to address unique elements of work and family relationships on this continent. In this paper, the relationships between family demands and resources in polygamous homes and family-to-work conflict and enrichment are put forward. Although some WF research has begun to broaden the definition of family to include extended family members, to date, polygamous family structures have been left out of the conversation. Yet, polygamous family structures are an important minority group with unique family-related resources and demands that impact the work-family interface. Drawing from a demands-resources approach, we discuss how demands and resources foster family-to-work conflict and enrichment among employed men and women in polygamous homes. We theorize about differences in family-to-work conflict and enrichment between employed men and women from both polygamous and monogamous African families. We also consider how gender roles and family values impact the experiences of employed husbands and wives within polygamous family structures. Opportunities for future research on this topic are discussed to foster understanding of the work-family interface for men and women in this non-trivial segment of the growing African economy.

LAW, RELIGION, AND THE POLITICIZATION OF SEXUAL CITIZENSHIP IN KENYA

AbstractIn Kenya, debates about sexual orientation have assumed center stage at several points in recent years, but particularly before and after the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya in 2010. These debates have been fueled by religious clergy and by politicians who want to align themselves with religious organizations for respectability and legitimation, particularly by seeking to influence the nation's legal norms around sexuality. I argue that through their responses and attempts to influence legal norms, the religious and political leaders are not only responsible for the nonacceptance of same-sex relationships in Africa, but have also ensured that sexuality and embodiment have become a cultural and religious battleground. These same clergy and politicians seek to frame homosexuality as un-African, unacceptable, a threat to African moral and cultural sensibilities and sensitivities, and an affront to African moral and family values. Consequently, the perception is that homosexuals do not belong in Africa—that they cannot be entertained, accommodated, tolerated, or even understood. Ultimately, I argue that the politicization and religionization of same-sex relationships in Kenya, as elsewhere in Africa, has masked human rights debates and stifled serious academic and pragmatic engagements with important issues around sexual difference and sexual orientation while fueling negative attitudes toward people with different sexual orientations.

The journey from france to france: the spiritual moves of muslim youth from marseille

Based on long-term ethnographic research with youth who were born to North, West, and East African families in northern Marseille, this article explores the common experience of alienation that practicing Muslims from Marseille report as they endeavor to live piously in their hometown, together with the mobility-oriented strategies they have devised to achieve belonging. Following these Muslim-Marseillais young adults longitudinally, it emerges that some relied on physical migration away from France (religiously conceived as hijrah) as a means of remaining pious and finding belonging. Others, meanwhile, navigated towards pious personhood and finding home in ways that still involved movement but transpired within France. Significantly, individuals who have chosen to remain in France carve out pious belonging by engaging in domestic movements to particular places in France, by pursuing occupational mobility, and by making advantageous use of prestigious linguistic registers like Standard French and Modern Standard Arabic. As such, the article suggests that hijrah is but one—and the most transnational—among various kinds of movement to which young Muslim-Marseillais turn as they grapple with discrimination, seek to improve themselves, and ascertain how best to belong.

Prioritization of candidate genes for a South African family with Parkinson's disease using in-silico tools.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder exhibiting Mendelian inheritance in some families. Next-generation sequencing approaches, including whole exome sequencing (WES), have revolutionized the field of Mendelian disorders and have identified a number of PD genes. We recruited a South African family with autosomal dominant PD and used WES to identify a possible pathogenic mutation. After filtration and prioritization, we found five potential causative variants in CFAP65, RTF1, NRXN2, TEP1 and CCNF. The variant in NRXN2 was selected for further analysis based on consistent prediction of deleteriousness across computational tools, not being present in unaffected family members, ethnic-matched controls or public databases, and its expression in the substantia nigra. A protein model for NRNX2 was created which provided a three-dimensional (3D) structure that satisfied qualitative mean and global model quality assessment scores. Trajectory analysis showed destabilizing effects of the variant on protein structure, indicated by high flexibility of the LNS-6 domain adopting an extended conformation. We also found that the known substrate N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (NAG) contributed to restoration of the structural stability of mutant NRXN2. If NRXN2 is indeed found to be the causal gene, this could reveal a new mechanism for the pathobiology of PD.

The Study of Reduplication and Retriplication in the Yoruba Language

The Yoruba language, a regional lingua franca in Nigeria, which belongs to the Kwa sub-family of Kordofanian phylum of the larger African language family, is spoken in Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Brazil, Cuba, etc. The language attests a very productive feature of reduplication which has attracted the attention of many scholars. But its extended form, tagged, “retriplication” in this paper, remains largely unexplored. This study examines the form and functions of reduplication and retriplication which are two morphological processes where the former serves as a pedestal to the latter. While applying the participant observation method to elicit data from main Yoruba cities in Nigeria, the Pulleyblank (2009) model, as well as the descriptive and context usage approaches are employed to analyse and discuss the data. The study reveals that while reduplication process actualises intensification, nominalisation, emphasis and comparative qualifying, retriplication serves for more intensification, wider nominalisation, more emphasis and superlative qualifying. The research further reveals that, while all cases of verb and adjective reduplicates can be retriplicated without generating unacceptable utterances in Yoruba, the gerundive reduplicates cannot culminate in retriplication. However, kinship reduplicate allows retriplication when stretched to the third generation. The paper concludes by calling for more study on retriplication in other languages of the world, particularly, African and Asian languages that massively exhibit the two phenomena.

Decoupling African Traditional Religion and Culture from the Family Life of Africans: Calculated Steps in Disguise

Even though African Traditional Religion and Cultural family life seem to have been detached from the indigenous Africans, with many reasons accounting for such a detach, the attempts made by the new wave of Christianity is paramount, under the cloak of salvation and better life. The paper focuses on the steps taken by Pentecostal-Charismatics in Africa to decouple African Traditional Religion and Culture from the family life of Africans in a disguised manner. The paper begins with the retrospection of African Traditional Religion as the religion with belief of the forefathers concerning the existence of the Supreme Being, divinities, Spirit beings, Ancestors, and mysterious powers, good and evil and the afterlife. It then walks readers through the encounter between Christianity and ATR and come out that Christianity from its earliest history has maintained a negative attitude toward ATR. The paper again explores that the traditional understanding of the African family system is portrayed in the common believe system and the functions of the family com-ponents. Again, the paper further unravels decoupling measures such as reaching the masses for audience, demonization of African the world of the spirit, demonization of African elders, pastors as-suming the traditional position of elders of African families are the factors that are being taken to ensure the taking away of African traditional religious and family life from Africans. The paper again discusses the adverse effects of these decoupling factors on Africans. The paper concludes that Traditional African family patterns are slowly but progressively being altered as a result of the process of the decoupling strategies.

COVID-19 disruption: Family physicians at the forefront.

No abstract available.

PERTINENT ILLS CONCOMITANT WITH MATRIFOCALITY IN ZIMBABWE: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Objective: The paper explored the challenges underpinning matrifocality in Zimbabwe, what is normally termed single motherhood. With the marital institution losing eminence in Africa due to a myriad of factors such as globalization, industrialization, and eurocentrism; this has greatly altered today’s family structure. The study was anchored on the realization that the traditional composition of an African family which recognized extended families has now been overshadowed by the surfacing of nuclear families as well as an increase in matrifocal families.
 Methods: The article utilized a qualitative approach and a case study design. Convenience sampling was used to select 16 single mothers and a purposive sampling method was preferred to sample three key informants. For single mothers, in a mini-depth interviews were used to elicit detailed information and focus group discussion was adopted for key informants. Data were analyzed using the thematic process to integrate the findings.
 Results: Stress-induced pathologies, relational conflict within the family set-up, economic privations, communal cynicism, and ostracism were identified as challenges compromising the development and stability of matrifocal families in Chiredzi district.
 Conclusions: Guided by various feminism lenses and the ecological perspective, the article shifts from the pathological view to single motherhood, advocating for the need to focus the dialogue along the challenges faced by matrifocal families in an attempt to recommend interventions that can strengthen this family set-up.

Zippin’ Up My Boots, Going Back to My Routes

This discussion essay on Hazel V. Carby’s Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands considers the contrasting ways the dominant society and the people of the African diaspora approach and regard research into family histories. Beginning with reflections on the somewhat dreaded though seemingly benign question, “Where are you from?,” the essay explores the shortcomings and racial biases of popular genealogical websites, contrasting these with the deeply and profoundly nuanced ways Carby’s book tackles fundamental questions, shortcomings, and difficulties in endeavors to trace ancestry. Along the way, the essay references Alex Haley’s Roots and then takes up the Moynihan Report and Maury Povich’s daytime TV show, Maury, both of which, the author asserts, reflect the pathology of depicting the black father as absent and deviant. The essay concludes with considerations of an inevitably settled yet nevertheless creatively fertile “mixed upness” of the creation of African diaspora family histories.

Development and evaluation of an online continuing education course to increase healthcare provider self-efficacy to make strong HPV vaccine recommendations to East African immigrant families

ObjectiveTo develop and evaluate an online continuing education (CE) course designed to improve healthcare provider self-efficacy to make strong adolescent HPV vaccine recommendations to East African immigrant families. MethodsFocus groups with providers and East African immigrant mothers informed course development. Providers serving East African immigrant families were recruited to view the course and complete pre-/post-test and two-month follow-up surveys. Pre-/post differences were compared with paired t-tests. Results202 providers completed the course and pre-/post-test; 158 (78%) completed two-month follow-up. Confidence to make strong HPV vaccine recommendations to East African families increased from 68% pre-test to 98% post-test. Confidence to address common parental concerns also increased: safety, 54% pre-test, 92% post-test; fertility, 55% pre-test, 90% post-test; child too young, 68% pre-test, 92% post-test; and pork gelatin in vaccine manufacturing, 38% pre-test, 90% post-test. Two-month follow-up scores remained high (97% for overall confidence, 94%–97% for addressing parental concerns). All pre-/post-test and pre-test/two-month follow-up comparisons were statistically significant (p < 0.05). ConclusionsThe online CE course focused on culturally appropriate strategies for making strong recommendations and addressing specific parental concerns was effective for increasing provider self-efficacy to recommend HPV vaccination to East African families. Similar courses could be tailored to other priority populations.

Correction: Akosah-Twumasi, Peter, et al. 2020. Prioritising Family Needs: A Grounded Theory of Acculturation for Sub-Saharan African Migrant Families in Australia. Social Sciences 9: 17

The authors wish to make the following change to their paper (Akosah-Twumasi et al [...]

Implementation of Online Research Training and Mentorship for Sub-Saharan African Family Physicians

Background:To improve the delivery and reach of primary health care, a robust scientific foundation driven by research is needed. However, few family physicians conduct research, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Early-career and trainee family physicians are a key part of the primary care research pipeline and have an expressed need for research training and mentorship.Objective:AfriWon Research Collaborative (ARC) was an online research training and mentorship pilot program whose objective was to increase research activity among participants from AfriWon Renaissance, the family physician young doctors’ movement of sub-Saharan Africa.Methods:ARC utilized a 10-module online curriculum, supported by peer and faculty e-mentorship, to guide participants through writing a research protocol. The feasibility, acceptability, and scalability of this program was evaluated via a mixed-methods RE-AIM-guided process evaluation using descriptive statistics and inductive/deductive thematic analysis.Findings:The pilot reached participants from Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone and was adopted by mentors from 11 countries across three continents. Four of the 10 pilot participants completed a full research protocol by the end of the six-month core program. Seven out of the 10 participants, and nine out of the 15 mentors, planned to continue their mentorship relationships beyond the core program. The program helped instill a positive research culture in active participants. Some participants’ and mentors’ engagement with the ARC program was limited by confusion over mentorship structure and role, poor network connectivity, and personal life challenges.Conclusions:Online research training and mentorship for trainee and early-career family physicians in sub-Saharan Africa is feasible and acceptable to participants and mentors. Similar programs must pay careful attention to mentorship training and provide a flexible yet clearly organized structure for mentee-mentor engagement. Additional work is needed to determine optimal implementation strategies and ability to scale.

Neuropeptidergic and Neuroendocrine Systems Underlying Eusociality and the Concomitant Social Regulation of Reproduction in Naked Mole-Rats: A Comparative Approach.

The African mole-rat family (Bathyergidae) includes the first mammalian species identified as eusocial: naked mole-rats. Comparative studies of eusocial and solitary mole-rat species have identified differences in neuropeptidergic systems that may underlie the phenomenon of eusociality. These differences are found in the oxytocin, vasopressin and corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) systems within the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and lateral septal nucleus. As a corollary of their eusociality, most naked mole-rats remain pre-pubertal throughout life because of the presence of the colony's only reproductive female, the queen. To elucidate the neuroendocrine mechanisms that mediate this social regulation of reproduction, research on the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis in naked mole-rats has identified differences between the many individuals that are reproductively suppressed and the few that are reproductively mature: the queen and her male consorts. These differences involve gonadal steroids, gonadotrophin-releasing hormone-1 (GnRH-1), kisspeptin, gonadotrophin-inhibitory hormone/RFamide-related peptide-3 (GnIH/RFRP-3) and prolactin. The comparative findings in eusocial and solitary mole-rat species are assessed with reference to a broad range of studies on other mammals.

Namaqualand hip dysplasia in South Africa: The molecular determinant elucidated.

Namaqualand hip dysplasia (NHD) is a mild form of spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia in which progressive arthropathy of the hip joint is a major manifestation. The disorder was documented in a multigenerational South African (SA) family with antecedents from Namaqualand, a region in the north-west of the country. Linkage analysis revealed a locus that includes the collagen type II gene, COL2A1. To identify the pathogenic COL2A1 variant causing NHD in an SA family. One affected male with a clear diagnosis of NHD was selected for whole-exome sequencing (WES) on the Ion Torrent Proton platform. A probe-based assay and direct cycle sequencing were used to confirm that the prioritised variant segregated with the phenotype in the NHD family and was not present in unrelated controls from the same population. WES identified one heterozygous variant, c.2014G&gt;T; p.(Gly672Cys), in the coding sequence of the COL2A1 gene. The variant segregated with NHD in 23 affected family members and was previously reported in a Caucasian male with Perthes disease-like presentation. It is now possible to provide a molecular diagnosis of NHD before hip problems present. The large, clinically well-characterised NHD family is a valuable resource that could provide more insight into the mechanisms responsible for the variable expression observed in individuals with this variant.

Die kwesbaarheid van kinders in die konteks van Suid-Afrikaanse huishoudings en families

In hierdie artikel bespreek ons die kwesbaarheid van baie kinders wat in Suid-Afrika woon, met die doel om noodsaaklike insae in die daaglikse lewensomstandighede van soveel kwesbare kinders van Suid-Afrika te bevorder. Die artikel begin deur kortliks te verwys na die sosiale en politieke kontekste wat die lewens van kinders bedreig. Dit fokus dan meer spesifiek op huishoudings en familiestrukture en hoe ons oor hierdie ingewikkelde, vervlegde en moeilik onderskeibare konsepte behoort te dink. Hierna volg 'n kort bespreking van teenwoordige en afwesige ouers, wat uitwys dat Suid-Afrika uniek is in die mate waarin ouers, veral vaders, afwesig is in die daaglikse doen en late van hul kinders. Ook kom grootouers wat in die afwesigheid van ouers na hul kleinkinders omsien, aan die beurt, en die belangrike rol wat die uitgebreide familie in die grootmaak van kinders speel, word uitgewys. Dan word stilgestaan by migrasie, veral deur adolessente, met die oog daarop om toegang tot nuwe geleenthede te kry. Uiteraard gaan daar bedreiginge hiermee saam. Hierna val die soeklig op weeskinders, asook op huishoudings wat net uit kinders bestaan en waar 'n minderjarige gevolglik as die hoof van so 'n huishouding moet funksioneer. Laastens kom die baie belangrike kwessie van behuising en basiese dienste aan die beurt, en word die groot ongelykheid in ons land soos weerspieël in die toegang of gebrek aan basiese dienste, aangetoon.

Morphological characteristics of native chicken of village Chhajjian, Haripur Pakistan

:The present study was conducted to describe the variations in morphological characteristics of different selected populations of indigenous chickens. Five populations of chickens in different (localities) of Chhajjian, KP, Pakistan, were studied based on qualitative traits recorded for a total of 100 chickens. Each of the study populations contains multiple variants of plumage colors and other physical features. The average flock size was observed to be 38. Predominant plumage color was grayish and other mixtures along with different percentages in different localities. Pea comb was the dominant comb type in all localities. Most of the chickens were yellow skinned. Males in all populations were heavier and taller than the females. This recorded variation in morphological traits will help in the conservation of these chickens.

The Cross-Cultural Relevance of Indigenous Measures: The South African Personality Inventory (SAPI), Family Orientation, and Well-Being in New Zealand

Indigenous personality research often remains limited to its cultural context of origin. Previous cross-cultural examinations of indigenous models have typically focused on East–West comparisons and have paid scant attention to the predictive validity of indigenous models in new contexts. The present study addresses the replicability of the South African Personality Inventory (SAPI) and its predictive validity for family orientation and well-being in New Zealand European ( n = 428) and Māori students ( n = 226). The structure of the SAPI in New Zealand was equivalent to the structure identified in South Africa and had metric invariance between the two New Zealand groups. The SAPI social-relational scales explained additional variance above neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness in family orientation, but not in well-being. Mediation path analyses suggested that personality played a similar role for family orientation and well-being in the two groups when assessed by the SAPI, although group differences were suggested when using the Big Five Inventory. Our findings indicate that indigenously derived models, developed with the aim to represent culturally salient concepts, can be relevant well beyond their culture of origin and offer an enriched understanding of personality’s role for important outcomes across cultures.

Drépanocytose et projection vers l’avenir : une approche compréhensive du vécu d’une sœur d’un enfant atteint au Cameroun

BackgroundSickle cell anemia is the most common genetic disease in the world and a taboo disease in African families that confronts the affected child's parents, extended family members, and siblings with painful, unpredictable and chronic crises, the risk of death, and expensive care due to recurrent hospitalizations. In Cameroon, as in all African countries, the absence of effective treatment against this disease makes it a chronic and deadly disease that makes professionals, families, the sick child and his siblings helpless. This research aims to understand the way in which a Cameroonian girl we met at her family's home in Cameroon thinks of her future as the sister of a sick child. MethodsThis research is a case report that worked to get Nadège's parents to allow her to talk to the researcher about her family, her and her sick sister and her illness. We collected data through an interview with this girl followed by a drawing of the family. We did a thematic analysis for the interview and an analysis according to Jourdan & Lachance (2000) with a consideration of the cultural dimension (Njifon Nsangou et Scelles, 2019; Tsala Tsala, 1990) for the drawing. ResultsThe results highlight the fact that Nadège is projected into a future where as a medical doctor she will be able to overcome her impotence and that of her family and her sick sister by helping her parents to finance her care. She also invests in a future where she can avoid having a partner with the sickle cell anemia gene so as not, like her parents, having to care for a child with the disease. ConclusionThis case report presents the need to support this young girl in the psychological process of transformation concerning the difficulties she meets about the disease of her sister. This could help to make her a resource for her sick sister and her family in the future.

Intra-family dynamics and succession planning in family businesses in South Africa: the daughter as a potential successor

PurposeLiterature considers the succession process to be successful when both the continuity of the business and harmony within the family are preserved. This study empirically investigates intra-family dynamics with regard to daughters as potential successors in family businesses.Design/methodology/approachThe study takes place in South Africa where family businesses represent a significant amount of all listed businesses on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. A structured survey instrument is used to collect primary data from family businesses in South Africa. The study hypotheses are statistically tested using regression analyses.FindingsResults highlight the importance of the business context (BC), intra-family cohesion (IFC), intra-family adaptability (IFA) as well as the parent-daughter relationship (PDR) in successful daughter succession planning (SP). An important insight which emerges from the findings is the extent to which a harmonious business environment is conducive in accommodating the daughter as a successor to the business.Practical implicationsFamily business owners need to be aware of the often conflicting pressures that daughters face as potential successors. Evidence-based and fit for purpose to the South African family BC processes and directives must be formulated that guide the implementation of SP. The provision of training specifically focused on gender bias issues and women empowerment programmes in family business is recommended.Originality/valueInvestigating theoretical and practical problems related to daughters in SP in South Africa is important considering that firms in African countries in general tend to be poorly managed.