Extended Family Households Research Articles

Is women’s empowerment associated with political knowledge and opinions? Evidence from rural Mali

According to many prominent theorists of democracy, citizens must be able to “formulate and signify preferences” to participate as ‘political equals’ for democracy to work (Dahl, 1971). However, a gender gap in political knowledge and opinions exists across the Global South, especially in rural areas. In this paper, we study the relationship between rural women’s socioeconomic empowerment (household agency and mobility outside the village) and political knowledge and opinions in Mali, a West African country with patriarchal gender norms. To reduce well-known difficulties of gaining access to rural women and reducing bystander effects, we use simultaneous co-gender interviews of one man and one woman per extended family household and a modified Audio-Self-Administered Questionnaire for illiterate populations. Further to reduce “satisficed” opinions, we elicit opinion justifications and measure “justified opinions.” Consistent with predictions, we find that women’s empowerment is positively associated with rural women’s political knowledge and opinions. We close by examining opinions towards one controversial policy area with redistributive consequences for men and women—the Family Code, which regulates rights of men and women in marriage, inheritance, and the family. More empowered women are more likely to support pro-woman changes.

Farm family effects of adopting improved and hybrid sorghum seed in the Sudan Savanna of West Africa

Uptake of improved sorghum varieties in the Sudan Savanna of West Africa has been limited, despite the economic importance of the crop and long-term investments in sorghum improvement. One reason why is that attaining substantial yield advantages has been difficult in this harsh, heterogeneous growing environment. Release in Mali of the first sorghum hybrids in Sub-Saharan Africa that have been developed primarily from local germplasm has the potential to change this situation. Utilizing plot data collected in Mali, we explain the adoption of improved seed with an ordered logit model and apply a multivalued treatment effects model to measure impacts on farm families, differentiating between improved varieties and hybrids. Since farm families both consume and sell their sorghum, we consider effects on consumption patterns as well as productivity. Status within the household, conferred by gender combined with marital status, generation, and education, is strongly related to the improvement status of sorghum seed planted in these extended family households. Effects of hybrid use on yields are large, widening the range of food items consumed, reducing the share of sorghum in food purchases, and contributing to a greater share of the sorghum harvest sold. Use of improved seed appears to be associated with a shift toward consumption of other cereals, and also to greater sales shares. Findings support on-farm research concerning yield advantages, also suggesting that the use of well-adapted sorghum hybrids could contribute to diet diversification and the crop’s commercialization by smallholders.

South Asian women’s experience of abuse by female affinal kin: a critique of mainstream conceptualisations of ‘domestic abuse’

Mainstream conceptualisations of domestic abuse that focus on an intimate relationship within a nuclear household do not reflect the experiences of abuse of many women, and this is particularly evident when exploring South Asian women’s experiences of family abuse. Drawing on the experiences of 11 Pakistani Muslim women interviewed for my doctoral research, I elucidate the role of the mother-in-law in instigating and perpetrating abuse against daughters-in-law. The sociocultural norms in extended family households, such as a preference for sons and maintaining a joint virilocal household, can cause tensions and hostility between mothers- and daughters-inlaw. These tendencies have potential for violence that is best understood as everyday practices of power and control. I argue that policy and practice, and research, must incorporate a deeper understanding of the family as a potential source of abuse, and particularly the role of female affinal kin, if women are to be protected from such abuse.

The Economic Organization of Extended Family Households by Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status.

This study examines differences in the amount of economic support or mutual benefit derived from extended family living arrangements by studying differences in monetary contributions to essential household expenditures across family units in extended family households. Using the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation, multivariate regression and selection models are estimated to assess racial differences in family contributions toward household expenses in extended family households. Extended family households have very unequal monetary contributions towards household rent and utilities, although Hispanics have less unequal monetary contributions compared to other racial groups. Hispanic and Asians extended family households experience decreasing inequality in financial contributions as the income of each family increases whereas no relationship between financial contributions and income is found for whites or blacks. This suggests a different cultural orientation to extended family living arrangements for Asians and Hispanics compared to non-Hispanic whites.

Demographic transitions in South African cities: An analysis of household structures in the City of Tshwane

AbstractThis study examines demographic transitions in South African neighbourhoods by analysing household composition, the relation between household types and neighbourhood characteristics, and patterns of convergence and divergence of household structures in the City of Tshwane between 1996 and 2011 at neighbourhood level. The study finds the growth of households linked to high population in‐migration, ageing populations, declining birth rates and declining household size. Nuclear family households are declining in favour of single person households and extended family households. Spatially, nuclear family households are also increasingly clustering, while single person households are concentrating in rural areas. Associated with these shifts in household structures is increasing poverty and decreasing real household incomes, despite decreasing unemployment. The regressions indicate a club convergence, with single person households tending to poverty, racial segregation, migration, and inferior housing, whereas nuclear family households tending to locational stability, newer and housing, and high owner occupancy in housing. There is also a club convergence towards extended family households among poorer households in previously disadvantaged areas. Household structures still evidence historical inequalities, but racial diversity is increasing in predominantly white neighbourhoods, in association with declining neighbourhood poverty in those areas.

Extended kin and children's behavioral functioning: Family structure and parental immigrant status

Using the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A. FANS), this paper examines the association between the presence of co-resident extended kin and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. The paper demonstrates the differential role of extended kin by family structure, as well as across parental immigrant status – specifically, nativity and documentation status. Children in the sample were found to be disadvantaged in extended family households, especially with regard to internalizing behaviors. This disadvantageous association was found mostly among married-parent extended family households, whereas there was no association between the presence of extended kin and behavior problems in children from single-parent families. This pattern emerged more clearly among children of documented immigrants, compared to those with native-born parents and those whose parents were unauthorized immigrants. These findings suggest a need to modify previous theories on extended family living arrangements; they also provide policy implications for immigrant families.

Intra-household resource allocation and familial ties

In this paper, we investigate the link between intra-household resource allocation and familial ties between household members. We show that, within the same geographic, economic and social environments, households where members have ‘stronger’ familial ties (nuclear family households) achieve near Pareto efficient allocation of productive resources and Pareto efficient allocation of consumption while households with ‘weaker’ familial ties (extended family households) do not. We propose a theoretical model of the household based on the idea that altruism between household members vary with familial ties which generates predictions consistent with the observed empirical patterns.

Toward an Understanding of Helene Johnson’s Hybrid Modernist Poetics

CLA JOURNAL 45 44 CLA JOURNAL Marie Sairsingh and allegorical form, contests conventional definitions and explanations provided by some scholars regarding the practice of Myal as a religious form, its derivation, provenance, and core historical and contemporary function in the life of AfroCaribbean peoples.Brodber’s thematization of post-slavery colonial existence,with a clear focus on Afro-spirituality illuminates the novel’s philosophical resonances, and make the argument for a reconfigured definition of the human within the frame of a new (Afro-spiritual) humanist paradigm. Works Cited Bogues, Anthony. Black Heretics Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals. Routledge, 2003. Brodber, Erna. Louisiana. New Beacon, 1994. ---. Myal. New Beacon, 1999. ---. The Second Generation of Freemen in Jamaica, 1907-1944. University Press of Florida, 2004. Chachine, Isaias Ezequiel. Community, Justice, and Freedom: Liberalism, Communitarianism, and African Contributions to Political Ethics. Coronet, 2008. Chavannes, Barry. Betwixt and Between: Explorations in an African-Caribbean Mindscape. Ian Randle, 2006. ---. Rastafari: Roots and Ideology. U of the West Indies P, 1995. Cornell, Drucilla and Kenneth Michael Panfilio. Symbolic Forms for a New Humanity: Cultural and Racial Reconfigurations of Critical Theory. Fordham University Press,2010. Harris, Wilson.“History, Fable and Myth in the Caribbean and Guianas.” Selected Essays of Wilson Harris: The Unfinished Genesis of the Imagination, edited by Andrew Bundy, Routledge, 1999, pp.152-66. ---.“The Life of Myth and its Possible Bearing on Erna Brodber’s Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home and Myal. Kunapipi vol. 12, 1990, pp. 86-92. Henry, Paget.“African and Afro-Caribbean Existential Philosophies.” Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy, edited by Lewis R. Gordon. Routledge, 1997, pp. 13-36. ---. Caliban’s Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy. Routledge, 2000. McNeal, Keith E. Trance and Modernity in the Southern Caribbean: African and Hindu Popular Religions in Trinidad and Tobago. University Press of Florida, 2011. Odjo, A. Lassissi. Between the Lines: Africa in Western Spirituality, Philosophy, and Literary Theory. Routledge, 2012. Stewart, Dianne M. Three Eyes for the Journey: African Dimensions of the Jamaican Religious Experience. Oxford University Press, 2005. Ten Kortenaar, Neil. Postcolonial Literature and the Impact of Literacy: Reading and Writing in African and Caribbean Fiction. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Winer, Lise, ed. Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. McGill-Queens University Press, 2008. Toward an Understanding of Helene Johnson’s Hybrid Modernist Poetics Robert Fillman Helene Johnson’s entire corpus consists of thirty-four poems published in periodicals and a few undated verses that have only recently found their way into print. For most of the twentieth century, she was a footnote in American literature. But in recent years, feminist scholars and scholars of the Harlem Renaissance have been increasingly drawn to Johnson’s work. In her time, she was praised by her New Negro contemporaries, published in nearly all of the major African American journals and anthologies of her day, and won several awards. In addition to her mastery of traditional verse forms, her reputation rests on her avant-garde representation of the distinctive features of African American culture of the 1920s and 1930s. Her poetry persistently engages social issues—including race politics, the subordination of women, and obstacles faced by the black working class. Her verse also explores the beauty and sensuous pleasures of the natural world. But as quickly as Johnson came on the scene, she disappeared. And unfortunately for us, her sudden departure has prevented critics from grasping the significance of her literary career, something this essay aims to remedy. Helene Johnson was born in Boston on July 7, 1906, to Ella Benson and George William Johnson.1 She was named after her grandmother Helen Pease Benson, but her family and friends called her “Helene,” a nickname given to her by an aunt. Though an only child who never knew her father (her parents separated shortly after her birth), Johnson grew up in a close-knit extended family household. Surrounded by her mother, maternal aunts, and female cousins—including fellow Harlem Renaissance writer, Dorothy West—Johnson experienced a childhood that emphasized education, female solidarity, and a love of the outdoors. The families combined their earnings and, as a result, the poet spent her formative years living in a...

Extended Families: Support, Socialization, and Stress

Modern American families take many shapes, and financial educators must meet the needs of diverse family structures, including extended families. Extended family households have increased since the recent recession, and additional family members can be both a source of support and a burden to the household. This article reviews the literature on extended and shared households and their impact on individuals’ financial behaviors. The article explains the types of extended and shared households, informal and formal support relationships, family financial socialization, and subgroup idiosyncrasies. The article concludes with implications and suggestions for financial educators and researchers.

Household structure, maternal characteristics and childhood mortality in rural sub-Saharan Africa

The household dynamics of childhood mortality in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa is less researched despite the fact that mortality rates are almost two times that of urban settings. This study aimed to investigate the influence of household structure on childhood mortality while controlling for household and maternal characteristics in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Eight countries with recent demographic and health survey data not earlier than the year 2010 were selected, two from each sub-region of sub-Saharan Africa. The outcome variables were risk of infant and child death while the main independent variables included sex of household head and household structure. Descriptive statistics were generated for all variables. Mortality rates disaggregated by sex of household head and household structure were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazard regression models were fitted to investigate the relationship between the outcome and explanatory variables in each country. The percentage of children living in female-headed households (FHHs) ranged from 5.2% in Burkina Faso to 49.1% in Namibia while those living in extended family households ranged from 27.4% in Rwanda to 59.9% in Namibia. Multivariate hazard regression showed that, in the majority of the countries, there was no significant relationship between living in FHHs and childhood mortality, but the direction and magnitude of effect varied across countries. A significant negative effect of FHHs on infant mortality was observed in Burkina Faso (HR=1.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09-2.48) and Zambia (HR=1.49, 95%CI: 1.02-2.17). Likewise, children in extended family households had a higher risk of child mortality in Burkina Faso (HR=1.33, 95%CI: 1.04-1.69) and Zambia (HR=1.59, 95%CI: 1.02-2.49). There was not much difference in the effect of FHHs between infancy (0-11 months) and childhood (12-59 months) in the other countries. The pooled adjusted hazard ratio (HR) showed that the risk of death in childhood was 23% higher in extended family households (HR=1.23, 95%CI: 1.09-1.39) than in nuclear family households. In rural sub-Saharan Africa, children in FHHs do not have significantly higher infant and child mortality. Also, there was no difference in infant mortality between nuclear and extended family households but the latter constitute a higher risk for child mortality.

A Tale of Two Single-Mothers: Understanding the Impact of Handicap through the Use of Diaries

Disabled people, being deprived of economic activities, may nevertheless engage in non-economic activities within the household, especially in extended family households in poor countries. These may include looking after children. Thus, there may be a close relationship between human, physical and financial resources and consumption, production and investment activities of the household, as suggested by the Household Economic Portfolio model (Chen and Dunn 1996). Among the poor, single mothers are particularly vulnerable, although many are quite resistant. We are looking at understanding whether disabled single mothers are more vulnerable. We have adopted a case study approach because the methodology that we have adopted, the use of diaries, is difficult to analyze. The study of the poor through financial diaries is not new (Collins et al. 2010). However, we have gone a step further and used financial and time diaries. Our findings show that the combining of the two kinds of diaries has led to considerable insights on how a handicap not only limits the income, but also forces one to consumption patterns of time and money which are different.

A Tale of Two Single-Mothers: Understanding the Impact of Handicap through the Use of Diaries

Disabled people, being deprived of economic activities, may nevertheless engage in non-economic activities within the household, especially in extended family households in poor countries. These may include looking after children. Thus, there may be a close relationship between human, physical and financial resources and consumption, production and investment activities of the household, as suggested by the Household Economic Portfolio model (Chen and Dunn 1996). Among the poor, single mothers are particularly vulnerable, although many are quite resistant. We are looking at understanding whether disabled single mothers are more vulnerable. We have adopted a case study approach because the methodology that we have adopted, the use of diaries, is difficult to analyze. The study of the poor through financial diaries is not new (Collins et al. 2010). However, we have gone a step further and used financial and time diaries. Our findings show that the combining of the two kinds of diaries has led to considerable insights on how a handicap not only limits the income, but also forces one to consumption patterns of time and money which are different.

Intra-Household Resource Allocation and Familial Ties

In this paper, we investigate the link between intra-household resource allocation and familial ties between household members. We show that, within the same geographic, economic and social environments, households where members have 'stronger' familial ties (nuclear family households) achieve near Pareto efficient allocation of productive resources and Pareto efficient allocation of consumption while households with 'weaker' familial ties (extended family households) do not. We propose a theoretical model of the household based on the idea that altruism between household members vary with familial ties which generates predictions consistent with the observed empirical patterns.

Individualisation and familisation in Japan's home-owning democracy

Japan's post-war housing system has been dominated by family-owned housing. However, the centrality of family home ownership has declined since the 1990s. Housing careers and family formation patterns have diverged leading to the re-organisation of boundaries separating owning and renting. Using Japan as a focus, this paper explores the role of individualisation and familisation in transforming homeowner societies. On one hand, the individualisation of younger generations in Japan has encouraged a notable increase in one-person households living in private rented housing. On the other hand, a growing number of young households have purchased houses with assistance from their parents. This has been interpreted as an intergenerational familisation of access to home ownership. There is also an increasing number of unmarried adults living in their parents’ homes, which reflects the individualisation of younger cohorts and simultaneously the familisation of adult children's early housing careers. Moreover, it has recently been pointed out that Japan's system of extended family households and the related practice of transferring family properties across generations, has not declined. This paper argues that individualisation and familisation are combining to reorganise the ‘edges’ of home ownership, by helping determine who can enter owner-occupied housing sectors, and who is excluded.

Household changes in contemporary China: an analysis based on the four recent censuses

This paper analyzed China’s household changes based on data from China’s past four censuses of 1982, 1990, 2000, and 2010. The data showed that there was a rapid increase in the number of family households, a continued shrinking in household size, and a trend of simplification in household structure. The proportions of the one-couple household and the two-generation standard nuclear household presented the largest rise and the largest fall, respectively. Although the nuclear household still occupied the largest proportion, the single-person household was becoming more numerous, and the extended-family household still maintained a relatively large proportion. Low fertility, population mobility, aging, and the improvement of housing conditions were among the most significant factors that brought about changes to the family and the household in China. In addition, with the population aging, families with elderly members and empty-nest families progressively increased. While the proportion of the elderly-only family households increased, the share of coresidence of old people living with children declined. In China, the elderly are adopting two major forms of living arrangements: living alone or in multigeneration families. Future family policy should pay more attention to this phenomenon.

Centering Culture in Museum Work/Centering the Museum in Culture Work

T is a great time to be a museum anthropologist. Museums of all kinds are seeking insights into how better to engage their diverse publics and how to more creatively represent cultural issues. I can recount a few stories from my own experiences both at The Field Museum and with others to illustrate the point. One of the most intriguing recent experiences I had was working with renowned Chicagobased architect Jeanne Gang. Gang was commissioned as one of nine architects to participate in an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and design a new development for a depressed vicinity in the Chicago Metropolitan Region. Gang knew of my work in Chicago and that we had done a study of Mexican immigrants social networks and arts practices. She consulted with me about what kind of housing and public spaces might work for working class Latino immigrants (now the fastest growing demographic in Chicago). Gang’s final designs and models (as sh own in the exhibit [Museum of Modern Art 2015]) incorporated flexible use spaces for extended family households and public recreational and multi-use spaces. MOMA’s exhibit, titled “Foreclosed,” is part of a growing trend by art museums to showcase social concerns through an aesthetic lens. In another example, the Queens Art Museum did an exhibit on housing foreclosures in Queens (Cohen 2009) and hired a “community organizer” to reach out to Queens residents to both see and comment on the exhibit. The community organizer could just as well have been an anthropologist. At The Field Museum, our anthropology practice has most recently focused on integrating standard museum multimedia and visual communications strategies as part of participatory CENTERING CULTURE IN MUSEUM WORK/ CENTERING THE MUSEUM IN CULTURE WORK

From Sunrise to Sunset: Male Out-Migration and Its Effect on Left-Behind Women in the Builsa District of Ghana

The practice of adult males moving from rural areas into urban centres is a common phenomenon in Ghana. The result is that there are a series of consequent impacts on areas of origin especially on households and families. Using in-depth interviews, this paper discusses the economic, social, psychological and emotional effects that women experience as a result of the absence of husbands. Some major findings were that women were expected to work on the farms, feed their children and at the same time support their extended family households. As a result, women experienced different forms of distress arising out of material and social circumstances of their lives, yet not much has been done to address this situation. The paper recommends that interventions for rural women must take into account the experiences of left-behind women. Particularly, the emotional needs of these women must be considered by providing counseling services in addition to the economic empowerment programmes.

Biologically childless women 60+ often live in extended family households in Latin America.

This paper shows empirically that many biologically childless elderly women in Latin America at the turn of the 21st century lived in extended family households, often as the sibling or aunt of the household head. (We focus on women because most censuses limit fertility data to adult females.) Such a high level of extended family living was unexpected given Nydegger’s comment about childless elders in cross-cultural perspective:

Impact of Domestic Care Environment on Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Orphans in Western Kenya

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine the impact of the domestic care environment on the prevalence of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among orphaned and separated children in Uasin Gishu County, western Kenya.MethodsA total of 1565 (55.5% male) orphaned and separated adolescents aged 10–18 years (mean 13.8 years, sd 2.2), were assessed for PTSD and PTEs including bullying, physical abuse and sexual abuse. In this sample, 746 lived in extended family households, 746 in Charitable Children's Institutions (CCIs), and 73 on the street. Posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) scores and PTSD were assessed using the Child PTSD Checklist.ResultsBullying was the commonest PTE in all domestic care environments, followed by physical and sexual abuse. All PTEs were commonest among the street youth followed by CCIs. However, sexual abuse was more prevalent in households than in CCIs. Prevalence of PTSD was highest among street youth (28.8%), then households (15.0%) and CCIs (11.5%). PTSS scores were also highest among street youth, followed by CCIs and households. Bullying was associated with higher PTSS scores and PTSD odds than either sexual or physical abuse.ConclusionThis study demonstrated differences in distribution of trauma and PTSD among orphaned and separated children in different domestic care environments, with street youth suffering more than those in CCIs or households. Interventions are needed to address bullying and sexual abuse, especially in extended family households. Street youth, a heretofore neglected population, are urgently in need of dedicated mental health services and support.

Immigration and the Family Circumstances of Mexican-Origin Children: A Binational Longitudinal Analysis.

Using data from the birth cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (n = 1,200) and the Mexican Family Life Survey (n = 1,013), this study investigated the living arrangements of Mexican-origin preschool children. The analysis examined children's family circumstances in both sending and receiving countries, used longitudinal data to capture family transitions, and considered the intersection between nuclear and extended family structures. Between ages 0-1 and 4-5, Mexican children of immigrants experienced significantly more family instability than children in Mexico. They were more likely to transition from 2-parent to single-parent families and from extended family households to simple households. There were fewer differences between U.S. children with immigrant versus native parents, but the higher level of single parenthood among children of natives at ages 0-1 and the greater share making transitions from a 2-parent to a single-parent family suggest ongoing erosion of children's family support across generations in the United States.