AFRICAN POPULATION STUDIES

Senegal (Dakar) 92

OCTOBER 1996 - NUMBER 11

98.92.8 - English - Antonio McDANIEL and Eliya ZULU, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (U.S.A.)

Mothers fathers, and children: Regional patterns in child-parent residence in sub-Saharan Africa (p. 1-28)

The strongest ties in African families are consangineous rather than conjugal, and child fosterage is an important aspect of the distinctive extended African family system. Our study underscores the fact that the so-called African family is complex and that its structures and composition vary remarkably, across various countries and societies. This paper focuses on the importance of child fosterage and nonmaternal residence as distinct; overlapping aspects of Africa's extended family system. The results highlight the role of the mother in child rearing: children who are not living with both parents are much more likely to live with the mother than with the father or with anybody else. The results further illustrate the importance of the extended family network in rearing children in the region: children not residing with either parent are more likely to be fostered by another relative than by non-relatives. (AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, FOSTERING, EXTENDED FAMILY, COHABITATION)

98.92.9 - English - Assata ZERAI, Sociology Department, Syracuse University (U.S.A.)

Preventive health strategies and infant survival in Zimbabwe (p. 29-62)

Socioeconomic and demographic variables are examined in a multilevel framework to determine conditions influencing infant survival in Zimbabwe (1983-88) using Demographic and Health Survey data. Community level child health inputs consistently influence infant survival. The most unique finding is that childbearing-aged women's average educational levels in their community exert a greater effect on infant survival than the individual mother's educational level. This result supports assertions that child survival is strongly impacted by mass education (Caldwell, 1989). This research also contributes evidence to theories postulating that widespread social development is necessary to sustain recent declines in developing country mortality rates (Palloni, 1989). (ZIMBABWE, INFANT MORTALITY, MORTALITY DETERMINANTS, LEVELS OF EDUCATION, COMMUNITIES)

98.92.10 - French - Mahalmoudou HAMADOUN, Institut Supérieur de Formation et de Recherche Appliquée, Bamako (Mali)

Geographic mobility in the communities of Goundam (Mali): A survival strategy (La mobilité spatiale dans le cercle de Goundam (Mali) : une stratégie de survie) (p. 63-74)

The sedentary and nomadic communities of Goundam, which is located in the North of Mali, have been going through a crisis for a quarter of a century now. The multivarious droughts which are raging in the area have resulted in the degradation of existing natural resources, the slackening of development efforts, and have driven some into leaving the area. Then new survival strategies emerged, namely the redistribution of the population into the space and the concentration of production systems into the area's southern part, around the lakes, ponds and rivers. Obviously, this high mobility of people is not an unusual phenomenon in the area, for it is the very lifestyle of nomadic groups, but the phenomenon is so important now among sedentary people that it is difficult to identify the "real nomads" in that area. The mobility affects all other economic actors without any differentiation. Moreover, this mobility has also led to a housing and village dynamics (breaking-up of villages and conquest of new spaces), which is not without any consequence on the area's overall evolution. (MALI, REGIONS, DROUGHT, RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY, NOMADISM, RESETTLEMENT POLICY)

98.92.11 - English - Eugene K. CAMPBELL, Department of Demography, University of Botswana (Botswana), and Puni G. TLHAODI, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Gaborone (Botswana)

Exploring inter-spouse response consistency in a demographic survey of the Western area of Sierra Leone (p. 75-90)

Several studies have drawn attention to the importance of consistency in couples' responses to question related to the attitudes and behaviours of their spouses. Even among educated couples in developing societies, there are considerable response inconsistencies. This implies minimal discussion between spouses about apparently sensitive issues. Where spouses hardly discuss their fertility and sexuality, there is strong likelihood of the occurrence of differences in their attitudes and subsequent behaviours. National efforts aimed at addressing family planning, women's empowerment and children's welfare may be frustrated where husbands maintain a culture of superiority over their wives. The results of this study reveal a promising situation. But inter-spouse discussion is not universal; and, though the level of response consistency is encouraging, there is a substantial response inconsistency. There is a need to improve the environment for uninhibited discussions between spouses if the negative implications of response inconsistency are to be successfully dealt with. (SIERRA LEONE, METHODOLOGY, DATA COLLECTION, QUALITY OF DATA, INTERSPOUSE RELATIONSHIPS)

98.92.12 - English - M. B. MAKIWANE, University of Transkei (Transkei)

Why is fertility declining in South Africa? A case study of Mtombo, Eastern Cape (p. 91-100)

The main goal of the paper is to put forward an explanation for the observed decline in the total fertility rate in South Africa using a case study of a village in the Eastern Cape. The paper argues that the existing theoretical frameworks which attribute high fertility among Blacks in Africa to low socioeconomic development or to the existence of subsistence farming requiring labour intensive technologies, fail to explain the relatively recent fertility decline among Blacks of South Africa living in rural areas. The paper finds these explanations inappropriate because they do not correspond well with existing socioeconomic and technological environments in the prevalent "migrant labour system" leading to the dearth of marriageable young men and low marriage rates, high rates of marriage dissolutions and incidence of extramarital births. The paper has used a small questionnaire in a village to gather information from 225 women. In addition, and more importantly, the paper seeks explanations for observed trends in Blacks fertility through interviews with focus groups. (SOUTH AFRICA, BLACKS, FERTILITY DECLINE, FERTILITY DETERMINANTS, LABOUR MOBILITY, THEORY)

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