JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE FAMILY STUDIES

Canada (Calgary) 14

SUMMER 1997 – VOLUME 28, NUMBER 2

99.14.1 - English - William C. YOUNG, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia 30460-8051 (U.S.A.), and Seteney SHAMI, Department of Anthropology, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbib (Jordan)

Anthropological approaches to the Arab family: An introduction (p. 1-13)

In this paper we draw attention to a number of methodological and conceptual issues related to the study of the Arab family. Our focus is on anthropological approaches. We choose this focus, not so much to consolidate disciplinary boundaries but to emphasize the usefulness of a holistic understanding of the social unit identified in society as "the family". One of our concerns is to determine to what degree the family exhibits a specificity peculiar to the Arab region. While it is certainly important to identify the characteristics of families in this region, it is equally important to de-mystify the term "the Arab family" and to challenge the assumption of an enduring, timeless, and unchanging entity.

The paper will start with a brief description of conceptual distinctions inspired by cross-cultural approaches to the family, then discuss the attempts at reaching a definition of the Arab family. Finally, the paper outlines the parameters of variation in family forms and functions in the context of broader social, political, and economic change. (ARAB COUNTRIES, FAMILY, ANTHROPOLOGY)

99.14.2 - English - Thomas B. STEVENSON, Anthropology, Regional Campuses, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701-2979 (U.S.A.)

Migration, family, and household in highland Yemen: The impact of socio-economic and political change and cultural ideals on domestic organization (p. 14-53)

As elsewhere in the Middle East, the Yemeni family is described as patrilineal, virilocal, and extended. This gloss is often inaccurate, but in the central highlands of the (former) Yemen Arab Repulic, this family type represents both the cultural ideal and the social norm. Drawing on data from ten rural communities, this paper examines the convergence of family form and household composition. Recognizing that internal dynamics are probably central to household unity or division, five activities identified by Wilk and Netting (co-residence, production, transmission of property, reproduction, and distribution of resources) are discussed. (YEMEN, FAMILY COMPOSITION, HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION, RURAL COMMUNITIES, MIGRATION, SOCIAL NORMS)

99.14.3 - English - Paula HOLMES-EBER, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-0413 (U.S.A.)

Migration, urbanization, and women's kin networks in Tunis (p. 54-73)

The perception that Tunisia's pro-Western development and policies are inevitably linked to a shift toward a Euro-American model of the isolated nuclear family continues to dominate most contemporary research on women and the family in Tunisia. Using ethnographic data collected during a one year field study and survey (1986-7) and a follow-up field study (summer 1993) of migrant and non-migrant Muslim women and their families in the capital city of Tunis, the author proposes that rather than adopting Euro-American ideals of conjugal isolation and withdrawal from the extended family, women in Tunis continue to live in a world dominated by visits and daily interaction with near and extended kin. (TUNISIA, WOMEN, EXTENDED FAMILY, ETHNOGRAPHY, MIGRATION)

99.14.4 - English - Homa HOODFAR, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Boulevard, W. Montréal, Québec H3G 1M6 (Canada)

The impact of male migration on domestic budgeting: Egyptian women striving for an Islamic budgeting pattern (p. 74-98)

Apart from studies of the economic impact of large-scale male migration from Egypt to the Arab oil-producing countries, little scholary attention has been paid to this social phenomenon and the creation of a significant number of de facto female headed households. This article focuses on the influence of male migration on domestic budgeting and the position of wives within low-income Cairence households. The data, drawn from a sample of 42 households which includes income-earning women and non-wage earning women, indicate that less educated women and those who were primarily homemakers frequently managed to renegotiate a more favourable financial arrangement with their husbands during and after migration, and raise their status and decision-making power within the household. On the other hand, contrary to commonsense assumptions, educated and income-earning women were more likely to lose access to their husbands' income and to major decision-making opportunities, resulting in lowered status within the household. To protect their interests, many women in these groups appealed to the traditional and Islamic division of domestic responsibilities which hold men financially responsible for the family's upkeep. (EGYPT, WOMEN'S STATUS, HOUSEHOLD, ISLAM, MIGRATION, HOME ECONOMICS)

99.14.5 - English - Qais N. AL-NOURI, Department of Anthropology, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid (Jordan)

The impact of the economic embargo on Iraqi families: Re-structuring of tribes, socio-economic classes and households (p. 99-112)

The economic embargo imposed on Iraq since 2 August 1990 has had profound effects on Iraqi family life. This paper attempts to explore these effects, concentrating on the ways in which families are coping with the stifling pressures of the embargo. People have been compelled to resort to a variety of channels'and strategies in their hard strugle for survival. Economic problems -- including the ever-present threat of hunger -- are the most prominent features in the embargo panorama.

This paper also describes the decline of collective sentiments, a decline which the embargo has laid the ground for. The enormous difficulties of living have sapped peoples' emotional reserves and have thereby weakened their social ties. Families either use whatever money they make to buy the bare necessities of life or stockpile it; they no longer devote any economic resources to the maintenance of social ties. The decline in sociability since the beginning of the embargo has affected and is affected by individual morale. Sometimes people have responded to the embargo as if it were a challenge, while at other times they vacillate between hope and despair.

A third point covered by the paper is the effect of the embargo on socio-economic stratification. The withdrawal of wealth from the kinds of social activities which formerly required large expenditures -- and which continually reconstructed social relations -- has been accompanied by an increasing economic polarization between the poor and the wealthy. Old, respected urban families with centuries of prestige and family traditions have become impoverished and must devote all of their resources to the struggle for survival. At the same time, a few uneducated rural families enjoy unprecedented prosperity. This coupling of elite family decline with the rapid rise of certain rural families is a phenomenal paradox that has been brought on by the embargo. The distorted and lopsided social mobility is perceived by many Iraqis as chaotic and disorienting. (IRAQ, ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, SOCIAL MOBILITY, SOCIAL STRATIFICATION, INCOME)

99.14.6 - English - Lisa M. McCANN, Social Services Office, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, P.O.Box 17101, Amman 11195 (Jordan)

Patrilocal co-residential units (PCUs) in Al-Barha: Dual household structure in a provincial town in Jordan (p. 113-135)

The dominant household form in al-Barha, a lower-middle-class neighborhood in the Jordanian city of Irbid, is a cluster of nuclear families whose senior men are patrilineally related. Residents in such multi-family households -- which typically include an old married couple, their unmarried children, and their married sons, sons' wives, and sons' children -- describe their households as the products of an ideal norm of patrilocal residence after marriage. Hence we refer to them here as Patrilocal Co-residential Units (PCUs). But we argue that this household form is a response to socio-economic factors, not just an expression of patrilocal norms. Largely home-owners rather than renters, the residents of each house in this neighborhood try to keep their sons together, with the male household head providing a separate dwelling within the confines of his home for each of his married sons and their wives and children. This amounts to a housing subsidy for each married son, since he pays no regular rent. By pooling their resources, the separate nuclear families can maintain a higher standard of living than they could if they tried to live in completely independent dwellings. The desirability of this higher living standard reflects the emerging class formations in Jordan. Thus the norm of patrilocality is not so much an explanation of the persistence of PCUs as it is a rationalization or after-the-fact justification of it. (JORDAN, COHABITATION, HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION, MIDDLE CLASS, STANDARD OF LIVING)

99.14.7 - English - Mohammed SHUNNAQ, Department of Anthropology, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid (Jordan)

Political and economic conflict within extended kin groups and its effects on the household in a North Jordanian village (p. 136-150)

This article deals with socio-cultural change in a rural, tribal village. It also clarifies the status of the village's highest official and explains how it was transformed from the role of a traditional village strongman into that of a mayor who governs by virtue of state authority. Current political conflicts motivated by the struggle to control the mayor's office form one aspect of this study; the other concerns conflict over land.

Fights broke out among the villagers over landholdings in the urbanized center of the village which had been held collectively by families but which were divided into individual parcels in 1989. These landholdings fell into three categories; nearby threshing fields where crops were collected during summers; fields on the outskirts of the village; and undeveloped lands used only for grazing livestock.

Some of the study's conclusions are: that the domestic groups of this village do not resemble each other. Nor do they resemble the romantic and traditional groups of other Arab villages as they are described in the anthropological and sociological accounts written by Arab researchers.

During my fieldwork I observed that each individual had his own peculiarities and his own social relations. Thus the solidarity of the kinship group is weakening or is in the process of disappearing. (JORDAN, RURAL AREAS, SOCIAL ORGANIZATION, OWNERSHIP, KINSHIP)

99.14.8 - English - William C. YOUNG, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Georgia Southern University, Stateboro, Georgia 30460-8051 (U.S.A.)

Families and the handicapped in Northern Jordan (p. 151-169)

Almost no research has been done on the impact of physical handicaps on family relationships in the Arab world. Fieldwork carried out in the north Jordanian town of Kufrinja sheds light on coping strategies adopted by parents of handicapped children. It shows that the task of care-giving falls on the child's mother to the exclusion of other family members, and that the care-giving role is so closely linked to the mother that when she dies the handicapped child often can find no substitute. Cross-cultural comparison suggests that this is not a culture-specific pattern; on the contrary, the Arab family seems in this regard quite similar to American and English families. Another finding is that the presence of a handicap in a child disrupts the marriage strategies of the child's family. Fear that the handicap is hereditary makes it much more difficult for the child's sisters to find suitors. In Arab tradition, only the father of a handicapped child -- not the mother or mother's family -- must bear the costs of therapy and medical treatment. Consequently, women who are thought likely to transmit a handicap to their chidren are viewed as a potential source of unusual expenses and difficulties by suitors and their families. (JORDAN, PHYSICAL HANDICAP, FAMILY ALLOWANCES, MARRIAGE)

99.14.9 - English - Barbara MICHAEL, Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama 35294-3350 (U.S.A.)

Female heads of patriarcal households. The Baggara (p. 170-182)

This paper presents a case study of Baggara nomadic pastoralists which questions some assumptions about patrilineal and patriarchal societies. The goal is to better understand the dynamics of gender-segregated societies and the position of managerial and economically powerful women. The paper examines women's networks, economic activities, and the outcome of behaviors that seem at one level contradictory to traditionally held understandings of patriarchal societies. The case study demonstrates how contradictory behaviors are reconcilled between the public and private domains so that women's economic autonomy and power are real, viable, and fostered within the broader sociocultural context. (JORDAN, WOMEN'S STATUS)

SPRING 1998 - VOLUME 29, NUMBER 1

Comparative Perspectives on Black Family Life - Volume 1

99.14.10 - English - Phillip J. BOWMAN, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208-2610 (U.S.A.), and Reliford SANDERS, Health Center, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 (U.S.A.)

Unmarried African American fathers: A comparative life span analysis (p. 39-56)

Guided by a role strain-adaptation model, this national study focuses on provider role issues among unmarried African American fathers, with emphasis on a comparative life span analysis within three age groups: young (18-34), mid-life (35-54), and older (55 and over). Hierarchical multiple regression on 202 Black unmarried fathers revealed negative links between psychological well-being and objective provider role difficulties, which were exacerbated by risky role perceptions but mitigated by adaptive cultural resources. Findings varied by the psychological particular well-being measure and the specific age of the father. Generally, the model explained more variance in perceived life quality and self-esteem than in global personal efficacy. Comparative analysis found systematic differences in provider role strain-adaptation dynamics across the distinct periods of the adult life course. The model was most robust in predicting personal efficacy, self-esteem and perceived life quality for younger, mid-life, and older fathers, respectively. Both provider role strain and cultural resource variables operated in particular ways for fathers in the three distinct age groups. Results not only have theoretical importance for a life span model of role strain-adaptation, but also practical relevance for guiding preventive intervention and public policy. (UNITED STATES, BLACKS, UNMARRIED FATHERS, LIFE CYCLE, BREADWINNERS, SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY)

99.14.11 - English - Belinda TUCKER, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1759 (U.S.A.), and Claudia MITCHELL-KERNAN, Chancellor's Office, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1405 (U.S.A.)

Psychological well-being and perceived marital opportunity among single african american, latino and white women (p. 57-72)

Research over the past decade has documented declining rates of marriage among African Americans and has identified constrained mate availability as a key determinant of this change. Many see Black marital decline as rooted in the deteriorating economic circumstances of significant segments of the African American population (especially males), as well as high male mortality and institutionalization. Discussions of the impact of diminished marital opportunity have focused on its societal consequences, with a particular emphasis on community-level outcomes. However, to date, there has been virtually no discussion of the mental health implications of limited marital opportunity. To the extent that marriage is still highly valued by most Americans, African Americans included. How does the recognition that one may not be able to assume a highly salient adult role affect subjective well-being?

This article addresses the relationship between perceived marital opportunity and psychological well-being, as measured by depression, anxiety, loneliness, life satisfaction and relationship satisfaction, using data on single African American, Latina, and White women from the 1989 Southern California Social Survey. Our findings indicate that a perceived lack of availability is strongly associated with greater depression, anxiety, loneliness, and less satisfaction with life. The effect across all four dependents was strong and pervasive for Latinas and White women, but either weak or nonexistent for African American women. The correlation findings were supported by multiple regression analyses. Findings were interpreted as indicating that when the perception of mate availability is viewed as individually rooted and driven (an internal attribution), as was the case of both Latinas and White women, the consequences of psychological well-being are negative. When mate availability is viewed as a systemic feature of the environment over which one has little control (an external attribution), as was the case for Black women, mental health will not be affected. It is also suggested that single Black women have a greater range of positive role models, which are less available to other groups of women. (UNITED STATES, ETHNIC GROUPS, MARRIAGE, MATE SELECTION, SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS)

99.14.12 - English - Georgia L. KAUFMANN, U.K.J.A.I.D., London WIH 6AT (U.K.), and Dominique MEEKERS, Population Services International, Washington, D.C. 20036 (U.S.A.)

The impact of women's socioeconomic position on marriage patterns in Sub-Saharan Africa (p. 101-115)

Several theories have suggested that Western influences would gradually alter traditional African family systems. Although the predicted convergence toward a Western type of nuclear family has not occurred, there have been important changes in African nuptiality patterns. This article examines theories stating that differentials and changes in marriage patterns are related to the relative status of women. In particular, we assess to what extent factors such as women's inheritance rights, women's involvement in trade and politics, and women's contribution to agricultural labor affect the nuptiality pattern of a society. (AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, NUPTIALITY, WOMEN'S STATUS, SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS)

99.14.13 - English - Andrew J. CHERLIN, Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (U.S.A.)

Marriage and marital dissolution among Black Americans (p. 147-158)

Over the past few decades, the place of marriage in American family life has declined, and the decline has been sharper among Blacks than among Whites. This article describes the trends in marriage and marital dissolution among Black Americans, often making comparisons to White Americans. Blacks are less likely to ever marry, more likely to separate, and less likely to remarry. They are, also more likely to bear and rear children outside of marriage. In part, these differences are due to the severity with which changes in the American economy have affected Blacks. In part, they are due to longstanding cultural patterns, such as a greater reliance on extended kin, which Blacks have drawn upon to subsist during worsening economic conditions. (UNITED STATES, BLACKS, WHITES, MARRIAGE, DIVORCE)

99.14.14 - English - Kathy SANDERS-PHILLIPS, Department of Pediatrics, UCLA School of Medicine, 111, N. LaBrea Ave., Suite 403, Inglewood, CA 90301 (U.S.A.)

Infant feeding behavior and caretaker-infant relationships in black families (p. 159-171)

This article examines the role of infant feeding behavior in the development and quality of caretaker-infant interactions in Black families. The first section reviews literature on the importance of early infant feeding behaviors to the physical, emotional and cognitive development of the infant. Emphasis is placed on the role of early feeding interactions as the context for the development of caretaker-infant relationships and the reciprocal influence of caretaker-infant interactions on the infant's subsequent development. The second section identifies factors that may place Black infants at higher risk for poor feeding in the first year of life. These factors include the higher incidence of low birthweight and premature infants born to Black women, as well as prenatal exposure to alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs. The implications of these findings and the broader impact of drug use in the Black community on Black family life and outcomes are discussed. (UNITED STATES, BLACKS, INFANT FEEDING, CHILD DEVELOPMENT, MALNUTRITION)

SUMMER 1998 – VOLUME 29, NUMBER 2

Comparative Perspectives on Black Family Life - Volume 2

99.14.15 - English - Florence BONNER, Cancer Education and Prevention Resource, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 20059 (U.S.A.)

Cancer among Black families: Diffusion as a strategy of prevention and intervention (p. 349-359)

Compared with Whites, African Americans experience nearly 50% greater mortality rates for cancer, heart disease and stroke, cirrhosis, diabetes, accidents and homicides, and infant mortality. This is despite recent unprecedented increases in knowledge and capacity to diagnose, treat and cure disease. To seek a better understanding of this situation, at least in one area (cancer), comprehensive information has been gathered by the Cancer Education Prevention and Research Office (CEPRO) at Howard University. The overriding goal of this project is to increase knowledge about and participation of African Americans in prevention and intervention behavior. Towards this end a quasi-experimental health intervention model is used to measure changes in a group of intervening variables (such as health promotion knowledge, awareness and behavior), which research indicates should influence the dependent variable of cancer incidence.

Preliminary data has shown that African American women are more likely to seek information, actively participate in programs, and are generally the source of information for family members. The findings also indicate that younger, less well-educated segments of the African American population are less likely to participate in screening and early detection efforts. Thus, outreach strategies to strengthen prevention and intervention and to increase survivor rates of cancer in the African American community may rest with women. (UNITED STATES, CANCER, INFORMATION DISSEMINATION, HEALTH EDUCATION)

99.14.16 - English - Angela D. JAMES, Department of Sociology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2539 (U.S.A.)

What's love got to do with it? Economic viability and the likelihood of marriage among African American men (p. 373-386)

A key goal of this research was to determine whether selected economic and demographic factors explaining entry into marriage among African American men are constant across time, or are salient only at certain historical junctures. The study uses 1970-1990 Public Use Microdata Sample 5% Census data files from metropolitan areas with large African American populations. The study's key innovation is the use of multilevel analysis to link macro-level indicators with individual level characteristics and marital outcomes. Several structural explanations of change in marriage are explored in this study, and particular attention is given to examining theories which link changes in the U.S. economy to changing family formation among African Americans. In 1970, only individual level characteristics were important predictors of marriage among African American men. In the latter two decades, context exerted more significant effects on marriage likelihood. In 1980, the contextual predictors, male joblessness and industrial composition, had a significant effect on the likelihood of marriage. In 1990 the proportion of single women who worked fulltime contributed significantly to the model. Female economic independence, represented by the proportion of single women who worked fulltime, had a negative effect on the likelihood of marriage among men. These findings suggest that the manner in which context constrains marriage and family formation has changed over the time period in question. (UNITED STATES, BLACKS, MEN, NUPTIALITY, INDEPENDENT VARIABLES)

99.14.17 - English - Robin L. JARRETT, Department of Human and Community Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 269 Bevier Hall, MC-180, 905 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 (U.S.A.)

African American mothers and grandmothers in poverty: An adaptational perspective (p. 387-396)

Dramatic changes in household and family formation patterns among low-income African American families have revived interest in the relationship between family life and poverty. Identifying these changes, the demographic perspective has quantitatively documented increases in female headship and non-marital childbearing, and decreases in marriage among African Americans. Comparative data from two generations of women in poverty (mothers and grandmothers) are presented to expand on the demographic perspective. Using an adaptational perspective, qualitative data are used to describe the meanings and social processes that are embedded in demographic profiles. The inclusion of both demographic and adaptational frameworks in the poverty research agenda suggests a broader and more accurate understanding of African American families in poverty. (UNITED STATES, BLACKS, WOMEN, POVERTY, METHODOLOGY)

99.14.18 - English - Hayward Derrick HORTON, Department of Sociology, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222 (U.S.A.), and Beverlyn Lundy ALLEN, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Affiliate, Department of Sociology, 3041 McCarty Hall, University of Florida, Gainsville, FL 32611-0310 (U.S.A.)

Race, family strucure and rural poverty: An assessment of population and structural change (p. 397-406)

Family structure has been cited as a major factor in the differential rates of poverty between Blacks and Whites. However, most studies have focused primarily on the urban Black family. Relatively little attention has been given to poverty among Black families in rural areas. Moreover, sociologists have yet to place the rural Black family in the context of the broader changes occurring within the American industrial economy. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to determine the extent to which poverty among rural Black families has changed over the 1980-1990 decade. Specifically, the following questions are addressed: 1) What are the relative effects of place and family structure on levels of poverty for rural Black families? and 2) What are the theoretical implications of rural-urban differentials in Black family poverty? The logit analysis of U.S. Census data for 1980 and 1990 revealed that family structure increased in its importance in determining poverty differentials between rural and urban Black families. Moreover, despite controls for demographic and social factors, Black families continue to experience levels of poverty that exceed that of White families in both rural and urban environments. These findings suggest that, while the economic restructuring may have had a greater impact upon rural Black families than commonly assumed, racial discrimination still plays a major role in determining poverty levels for both rural and urban Black families. (UNITED STATES, BLACKS, POVERTY, RURAL ENVIRONMENT, URBAN ENVIRONMENT, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION)

99.14.19 - English - Nombulelo SIQWANA-NDULO, Department of Sociology, University of Transkei, Unitra, 5100 (South Africa)

Rural African family structure in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (p. 407-417)

The article presents findings of a study of household arrangements in the Transkei subregion of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The article begins by questioning persisting assumptions about African family and household structure. Households are viewed as "disorganized" and "disintegrating." A parallel is drawn with the way the African American family has been characterized as "disorganized," "deviant," and "pathological" in the context of American society. Household arrangements of Africans and those in the diaspora, it is argued, are informed by a cultural value system based on the African philosophical view of life.

While western nuclear family is based on the cultural value of individualism characteristic of western society, African "extended families" are based on a value system that emphasizes collectivity and interdependence. Households studied vary in household head and include a variety of kin. The household structure varies from time to time, depending on which kin are present as individuals go back and forth in their struggles to survive. The article concludes that there is no evidence that African families are going to evolve to nuclear families and calls for more systematic studies of African family and household arrangements based on the principles of social organization of the Africans, rather than some imagined universal household structure. (SOUTH AFRICA, PROVINCES, HOUSEHOLD, EXTENDED FAMILY, NUCLEAR FAMILY)

99.14.20 - English - Bonnie Thornton DILL, Women's Studies Department and Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7415 (U.S.A.)

A better life for me and my children: Low-income mothers' struggle for self-sufficiency in the rural South (p. 419-428)

Using data drawn from in-depth life history interviews of a sample of low-income single mothers in two rural communities in the southern United States, this article explores the stated goals and aspirations of approximately thirty African American single mothers, most of whom are or have been welfare recipients. The article focuses upon the ways these Black women talked about their own goals and aspirations, the impact of motherhood those goals, and their current hopes for their children. The article also explores the potential influence of the availability of educational resources within the counties on these goals. It discusses how the opportunity structures of the communities in which the women live are reproduced through social, economic and political practices that are deeply influenced by race and gender relations. (UNITED STATES, BLACKS, UNMARRIED MOTHERS, POVERTY)

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