THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION OF AFRICAN SYSTEM OF KINSHIP

Abstract

In societies that are more complex in terms of industrialization and territorial endowment, kinship is difficult to notice. This is largely because such societies have other agencies that carry out the duties the kin groups are supposed to perform. But in less industrialized societies where traditional values are prevalent, kinship still plays roles for the individual. Most societies in Africa fall under this category. In these small-scale traditional societies, social organizations and social structure are understood only through the idiom of social relationship arising from the mutual rights and obligations which mark the kinship system. In Africa, the foundation on which kinship operates outside the society are the family and marriage. They are the only biological influence on kinship formation.