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Zambia

Urban Families

Families in urban areas such as Lusaka and Ndola in Zambia do not resemble their counterparts in the rural Zambia. A typical urban household may consist of children of the spouses from earlier marriages, elder rural-based visitors, friends of the spouses, and promising young relatives of the spouses who attend local schools (Schuster 1979). Because husbands may be employed only intermittently, during the period of unemployment, Zambian families at a festival at Mongu. JASON LAURE/LAURE COMMUNICATIONS they may move into households of either the husbands' or wives' relatives. A household under these conditions is like an open kin group. Individuals move in and out of the households, and the definition of the family is broad enough to accommodate even unrelated friends. The composition of the urban households in Zambia is continuously changing.

Bibliography

Afaque Ahmed. (1996). Fostering of Children in Zambia. M. A. thesis. Department of Sociology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX.

Poewe, K. (1978). "Matriliny in the Throes of Change, Kinship, Descent, and Marriage in Luapula Zambia." Africa 48:353–367.

Richards, A. I. (1969). Bemba Marriage and Present Economic Conditions. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.

Schuster, I. M. G. (1979). New Women of Lusaka. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Publishing.

VIJAYAN K. PILLAI

Additional topics

Marriage and Family EncyclopediaMarriage: Cultural AspectsZambia - The Structure Of The Zambian Family, Family Formation, Socialization, Beliefs, Urban Families