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Before reading this essay, click on the links to the right. The first link will take you to instructions that explain how to use the Paper Bank. The second link offers basic suggestions for how to go about writing this type of paper. The paper below explains the concept of family in Ethiopia by focusing on family structure. The author breaks the family into its main parts and describes the roles of each family member. The author wisely chose not to describe all families, a broad topic that might be too hard to explain because many types exist, including nuclear, single-parent, non-traditional, etc. |
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English 121
The Family in
Ethiopia
The concept of family in Ethiopia is social. When I say social, I mean the family lives together and the family does things together, like solving problems and making a peaceful environment. When we see a family in Ethiopia there is love, compassion and respect for each other. Most of the families have more than eight members in the same house. David M. Kennedy, the author of The Nation Around Us, states that "the traditional extended family unit is strongly evident in rural areas with more than one generation living together." (359). In most of the families there is a father, mother, children and other relatives who live together. An Ethiopian family is not only a house, it is a close, mini-society in which every member shares in the responsibilities in times of sadness and in times of happiness.
 To explain the concept of the family in Ethiopia, the author looks at the different roles of the main members of the family. These are the responsibilities and duties that are shared "in times of sadness and in times of happiness."  |
If the relatives don't have their own family, like if their family members die, or if they have some financial problems raising their children, then they will move in with another member of their extended family. There are also grandparents who live together with the family members till they die. John Middleton and Amal Russan, authors of Africa and the Middle East, state the, "The concept of nursing homes is highly offensive. The elderly are considered a family treasure and there is always room for them" (83). The house in which the whole family lives remains intact until the father dies, in which case the family doesn't suffer any major change, except that now the son is the owner of the house. "In the absence of father, the eldest son, of the eldest adult son leads the family" (359). [What source? Be sure to include the author's last name when s/he is not mentioned in the sentence.] However, as the girls marry and form their own families, the household continues to reduce in size, yet they still maintain strong bonds with their extended family. If by chance, the daughters have left the house and there is still another brother, then the two brothers will share the house together, the responsibilities as well as the wealth.
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The paragraph above gives
a good overview of the extended family. Below, the author
begins to focus on individual family member roles. He starts
with the role of the father. |
Like in most other countries around the world, the Ethiopian father is the main bread winner and decision maker for his family. Kennedy says that, "The father expects to make all final decisions and to support the family." (83). The father earns all the income to support his family. He decides on the marriage partners for his children and their careers. He determines the religion of his family. But in the event that there are financial difficulties like, with rent, food, etc., any relative living in the house will contribute to solving the problem, whatever it may be. If there is a problem that the father can't solve, the family gives the priorities to the grandparents to solve the problem peacefully, and it is acceptable. This shows that the father has the dominant role in Ethiopian families.
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Now the author moves on to
talk about the role of the mother. |
The mother takes care of the husband and children. She is the one who has to bring the family together. Traditionally, most of the mothers don't work, even if they had job before they got married. Kennedy says that the "Mothers exercises influence in the home" (359). So a married woman has babies and looks after the family. As I have said before, the members in an Ethiopian family consists of more than eight people in the same household. The mother is very busy with her children, so it is a big advantage if she has a daughter to help her with her kids and to assist her in watching the babies and helping with everything. But the mother doesn't do heavy jobs except cooking. If the family can afford it, they can hire a maid who can do all the heavy jobs except cooking. The mother takes charge of the cooking but delegates all of the other heavy tasks to a maid. Cooking is done three or more days in advance.
The Ethiopian woman is very conservative. This is more evident in the economics of the household where women would rather do the baking and the butter churning in their own kitchens rather than pay the exorbitant prices in the market. So the mother is the foundation of the family.
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The information in the short paragraph above could be integrated more smoothly. The topic switches from motherhood to all women and then back to motherhood. One way to integrate this information more smoothly would be to include some of the general information in the paragraph that follows the introduction. Another way to integrate the information would be to talk about all the male family roles first, and then move on to talk about the female family roles, placing this paragraph so it acted as the introduction to the female family roles. There are many other possibilities! How are you organizing your paper? The organizational
structure this author follows is to talk about the parents
first and then move on to talk about the children. The sons
are the next topic. |
The oldest son is important in the Ethiopian family because he inherits the wealth and responsibilities of the family. He learns his father's business, he practices the religion and he helps his father in his father's work. So the father expects his oldest son to follow in his footsteps in every sense. When or if the son that has inherited the wealth gets married, he brings his wife to live with his family as the new head of the household. So the son has his kids in his parents' house and passes this tradition from generation to generation.
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Now it is time to define
the roles of the daughter. |
The daughter is the pride of the family. The family teaches the daughter moral and cultural values and how to raise the children. The oldest daughter helps her mother with all household work. The parents are always eager to see her wedding. With the girls, however, in the event that there are no boys, the wealth is divided equally between them. They can continue to live with the family until they get married and form their own homes. In this case, while they are all living together they do have to share in the responsibilities. When a daughter gets married, the families provide money as well as furniture and then she moves in with her husband to start a new life. The money that is provided by her family is called "gezzime." Even though she is starting a new family, she still communicates with her original family.
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After focusing on each of
the individual roles, the author moves to the conclusion and
summarizes his main points. |
As you can see, the Ethiopian family has, for many centuries, remained as an example to other cultures. This type of family is good for society because they solve problems together and help each other. In closing, I hope that you have become familiar with my culture. As you have read, the family in every culture is the foundation of the culture. Every country has its own culture, but I am sure that there are families like mine in every country.
Kennedy, David M. CULTURGRAMS: The Nations Around Us. Brigham Young University, 1997.
Middleton, John and Amal Russan. Africa and the Middle East. Boston, Massachusetts: G.K. Hall and CO, 1994.
