Uche Lynn-teresa Ugwueze

Reimagining the African American Family Through African Cultural Values and Structures Uche Lynn-teresa Ugwueze

Publisher Marketing: Herbert Hoover, the 31st U. S. president once said "children are our most valuable resource." Similarly, Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa underscores the need for a society to place the needs of its children at the highest rung of its priority. He argued that "there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." In the same vein, children are inducted into the processes of society through the family. The family is, therefore, the most foundational institution; the center of the human society. When the family contains all standards and regularity of completeness, it is a pulsating structure that recreates and reproduces life. Strong families guarantee strong communities bound together by cultural principles, interpersonal bonds, shared history, interests and goals. Strong families transmit shared knowledge which enables the community to reproduce and sustain itself through its own children. Therefore, for a social group to exist through time it has to strengthen its concept of family. Furthermore, every society aims to inculcate social abilities and competencies that are essential for preparing young people for full responsibility in that society. The idea is to nurture, socialize and prepare them for the tasks ahead. Sensible people socialize their children using stories that carry their cultural values and historical memories. They seek to reproduce themselves in their children. They want their children to stand on their shoulders and be able to see beyond the horizons that they themselves were not able to see. They seek to pass on the button of social responsibility, continuity and dignity to their children, their future, in order to ensure that their humanity thrives forever. Reimagining the African American Family through African Cultural Values and Structures reengages and redefines modern day conversations about the family. It is a search for principles, models, examples from African culture that may be used in the reconstruction and restoration of African and African American families.