A Critical Evaluation of Attitudes towards Nuclear, Joint and Extended Family Structures among People of Indian Origin in Durban, South Africa

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2963066
AutoresAnand Singh (0000-0003-3607-4303, Anthropology, Howard College Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban, 4000 South Africa., autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen39
Número4
Páginas453-470
Fecha de publicación2008-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Comparative Family Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-2328 • E-ISSN: 1929-9850
EditorialUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcfs.39.4.453
OpenAlexW2606452615
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas6

This reflexive paper is based on research that was carried out between November 2006 and January 2007 among people of Indian origin now living in Durban-a metropolis situated on the east coast of South Africa. Its intention is to compare the evidence that was gathered during this period with research that was done during the decades of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s on attitudes towards family and household living arrangements among Indians in this city. Against the various sets of information that are discussed here, I arrive at the conclusion that much of the research on the attitudes towards Indian joint and extended families over the last three decades has failed to produce a convincing perspective about this aspect. Their problem lay with two issues viz. the adoption of the social evolution and westernization perspectives inherent in the development paradigms of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as their reliance on either the impersonal methods of data gathering or upon minimal information derived from a small number of interviews. Such approaches fail to grasp relevant socio-religious, philosophical and personalized positions on the issue of attitudes towards these forms of living arrangements. On the contrary, the research that was done between November 2006 and January 2007 provides information, albeit implicit, on the interconnectedness among these factors and demonstrates an overwhelming prevalence of positive attitudes towards joint and extended families

Extended family · Geography · Nuclear family · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Reflexivity · Situated · Social science · Sociology · Westernization · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Urban and Rural Development Challenges