The impact of Western culture on the Basotho family structure and the erosion of African values in Lesotho (original) (raw)
2021, Law, Religion and the Family in Africa
Communities all over the world have developed their own notions regarding the institution of family. Often such notions derive from numerous forms of thinking and communication that symbolise distinctive human creativity and resourcefulness. These notions are rooted in mythological accounts, philosophies, religious traditions and many other intelligent talents. This chapter reviews literature regarding the African family structure to retrace some of the values and systems which have sustained the foundations of families; it further investigates how the erosion of these values due to Westernisation has affected the African family and its survival with particular focus on the Basotho family structure and the Ubuntu ethic as context. Values refer to fundamental aspects or philosophies, typically unique in nature, which are practised by a person or group of persons over a period of time; they encompass a set of beliefs about appropriate ways of behaving 1 in other words, the dos and don'ts dictated by those values to persons who subscribe to them. This chapter presents Ubuntu as the foundation of the African family traditions and practices. Africans generally subscribe to the principle of Ubuntu and the maxims that have come to define it. The Basotho simply put is as "motho ke motho ka batho", while the Amazulu put it as "umtu ngumuntu ngabantu!" Both simply translate to "a person is a person through other people." 2 A similar definition was adopted by justices of the Constitutional Court of South Africa in denouncing the death penalty in the case of S v Makwanyane, in which the court stated: "An outstanding feature of ubuntu in a community sense is the value it puts on life and human dignity. The dominant theme of the culture is that the life of another is at least as valuable as one's own." 3 The emphases of Ubuntu are therefore communal and interdependent living, an understanding that every life is important, sharing and sacrifice. Cultural researcher Barbara Nussbaum captures the relationship between Ubuntu and African culture as follows: "Ubuntu is not a concept easily distilled into a methodological proce dure.
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