Urbanization, the Extended Family, and Kinship Ties in West Africa

Recent urban studies in western Europe and the United States have shown the continued importance of kinship ties, contrary to the hypothesis that they tend to disappear in the city. To test this hypothesis on different types of societies, an examination of research done in the West African cities of Brazzaville, Congo; Dakar, Senegal; Lagos, Nigeria; and Leopoldville and Stanleyville, The Congo, was made. It showed that here too kinship ties continued to exist. The extended family served as a source of shelter as well as providing for the economic, religious, legal and recreational needs of its urban members.