Nuclear Family Anthropology

According to Kendall (2013; 435) a nuclear family is a family that is composed of one or two parents and their dependent children, all of whom live apart from other relatives. Originally nuclear families referred exclusively to heterosexual families, however homosexual families with adopted children also fit this term Zaaiman and Stewart (2014; pg 250). According to Gates in Simon (2011; pg 10) homosexual nuclear families in particular African-American and Latina women in same-sex marriages are more than twice as likely than American heterosexuals to be raising a child. Furthermore, societies has a major problem with misconceptions about the children raised in such family structures. However, research shows that children raised in homosexual

According to Simón (2011; pg 2) the American 1950’s families that many American’s depict when they think of a “nuclear or traditional family” never really existed. The reality is that the image society has believed in for the last sixty years was one that was created based on aspects of family life from multiple time periods. Furthermore, Simon (2011; pg 3) states that nuclear families in the 1950’s which consisted of working fathers and husband put tremendous amounts of pressure on wives and mothers as they had dual responsibilities of sexually gratifying the husband while tendering and taking care of children and house duties. Consequently, women were two different types of women at a time. Coontz describes it as ‘the hybrid idea that a woman can be fully absorbed with her youngsters while simultaneously maintaining passionate sexual excitement with her husband was a 1950 invention that drove thousands of women to therapists, tranquilizers and or alcohol when they actually lived it up Coontz (2008;

Therefore, jugal marriages were not recognised due to its polygamous nature. Lobolo was simply regarded as a payment of the bride, not merely as a cultural custom that has preserved for generations, valuing and dignifying women. Lobolo is defined in the Recognition Act as “property in cash or kind … which a prospective husband or head of his family undertakes to give to the head of a prospective wife’s family in consideration of a customary marriage”. Lobolo could consist of cattle, other animals or any other property as agreed to by the parties. In modern times cash is the preferred lobolo. The validity of a customary marriage is based on the agreement to pay lobolo. It is not necessary to pay lobolo prior to a marriage but it may be paid during the existence of a marriage Herbst and Du Plessis (2001). Communities have different practices pertaining to the payment and nature of lobolo which should be taken into account in disputes pertaining to customary marriages. In 1995 in Thibela v Minister van Wet, the court again confirmed again that lobolo is not against the rules of natural justice or public