Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Family in the Farafra Oasis

1994; De Gruyter Open; Volume: 6; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2478/mgrsd-1994-060134

2084-6118

Elżbieta Puchnarewicz,

Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

The relations within an average family and its functions have not undergone noticeable transformation in recent years.As in the other rural communities in Egypt the patriarchal family structure has persisted, where the male chief holds a strong leading position, the younger is subservient to the elder and the customary norms of behaviour are different for the male and female.At the head of the family there invariably stands the eldest man.As long as the senior of the family lives, his sons and daughters are materially dependent on him.His authority is further supported and extended by the patrilinear system of kinship and patrilocal family structure, where a bride after marriage moves to live in the husband's family house.The Farafran family is usually a multi-generation one.It consists of a household head and his wife (or wives), their unmarried sons and daughters, sometimes single brothers and sisters, as well as married sons with their wives and children.The extended family is regarded to be ideal because it is in harmony with the religious and, consequently, cultural principles.Islam has always been strongly in favour of marriage which was even commanded by the Koran (XXIV, 32), and the procreation of children is regarded as meritorious.For such it is generally held by the Farafrans, too.Besides, it gives a certain feeling of social stability and security, especially in the feared old age when it gives hope if not guarantee for expected assistance from its younger members.In addition, a large number of male children brings the family high esteem within the community.It is very common, as elsewhere in Islamic countries, to take a relative in marriage.A preferable union within a family is between the first cousins, i.e. taking in marriage a paternal (more rarely maternal) uncle's daughter.The purpose of such a union is both economic and social and it is viewed as advantageous to the position of the whole extended family.The very farreaching relationship system stretched out by the high population growth makes that the family ties extend from the natural neighbourhood to the entire community of the oasis.There exists a complicated network of social links, including interrelated obligations, mutual support and assistance and