Bukulu

The traditional family system structurally stretched horizontally in every direction as well as vertically in both directions taking into account every member of the community. A person was related to the tribal ancestors as well as to those persons yet-to-be born (vertical relations) and to every living person in the tribe (horizontal relations). The knowledge of one's tribal or family genealogy not only reflected and showed the importance of the interconnectedness of all elements of the family (tribe), it also was thought to impart the sense of sacred obligation to extend and continue one's genealogical line (see Mbiti, 1970). Individual persons recognized that their very existence depended not only on those who conceived and personally nourished them but every member of the tribe- living and dead. The structural definition of the family is best reflected in a belief the Ashanti share with all Akan peoples and which is typically held by Africans in general. This is the belief that "the dead, the living and those still-to-be­ born of the tribe are all members of one fam­ ily." The traditional family is thus defined as constituting the several "households" which make up a particular community (cf: Osei, 1970). Accordingly, the black African family has been defined as simply a group of persons related by marriage and/or ancestry (cf: Nobles, 1974).