Family, in my language, is
bina. This singular word holds a lot of meaning in my culture as family is considered one of the driving forces that defines our culture, our personal and professional relations, and us as a people (which is a big deal, as there are over 250 different ethnic groups within Nigeria alone and it can be very difficult finding something that can tie so many different peoples together). Many of these ethnic groups are patriarchal, meaning that men are the heads of households and they are the heads of their families.
In my own culture and family, the male - i.e., my father - has the dominant role. Decisions are made by him and are expected to be supported or followed through on; not many are ever used to being challenged or ignored. Similar to this is the male's role in the creation of the family. Men are allowed, and sometimes expected, to take more than one wife as more than one wife means more children, which for many means higher social and economic status. Another attribute common to my culture is the concept respect. From a young age, all children - both male and female - are taught to respect their elders, either male or female. While males tend to receive more respect for varying reasons, female elders are held in high regards as well. For example, my recently deceased grandmother. She lived in Nigeria and it was often hard on both her as well as us being so far away, but she was very well loved and respected despite the distance and many of us took whatever opportunities we could to travel to Nigeria in order to visit her.
My own, immediate family is a good example of large families as there are nine of us: my dad - Tony, mom - Robin, sister - Courage, sister - Alaere, myself - Ebi, sister - Ere, sister - Taru, brother - Pere, and niece - Bella. These are just those living in our house...trust me, there are many more!
For more general information or more on family in relation to culture, check out this link!
