Expounding the Diversity of African Construction of Fertility: the Yorùbá Example

While African population dynamics are typically referenced even in global demographic discourses, there is indeed a dearth of interpretive understanding of cultural construction of fertility among African ethnic groups. This article is a report of an ethnologic exploration of indigenous construction...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: IBRAHIM Fausat Motunrayo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute for African Studies 2020-12-01
Series:Ученые записки Института Африки Российской академии наук
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Online Access:https://africajournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Fausat-Expounding.pdf
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Summary:While African population dynamics are typically referenced even in global demographic discourses, there is indeed a dearth of interpretive understanding of cultural construction of fertility among African ethnic groups. This article is a report of an ethnologic exploration of indigenous construction of fertility among rural Yorùbá farmers. Farmers were targeted because of their surviving ‘traditionality’ amongst other factors. Findings validate the commonplace assumption underscoring pro-fertile African value for children. More interestingly, findings yielded low-fertility compliant and even neutrality-laden fertility-related Yorùbá cultural construction. Among other things, findings demonstrate that the character of fertility-related Yorùbá construction is adaptive, empathetic and integrative, thereby affirming that the traditional veneration of the fertile is huge but non-sacrosanct.
ISSN:2412-5717
3034-3496