or political development of one of the industrialized countries (Mazrui, 1986). Such is the case of Namibia. Most of the available western literature with respect to Namibia concerns the activities of Germany and the South African nations in the country. Little, unfortunately, has been written about the people of Namibia before the establish ment of the German protectorate in 1884. A complex indigenous society existed in Namibia, however, long before the advent of the Germans (Mazrui, 1986).
That which is called the extended family in the western countries was, in fact, the family per se in pre colonial Namibia. The traditional Namibian family consisted of mother,
father, children, grandparents, uncles, aunts, andcousins. Further, polygamy was recognized in pre colonial Namibia. Therefore, even the concept of the extended family was dwarfed by the typical traditional family in pre colonial Namibia.
The development of family structure in pre colonial Namibia was influenced significantly by the tribal groups com prising the country's population. While the concepts of an extended traditional family and polygamy were common to all tribal groups, there were also both additional similarities and differences among the various tribal groups.
All of the tribal groups recognized patriarchal authority. Thus, patriarchal authority was a characteristic of the family structure in pre colonial Namibia. Each of the major tribal groups, however, interpreted patriarchal authority somewhat differently (July, 1986). As an example, the death of a father (head of family) might have caused the break up of an extended family into nuclear families in the !Kung tribe, while the eldest son might assume the head of family role in the Nama tribe, and an uncle might assume an extended leadership role in the Damara tribe (July, 1986).
The family structure in pre colonial Namibia centered around the means by which the family maintained its...