Intersectionality issues and diverse family patterns in zulu culture

It comprises of different elements like religious beliefs, customs, gender roles, and traditions that govern and control the behaviors of those people. Also, various cultures have numerous family patterns depending on the beliefs and the practices of the culture. The main purpose of learning the Intersectionality issues and the diverse family patterns of cultures is to help students have a deeper understanding of the diversity of people in the societies they live in and help them embrace their own cultures (Alanen, 2016). This paper will provide a reflection on a diverse family of Zulu culture by discussing Intersectionality issues and diverse family patterns in the culture. The Intersectionality issues to be discussed in the paper are gender, religion, and sexual orientations while diverse family structures will range from traditional, single parent, polygamous and extended family structures.

Siding gender issues in Zulu family, there is a big difference between a man and women. A man is obligated to take care of a woman and no woman has power over man in Zulu culture. A man takes care of his family. As per their traditions, Charles told me that women are not supposed to go out and work since it is the responsibility of men. Women are treated as housewives and are not allowed to talk before men. Intersectionality approach does not view oppression as an individual but rather as political and structural. The intersectional analysis is a tool for social justice and coalition-building across the women movements. Another Intersectionality issue in Zulu culture is religion. The intersectional theory is applied to religion to expand the perceptive of how religion upholds or faces the norms of the culture in addition to gender and racial inequalities (Lombardo & Rolandsen, 2016).

The theory dispute that as an alternative of conceptualizing religion as an obstacle that deters the arrangement of intimate relations, we can understand better the function it plays in regard to appropriate negotiation of cultural constraints that limit various people. The same case applies to Zulu culture because the chief priest is always a male. Some religions discriminate people with disabilities. These beliefs limit these categories of people even in the society whereby we find that the disabled people and the women are discriminated in terms of employment opportunities, relationships, and other social activities. According to Charles, disabled and physically challenged people are discriminated because people believe that they are cursed due to their sins or sins committed by their families.

However, families which are converted to Christians do not hold those beliefs. The issue of transgender can split a family. For, instance, the transsexual issue of Khensani made him break up with his family when his father learned he was bisexual. There are various diverse family structures in Zulu culture that range from a traditional single parent, extended family to polygamous structure. The changing demographics of the family structures have brought about a variety of issues. Zulu tribe still practice traditional family structure of two opposite-sex partners but the practice is continually decreasing in the due to the numerous problems that the families are facing today. Polygamy is also allowed in Zulu culture. This involves having several wives. The ability to have several wives is measured on man’s social, wealth and virility (Zulu Culture - The Zulu Family Structure, 2019).

However, the wives do not live together since each wife must have her own hut. The gay or lesbian parent family structure is not allowed in Zulu culture. Another intersexuality issue observed by the Zulu tribe is religious practices whereby ancestral spirits are highly honored. Sacrifices are made to ancestral spirits which unite members of the family and diviners are used as means of communicating with ancestors. Sexual orientation is taken seriously in Zulu culture. However, transsexual people have no place in Zulu culture. This issue has a great effect on Zulu families because it can even lead to a family breakup. S. Intersectionality in quantitative psychological research: II. Methods and techniques.  Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40(3), 319-336. Ganong, L. Intersectionality in European Union policymaking: the case of gender-based violence.