Author: E. S. LVOVA Before us is a new book by I. G. Rybalkina " Family in Africa "(Moscow, Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2011, 238 p.), an author well known for her monographs, articles, and chapters in collective works on the continent's tender problems. The institution of the family today, as at all times, remains one of the most important institutions of any society. The UN General Assembly, which declared 1994 the "Year of the Family", called it the basic unit of society. To this day, the family continues to play a particularly significant role in all economic and political processes among the peoples of Africa. After all, many problems are still being solved in African countries at the family-clan level. Its impact can be either positive or negative, slowing down many progressive changes. There are still traditional (preserved in the old form or modernized) relationships. As the author rightly points out, the underestimation of them in sub-Saharan African societies is rooted in failures in the implementation of numerous family planning programs, economic and political recommendations. The author continues the development of the problem, which was started by the Russian Africanist I. E. Sinitsyna, Doctor of Law, who worked for many years at the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. However, more than 20 years have passed since the publication of her monograph "Man and Family in Africa" (Moscow, 1989). During this time, considerable changes have taken place in the structure of the family as an institution, and the assessment of its role in society has been revised. Therefore, the work of I. G. Rybalkina, covering the current state of the problem, is certainly very relevant and timely. Having thoroughly studied both official documents of international organizations and individual organizations of a number of African countries- page 75 The author analyzes the features of family and marriage structures ... Читать далее