African Institutions of Initiation into Life

Social institutions are prevalent in all human societies. These social institutions reflect both moral-ethics and social values held by human communities over decades of their existence. In the evolutionary process of this existence the society develops cultural morals and norms that bestow societal identity. This maze of social institutions is held together by myriad of rites and rituals that are passed on and practised by generation after generation of the particular society. The comprehension of these social institutions by an outsider depends by and large on the sympathetic and positive reception, assessment and evaluation the outsider makes of the encounter. The end result of the encounter therefore, on the one hand maybe gross misrepresentation, stereotypes or even an outright rejection labelled as primitive. On the other hand the encounter may result in a clear understanding and recognition of the social institution as genuine effort by the society to understand the phenomena of human life and society by a specific people. African traditional social institutions are therefore not a unique phenomenon of the African peoples. Rather these social institutions are and should be viewed as being prevalent in all human societies.

Keywords: Social institutions, Rituals. Rites, Cultural morals, Norms.