Abstract
A multitude of rapid changes are occurring at present in South Africa but cultural transformation has been taking place for centuries, particularly since the 1400s when European explorers first set foot on the southern tip of the African continent. If culture is defined as a total way of life of a people, or the social legacy the individual acquires from the group, or that part of the environment that is the creation of man (Kluckhohn 1965), then it is obvious that the life of a group cannot remain unaltered when it comes into contact with another group, especially when the latter group has skills unknown and attractive to the former. However, when the latter group starts offering health services to the former, who, despite adopting some of the ways of the new culture, still have many of the old ways of their own culture ingrained in them, many problems may arise. It is therefore essential, if these problems are to be anticipated or forestalled, that the cultural influences on the perceptions of both genetic disorders and genetic service provision be understood.
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Kromberg, J., Jenkins, T. (1997). Cultural Influences on the Perception of Genetic Disorders in the Black Population of Southern Africa. In: Clarke, A., Parsons, E. (eds) Culture, Kinship and Genes. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25882-6_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25882-6_11
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