West African societies shared lineage-based family institutions before colonization.

Evidence

Despite their ethnic heterogeneity, the different peoples of West Africa shared certain institutions. The family was the basic unit of African social life. Most families defined themselves as either matrilineages or patrilineages. Lineage elders, usually the oldest men in the family, made decisions regarding the allocation of land, presided over marriages and funerals, and resolved disputes. Almost all societies allowed for polygyny, although the rules governing this institution varied. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 109

Categorization

• XREF: Elders allocating land and resolving disputes echoes the reader’s interest in lineage-based social organization that French colonial rule disrupted or repurposed.