Cultures of Africa

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Chapter 8

• Cultures of Africa

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Section 1 North Africa Cultures

• OBJECTIVES
• Learn about the elements of culture
• Discover how Islam influences life in North
  Africa
• Find out about cultural changes in North Africa

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Key Terms

• Culture the way of life of people who share
  similar customs and beliefs
• Quran the sacred book of Islam also spelled
  Koran
• Cultural diffusion the spread of customs and
  ideas from one culture to another

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North African countries

• Countries of North Africa -
• Egypt
• Libya
• Tunisia
• Algeria
• Morocco

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Culturewhat is it?

• Culture includes
• Food
• Clothing
• Homes
• Jobs
• Language
• How people view the world
• Religion
• Behaviors

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Examples of Shared Elements of Culture

• People in some places in the world may share the
  same languagebut speak different dialects
  (versions)
• Rural villages in Morocco houses are made of
  thick adobe (brick made from dried clay)
• Southwestern United States houses are made from
  adobe as well

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Religion in North Africa

• Arabic language unifies the different people of
  North Africa
• The majority of North Africans are Muslim 95
• Islam
• God Allah
• Founder /Prophet Muhammad
• Holy book Quran (Koran)
• Believe Jesus is one of Gods messenger

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Islam

• Quran is the word of God
• Allah revealed the verses of the Quran to
  Muhammad
• Quran includes stories, promises and instructions
• Teaches about God and provides a guide to living
• It forbids lying, stealing, and murder
• Prohibits gambling, eating pork and drinking
  alcohol

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Islam

• Islamic law is based on the Quran
• Governs many aspects of life
• Family life
• Business practices
• Banking
• Government

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Ethnic Groups

• Majority of North Africans are Arabs
• Berbers ethnic group
• Mainly live in Algeria and Morocco
• Speak Berber and Arabic
• Mostly Muslim
• Live in cities and small villages
• Herders and farmers

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Cultural Changes

• North Africa, due to its location, has been a
  center of trade for people
• Have been in contact with other peoples cultures
• Traded with
• Europeans
• Asians
• Other parts of Africa

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Western and Muslim Culture

• Recent influencers on North Africa has been
  Western culture (North America and Europe)
• Some Muslims are concerned that their countries
  are becoming too Westernized
• Clothing
• Products
• Films/television
• Muslims fear that these influences will lead to
  the loss of Muslim values and traditions

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Section 2 West Africa Cultures

• OBJECTIVES
• Learn about West Africas ethnic diversity
• Find out about the importance of family ties in
  West Africa culture
• Examine the West African tradition of
  storytelling.

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West African countries

• Nigeria
• Ghana
• Liberia
• Mali
• Ghana
• Benin
• Senegal
• Mauritania

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Key Terms

• Culture diversity a wide variety of cultures
• Kinship a family relationship
• Nuclear family the part of a family that
  includes parents and children
• Extended family the part of a family that
  includes parents, children, and other relations
• Lineage a group of families descended from a
  common ancestor
• Clan a group of lineages

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Diversity in West Africa

• Home to hundreds of ethnic groups
• Useful to speak more than one language
• Unlike North Africa, not united by a single
  religion or language
• Some people speak four or five languages
• French, English, Portuguese, local language
  called Hausa

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Working in West Africa

• Many live in rural areas
• Typical village a group of homes surrounded by
  farmland
• Subsistence farmers and cash crops
• Coastal locations fish
• Desert life herd
• City life work in hospitals, hotels, office
  buildings

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Family Life

• Kinship very strong in West Africa
• Nuclear and extended families are very common
• Some all live together, work together and make
  decisions together
• Family members care for the elderly, sick
• Watch over the children of other families in the
  village and willing to help neighbors

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Changes in Family Life

• Many people are beginning to move to urban areas
• Breaking the tradition value of family
• Many young men are moving to the cities looking
  for work
• Women stay back in the rural areas and the men
  visit the family from time to time

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Storytelling

• Traditions are being preserved by storytelling
• Spoken aloud rather than written down
• Griot (gree oh) passes a groups oral traditions
  from one generation to the next
• Stories include
• Tricksters
• Animal fables
• Proverbs
• Riddles
• Songs

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Influences of Culture

• Many of the enslaved Africans brought to America
  were from West Africa
• Influenced American culture
• Blues and jazz music have roots from West Africa
• Many African-American ideas, stories and dances
  trace back to West Africa

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Jazz/Blues musicians
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Section 3 East Africa Cultures

• OBJECTIVES
• Find out how geography has affected the
  development of East African cultures
• Learn how and why ideas about land ownership are
  changing in East Africa

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Key Terms

• Swahili an ethnic group in East Africa that
  resulted from the mixing of African and Arab ways
  more than 1,000 year ago also a language
• Heritage the values, traditions, and customs
  handed down from ones ancestors

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Countries of East Africa

• Ethiopia
• Kenya
• Tanzania
• Somalia
• Uganda
• Eritrea
• Djibouti

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Geography and Cultural Diversity

• Much of the cultural diversity stems from contact
  among people from other cultures
• Trade with Arabs, Indians and other Asians
• Swahili combination of Arab and African peoples
• Strength of the Swahili
• Their ability to adapt to other cultures
• Try to preserve their heritage
• Swahili video

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Swahilis

• Live along East Africas coast from Somalia to
  Tanzania
• The language is used for business and
  communication
• Children of East Africa learn Swahili early and
  also English as they get older

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Religion in East Africa

• Islam and Christianity have large followings
• Islam was introduced by Arab traders
• Christianity spread from North Africa to East
  Africa during the rule of the Roman Empire
• 1800s Europeans pushed Christianity even
  farther
• Traditional African religions are still practiced
  as well

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Changing Ideas About Land

• Most people in East Africa live in rural areas
• Before Europeans arrived individual Africans did
  not buy or sell land
• Families had the rights to farm plots of land
• Size and location of the plots might change over
  time

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Changes in Land Use

• Traditionally, extended families farmed the land
  to produce food for the whole group
• Men cleared the land and broke up the soil
• Women planted seeds, tended the fields and
  harvested crops

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Changes in Land Use

• Europeans created plantations in East Africa
• European powers sold the land to individual
  Africans when they became independent
• Some land in East Africa is still for sell
• Most of it is poor farmland
• Most people live in fertile regions
• Ethiopian Highlands
• Great Rift Valley
• Conflicts have risen in certain areas over the
  developed land

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Where is Home?

• East Africa is becoming increasingly urban
• Most East Africans who live in urban settings do
  not call it their home
• Instead they call home a specific village or
  his/her clan

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Section 4 Southern/Central Africa Cultures

• OBJECTIVES
• Learn about the cultural diversity of Southern
  Africa.
• Examine the different ways of life in Central
  African and learn about the diverse cultures of
  the region.

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Key Terms

• Migrate worker a laborer who travels away from
  where he or she lives to find work
• Compound a fenced-in group of homes

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Countries of the Region

• South Africa
• Botswana
• Zambia
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Angola
• Cameroon
• Madagascar
• Mozambique
• Malawi
• Swaziland
• Lesotho

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Diversity in Southern Africa

• Most of the people of Southern Africa are black
  Africans
• Also a population people of European descent
• Southern Africa attracted Europeans from as early
  as the 1500s
• Southern Africa is home to 3 main groups of
  European ancestry
• Afrikaners Dutch ancestry
• British ancestry
• Portuguese ancestry

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Urbanization

• Europeans introduced industrialization to the
  region
• Before people lived and worked in rural settings
• Many large cities in Southern Africa
• Cape Town
• Johannesburg
• Maputo

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Industry

• Southern Africa is the richest, most urban and
  most industrialized in all of Africa
• Industries demanded labor
• Many people migrated to Southern Africa
• Lived in compounds
• Worked long hours
• Dangerous conditions
• Low wages

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Life in Central Africa

• On the coast, many countries have large oil
  reserves
• Benefit from the wealth of oil
• People that live on the coasts gain exposure to
  cultures outside of Africa
• Living conditions worsens as you move in to the
  interior
• Village societies are organized by kinship groups
• Land is owned by clans
• Less populated
• Families work and live on their land

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Diverse Ways of Life

• Around 200 ethnic groups in D.R.C.
• Millions of people live in crowded cinderblock
  apartments
• Millions of others live in rural settings
• Christianity and Islam are practiced
• Traditional African religions are still practiced