Africa: Traditional Patterns of Life

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Africa Traditional Patterns of Life
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Pre-Class

• Africas Child
• How are girls viewed in some parts of Africa?
• What are the consequences of forced marriage?
• How is forced marriage connected to tradition?
• What steps have been taken to protect girls in
  some parts of Africa?
• In your opinion, what else can be done to protect
  girls in some parts of Africa?

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1. What holds society together?

• Family Loyalty

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2. Family of hunting and gathering societies?

• Groups of nuclear families

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3. Families of farming and herding societies?

• Extended families
• Worked as an economic unit for survival
• Families may work together on large projects

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4. What unites people beyond extended family? Why?

• Ties of kinship
• Sharing lineage created bonds of loyalty and
  responsibility

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5. Define

• Lineage
• a group of distant relatives who trace their
  descent to a common ancestor
• Clan
• several lineages form a clan- shared duties and
  obligation toward one another

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6. Where did most people live?

• Small villages
• Some villages linked together as a part of a
  larger government connected to empires
• Tribal not as part of an empire

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Zulu
Benin
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7. Who made decisions that affected daily life?

• Village leaders
• Council of elders
• Village elders

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8. In many areas how were decisions for village
and issues of justice decided?

• Full public discussions
• Goal was to reach a consensus (Common agreement)
• Community over individual

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9. Define Subsistence Farming

• Subsistence Farming produce enough for own needs
  with little or no surplus

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10. What varied according to environment? Examples

• Methods of farming
• Examples forest slash and burn savanna crop
  rotation

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11. How did people view the land in farming
societies?

• Communal property
• no ownership but family had the right to use
  their fair share

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12. What determined wealth in herding societies?

• Number of cattle

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Massai
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13. Why were women seen as important in
traditional society?

• Contributed to economic well being of family
• Worked the fields took surplus to market

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14. Describe the status of women.

• Varies-
• some high status leaders
• Some women owned land and ruled the home
• Patriarchal others had no power and were
  dominated by men

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15. Define

• Polygamy
• practice of having more than one spouse
• Bride wealth
• gift to brides family to recognize
  importance/respect of women

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16. Explain the two types of traditions that
govern inheritance descent

• Matrilineal
• female lineage
• Patrilineal
• male lineage

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17. What is the age-grade system?

• All boys and girls born in the same year
• Helps develop loyalty
• To learn values of society
• Rites of passage

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18. What purpose does religion serve?

• As elsewhere helps unite a society
• Deals with origins, morality, right and wrong

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19. Describe traditional African Beliefs/
Indigenous beliefs?

• Indigenous beliefs
• original or local
• Oral traditions griot West African Story
  teller
• Somewhat Monotheistic-
• single supreme being that created the world with
  lesser gods and spirits for daily life
• Ancestor veneration
• ancestors can help or hurt the living

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African Religion
Supreme Being
Lesser Gods
Ancestors
Humans
Medicine Magic (Spirits)
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20. Define Animism

• Belief that spirits live in the natural world

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Animism
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Traditional Religions
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21. What is the purpose of a Diviner and Healer?

• To explain the cause of misfortune
• Link between people and the spirits
• Herbal medicines

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22. What major religions exist in Africa?

• Islam
• Christianity
• Judaism
• Hinduism

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