Traditional Society & Culture in Africa

1. Traditional Society & Culture in Africa Global History I: Spiconardi

2. Stateless Societies • Family organization is central to African society • Many families are organized into groups called lineages (clans) • Lineages people, both living and dead, who are descended from a common ancestor • Lineages took the place of rulers in many African societies

3. Stateless Societies • Stateless societies cultural groups in which authority is shared by lineages of equal power instead of being exercised by a central government; no one executive ruler • Community rule over individual rule Usually the community that made the decisions consisted of male family heads

5. Turn to your partner and create a list of the positive and negative attributes of a stateless society. Stateless Societies Positives Negatives

6. Patrilineal trace ancestors through fathers Matrilineal trace ancestors through mothers 20% of African societies are matrilineal today Traditional Societies: Family Descent

7. Traditional Societies: Age-Set System • Age-Set System a cohort of young people within a region who are born during a certain period • Pass through life stages/rites of passage together • At each life stage the age group inherits different responsibilities • Boys and girls are generally separated

8. Traditional Societies: Griots • Griot  keeper of history via oral tradition in West Africa • Poet, praise singer, & musician • told tales of births, deaths, marriages, battles, hunts, and hundreds of other folklores via song

9. Traditional Societies: Griots • Father of the poor peopleHusband of beautiful ladiesAt whose absence the city is not interestingAt whose absence the people are not happy… Be our motherBe our fatherProvide us with clothingBe the salt we need for our gravyBe the oil we need for our porridge… You are our eyesYou are our mirrorYou are our hands and legsThat we use to walk.

10. Traditional Societies: Griots • My master has requested that I ask you the exact meaning of your name Da. Is it Da Guinea hemp? Is it Da clay pot? Is it Da the syphilis? Is it Da the mouth? Is it Da the door? Is it Da do you sleep there? If you are a pot, Kaarta Tiema will break you. If you are Guinea worms he will harvest you in order to give you to his fishermen who will make nets of you. If you are syphilis, he will treat you with a red hot iron. If you are a mouth, he will rip you open to your ears. If you are a door, he will close you for good and you will never serve for any pathway. If you are sleeping there, he will stand you up like a house at the top of a hill. That's what my master put in my mouth with the order to spit right into your face.

11. Religion • Animism the belief that spirits are present in natural objects • Many Africans believed the spirits of their departed ancestors were present on Earth • Ancestral spirits would be called upon for help in times of need/trouble What animals is portrayed by the apparel in the photo?

12. African Animism

13. Religion • Islam • Spreads throughout North Africa • Enters West Africa during the age of the trade empires • West African Islam • Many maintained traditional aspects of animistic religion • Women were not veiled & interacted with men in public • Mosques designed in traditional architecture

14. Assessment • In what sense were the early societies of Sub-Saharan Africa stateless? • They lacked centralized government and tax systems • They did not have an agriculturally-based economy • There were no cities or large villages where the majority of the population lived. • Provincial governors owned the majority of the land in their respective territories

15. Assessment • The Islamization of sub-Saharan Africa was similar to the spreading of Buddhism to Japan in that both • led to the creation of a rigid class hierarchy • involved blending with native cultural and religious practices • were a result of extensive missionary work • led to tensions between aristocrats and peasants