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Africa: Traditional Patterns of Life

Africa: Traditional Patterns of Life. Pre-Class. Africa’s 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?

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Africa: Traditional Patterns of Life

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  1. Africa: Traditional Patterns of Life

  2. Pre-Class • Africa’s 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?

  3. 1. What holds society together? • Family Loyalty

  4. 2. Family of hunting and gathering societies? • Groups of nuclear families

  5. 3. Families of farming and herding societies? • Extended families • Worked as an economic unit for survival • Families may work together on large projects

  6. 4. What unites people beyond extended family? Why? • Ties of kinship • Sharing lineage created bonds of loyalty and responsibility

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. Zulu Benin

  10. 7. Who made decisions that affected daily life? • Village leaders • Council of elders • Village elders

  11. 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

  12. 9. Define Subsistence Farming • Subsistence Farming: produce enough for own needs with little or no surplus

  13. 10. What varied according to environment? Examples • Methods of farming • Examples: forest: slash and burn savanna: crop rotation

  14. 11. How did people view the land in farming societies? • Communal property • no ownership but family had the right to use their fair share

  15. 12. What determined wealth in herding societies? • Number of cattle

  16. Massai

  17. 13. Why were women seen as important in traditional society? • Contributed to economic well being of family • Worked the fields & took surplus to market

  18. 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

  19. 15. Define • Polygamy • practice of having more than one spouse • Bride wealth • gift to bride’s family to recognize importance/respect of women

  20. 16. Explain the two types of traditions that govern inheritance & descent • Matrilineal • female lineage • Patrilineal • male lineage

  21. 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

  22. 18. What purpose does religion serve? • As elsewhere helps unite a society • Deals with origins, morality, right and wrong

  23. 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

  24. African Religion Supreme Being Lesser Gods Ancestors Humans Medicine & Magic (Spirits)

  25. Anansi the Spider

  26. 20. Define Animism • Belief that spirits live in the natural world

  27. Animism

  28. Traditional Religions

  29. 21. What is the purpose of a Diviner and Healer? • To explain the cause of misfortune • Link between people and the spirits • Herbal medicines

  30. 22. What major religions exist in Africa? • Islam • Christianity • Judaism • Hinduism

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