Africa: Traditional Patterns of

Life

Pre-Class

• Africa’s Child

1.How are girls viewed in some parts of Africa?2.What are the consequences of forced marriage?3.How is forced marriage connected to tradition?4.What steps have been taken to protect girls in

some parts of Africa?5.In your opinion, what else can be done to

protect girls in some parts of Africa?

1. What holds society together?

• Family Loyalty

2. Family of hunting and gathering societies?

• Groups of nuclear families

3. Families of farming and herding societies?

• Extended families

• Worked as an economic unit for survival

• Families may work together on large projects

4. What unites people beyond extended family? Why?

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

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

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

Benin

Zulu

7. Who made decisions that affected daily life?

• Village leaders–Council of elders

–Village elders

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

• Trial by Oil 3:06

9. Define Subsistence Farming

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

10. What varied according to environment? Examples

• Methods of farming

• Examples: forest: slash and burn savanna: crop rotation

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

• Communal property–no ownership but family had the

right to use their fair share

12. What determined wealth in herding societies?

• Number of cattle

Massai

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

• Contributed to economic well being of family

• Worked the fields & took surplus to market

• Respected–Bore children, educated

14. Describe the status of women.

• Varies- –some high status & leaders

• Wolof, Ashanti

–Some women owned land and ruled the home

• Patriarchal: others had no power and were dominated by men

15. Define

• Polygamy–practice of having more than

one spouse

• Bride wealth –gift to bride’s family to recognize

importance/respect of women

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

• Matrilineal–female lineage

• Patrilineal –male lineage

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 page 89

18. What purpose does religion serve?

• As elsewhere helps unite a society

• Deals with origins, morality, right and wrong

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

African Religion

Humans

Less

er

God

s

Medicine & Magic (Spirits)

Ancestors

Supreme Being

Anansi the Spider 5:00

Body Modification

10:00

20. Define Animism

• Belief that spirits live in the natural world

Animism 1:30

Traditional Religions 4:30

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

• Diviner–To explain the cause of misfortune

–Link between people and the spirits

• Healer–Seek cause of illness

–Herbal medicines

22. What major religions exist in Africa?

• Islam

• Christianity

• Judaism

• Hinduism