West African Culture

Powerpoint presentation created by:Sally HorowitzLibrary Media SpecialistNorthside ElementaryMidway, KY

Why study West Africa?

• In exchange for guns and other European goods, West Africans sold slaves, usually either captured in war or accepted as tribute from conquered peoples.

• The slave trade displaced millions of Africans from their native lands. Uprooted from their societies, the Africans brought with them their family values, beliefs, traditions, and religious practices.

Where is West Africa?

• West Africa is the region of western Africa that includes the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

• It is on what is known as the “Bulge of Africa.”

Regional Overview

(Click for movie)

African People and Culture

• There are many different people and tribes in western Africa - with their culture varying from tribe to tribe. We are going to learn about one group: the Ashanti people.

Who are the Ashanti people?

• The Ashanti live in central Ghana in western Africa. They are the largest tribe in Ghana.

• In each village, the Chief and Elders maintain traditional customs and ceremonies and deal with disputes.

• The Ashanti religion is a mixture of spiritual and supernatural powers. They believe that plants, animals, and trees have souls. Does that remind you of any other culture?

• The Ashanti are known for their gold and metal crafts, woodcarving, and brightly colored woven cloth called kente.

• The Ashanti are known for their intricate kente cloth

• Ashanti

An Ashanti ceremony

Ashanti people

African Drums• Drums are used for sending

messages to the people in town, for ceremonies such as weddings or naming ceremonies, and even for healing sick people.

• There are many different kinds of drums. Here is an example of some drums from Ghana:

http://www.aviarts.com/demos/flash/abadjarhythm/index.html

Why do people tell stories?

• Every human culture in the world has created stories as a way of making sense of the world.

–Sharing the human experience - to express or communicate emotion, feelings, ideas, and information.

–Passing on tradition and culture - (e.g., storytelling, folktales, myths and legends)

–Recreational drama for entertainment

What are some popular forms of telling stories in our culture

today?• Books

• Movies

• Television shows

• Plays

• Broadway musicals

• YouTube videos

• Magazines

West African Storytelling

• Africans love a good story and a good storyteller. They are primarily an oral people (their stories are not written down, but told verbally), and are often created to be performed with music and dance.

• Histories and stories of a people that come to us in a spoken and sung form are part of what is called an oral tradition. Oral tradition means that the stories are told rather than written down.

• Because people hold the oral tradition in their memory, sometimes the story changes with the telling. Have you ever played telephone?

African Storytelling

(Click for movie)

Who is Ananse?• Ananse (also spelled

Anansi) is one of the most popular characters in West African storytelling.

• He is a trickster. Trickster tales use animal characters with human features to help us understand human nature.

Bibliography• Background downloaded from: Backgrounds Etc.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/4842/africa.html• An introduction by Professor Cora Agatucci to the nature of storytelling in

Africa: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/afrstory.htm• Map and article on West Africa from Wikipedia free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Africa• African and African-American Folktales. United Learning (1993). Retrieved

February 26, 2007, from Unitedstreaming: http://www.unitedstreaming.com• Anansi image: http://www.anansi.org/webwalker/intro.html• Regional overview of West Africa: World Geography: Africa. Discovery

Channel School (2004). Retrieved February 26, 2007, from Unitedstreaming: http://www.unitedstreaming.com

• Information about the Ashanti people: http://www.ashanti.com.au/http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/ashanti.htmhttp://www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi3/3_wondr1.htmhttp://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/UMS/Drummers/oraltradition.html