Topic 29 of 42: African culture
Wed, Aug 30, 2000 (07:45) |
Maggie (sociolingo)
Thoughts, ideas, experiences
33 responses total.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 1 of 33: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Aug 30, 2000 (14:46) * 1 lines
Maggie, all and anything you forward to me from your African sojourn I will be more than happy to post for you. This is suc a great idea! I know just about nothing of Africa.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 2 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Thu, Aug 31, 2000 (01:50) * 1 lines
Thank you. I will do my best to expand your horizons .....
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 3 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Thu, Aug 31, 2000 (12:27) * 20 lines
Languages
Many inadequate attempts have been made to classify the great complexity of languages in Africa. There are at least 1,000 distinct African languages known.
Linguist Joseph Greenberg prepared the most recent and accurate attempt at classifying African languages based on the principals of Indo-European languages. The four main language families according to this classification are: Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, and Khoisan.
Niger-Kordofanian languages are found from Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. The most original in this classification is the Benue-Congo which includes all the Bantu languages found dispersed over most of eastern, central, and southern Africa. Swahili, grammatically Bantu, is widely used as a lingua franca in eastern Africa.
The Nilo-Saharan family comprises languages spoken along the savanna zone south of the Sahara from the middle Niger to the Nile, with outlying groups among the Para-Nilotic pastoralists of eastern Africa.
The Afro-Asiatic family includes languages from both Africa and the Middle East: Semitic (e.g., Arabic), Ancient Egyptian (extinct), Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic (e.g., Hausa). It is found over much of northern Africa and eastward to the Horn of Africa.
The Khoisan, or Click, family comprises the languages of the San and Khoikhoi, who are now limited to the arid parts of southwestern Africa, and perhaps of the outlying Hadza and Sandawe peoples of northern Tanzania.
The Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) family is represented by the various dialects of Malagasy in Madagascar.
There are also many widespread trade languages and lingua francas in addition to those mentioned above. Some were imported and used by administrators, missionaries, and traders during the colonial period. They include English, French, and other languages of the former colonial powers.
http://africancultures.about.com/culture/africancultures/library/weekly/aa100699a.htm
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 4 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Fri, Sep 1, 2000 (03:06) * 14 lines
The Region of Western Africa
http://africancultures.about.com/culture/africancultures/library/weekly/aa073099.htm (07/30/99)
Western Africa lies south of the Sahara and east and north of the Atlantic Ocean. It is divided into two geographical regions, the western portion of the Sudan and the coastal region known as the Guinea Coast. The nations of the western Sudan include Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), Cape Verde, Chad, The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal. The nations of the Guinea Coast are Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
The major ethnic groups are the Wolof of Senegal, the Serer to the south, and the Mande-speaking peoples to the east. The Songhai are located largely in the region south of Timbuktu along the Niger, the Mossi are in the Volta basin, and a variety of smaller groups survive within the great bend of the Niger and to the southwest. The Hausa are concentrated largely in northern Nigeria and the Fulani are concentrated in Senegal, Guinea, and northern Nigeria.
The languages spoken are branches of one great Niger-Congo family, including the Mande, Voltaic, Kwa, Adamawa-Eastern, and West-Atlantic groups. The Kordofanian languages are spoken in the area of the Nuba Hills. Other major families that have been distinguished are the Nilo-Saharan group and the Afro-Asiatic. French is the language of communication among the elite of most nations of the western Sudan, and English is used in The Gambia, Ghana, and Nigeria.
Belief in the supernatural either in traditional rituals or in the Islamic faith serve as reassurance and hope in time of trouble, and offer the possibility of a greater reward in the next world. People adjust their life according to the seasons and adjust their pace to natural conditions to be in harmony with the unseen powers behind them. Farm work is intense during the rainy season, but the work is considered an honorable occupation and is supported by strong ties to a complicated system of obligations--to kinsfolk, neighbors, and members of the same age group--maintained by constant visits, economic exchange, and mutual help at ceremonies.
Villages consisting of fenced-off clusters of houses, known as compounds, are occupied by members of a lineage and their spouses. Many of these villages were built on sites that afforded some protection by rivers or fortified by earthen walls as a means of defense from hundreds of years of ravage by invaders and slave traders. These old fortifications, with the exception of the great walled cities of northern Nigeria, have given way to smaller more widely dispersed villages separated by cleared land for agriculture. But, as a result of periods of drought, many people have resettled in the larger urban centers.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 5 of 33: culturespring (sprin5) * Fri, Sep 1, 2000 (09:33) * 1 lines
Will they resettle the rural areas or do you think this is the end of a culture?
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 6 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Fri, Sep 1, 2000 (12:00) * 7 lines
From my observation, there seems to be a general trend of migration of young men to the larger towns and cities. Links to the villages remain strong. Many cities have what could be called 'shanty towns' attached. Some of these are very large, for example the one in Dakar, Senegal. Families live there, not just single young men. Subsustence farming, and cash cropping can be severly affected by periods of drought. Another problem in countries like The Gambia is the increasing salination of the land as the water table drops and sea water is carried further upstream. Salt resistant strains of rice have been developed so that this cash srop can continue to provided a much needed income.
As to the resettlement of the rural areas. I am unsure. I think what is happening could be akin to the Industrial Revolution in Britain. However, family and land ties remain strong and often it is only part of an extended family that moves to the town, thus keeping the rural links.
I don't believe 'culture' will necessarily be diminished, mostly because of the continued contact with the 'homeland'. Most African countries are multilingual and multicultural. In fact many villages are also. For example, the village I lived in had five language groups, each of whom kept their own cultural customs. Because cultural diversity is therefore perceived as normal, it is less common to see acculturation when people move outside of their own area.
Of course, these are just my thoughts and observations, and are highly coloured by the areas I have visited and lived in. Other areas of Africa may be very different.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 7 of 33: culturespring (sprin5) * Fri, Sep 1, 2000 (14:01) * 1 lines
If you had to live anywhere in Africa, where would it be? Anywhere in the world?
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 8 of 33: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Sep 1, 2000 (19:45) * 1 lines
Please don't say Hawaii - it is only Paradise for vacationers!
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 9 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Sat, Sep 2, 2000 (02:52) * 3 lines
In Africa I would like to live in The Gambia again. I love the people, the beaches and the lifestyle, and I don't need to struggle to talk in French!!! Although I am happy to be going to live in Mali....
Worldwide, I guess I'm happy to live in England. There are lots of places I would like to visit..... Hawaii among them!!!
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 10 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Sun, Sep 3, 2000 (17:03) * 39 lines
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~ogunyemi/pidgin.html
Some pidgin sayings and their translations
by Gaga Ekeh
See am as e siddon. No face! Everywhere tinted!
Translation: Observe as the subject sits. One cannot but notice the frown occupying the face. Neither can one ignore those dark glasses.
As im enta for man eye, I jus tux. Because why? Na so so baffs im throway comot.
Translation: As the subject proceeded to occupy my peripheral vision, I had to bow in respect. Why, you ask? The subject was dressed impeccably.
Abeg giam!
(Usually during a fight). Translation: Allow his face to slap your fist so as to dissuade him from pursuing this frivolous conflict.
Eba without!
(Usually at a "bukateria") Respectable madam and owner of this eating establishment, I encourage you not to endow my plate with meat lest I am unable to service such debts as I may acquire should such a measure be put in practice. As such, I ask you to put more Eba, the amount of which should suffice to provide the illusion that I am affluent enough to afford the corresponding cost of meat. Yours faithfully.
Ol boy! Of which now?
Translation: It has been brought to our notice that you are now in a position to end the drought of stout lager that has so devastated this area. We would like to inquire what you intend to pursue as a course of action. Allow us to add that all deliberations should have our general interest at heart.
Ehen? So make I comot nyash begin cry?
Translation: The statements you just made do not constitute concrete evidence and as such do not justify or warrant any specific action by me for or against any of the parties involved in this circumstance.
As man land, man eye brush vest. Man begin knack tori.
Translation: As I "cascaded" down the stairs, my eyes happened upon a young member of the opposite sex dressed in a manner as would be illegal in 17 American states (including Alaska). I calmly walked up to the subject and proceeded to relay a series of lies guaranteed to stand me in good stead.
by Elliot Ibie
Why your body dey shake like leaf now, abeg thermocool!
(Said to a visibly upset person) Translation: It is apparent to anyone within a fifty mile radius that you are about to experience an emotional implosion which will entail loss of control of all bodily functions. I implore you to seek out the nearest body of cold water and immerse yourself in it.
Other translation: Please calm down.
omolola@ogunyemi.net
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 11 of 33: Carys (Carys) * Sat, Sep 9, 2000 (13:06) * 1 lines
Wow! Maggie that is great reading. Mucho thanks!
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 12 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Sat, Sep 9, 2000 (19:43) * 1 lines
Hello again Carys. Feel free to comment or ask any questions.....I may not know the answers but I'm good at finding out things....
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 13 of 33: Carys (Carys) * Mon, Sep 11, 2000 (17:01) * 1 lines
I trust you in that Maggie. I hope that you and Cheryl, I think it was she, can work out something concerning food and culture. Sounds like a promising topic.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 14 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Tue, Sep 12, 2000 (04:09) * 66 lines
Scientists Find Ancient DNA in Living Africans
Fossils in the Blood
by Mark Schoofs
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0014/schoofs.shtml
OBE, BOTSWANA—In the shade of a tree, 140 kilometers from the nearest paved road in an endless plain of scrub brush and sand, Nxuka Nxu is discussing the origin of human beings. An elder of the !Kung San hunter-gatherer tribe, with a face as wrinkled as a raisin, she says emphatically, "We are the first people."
Many traditional cultures mythologize themselves as the progenitors of all humanity, but the !Kung San people, sometimes called the Bushmen of the Kalahari, have a better claim than most. Geneticists have found fragments of DNA in the Khoisan ethnic group, of which the !Kung are one tribe, that appear to date back to the very first human beings. Most other African ethnic groups lack these genetic traces, as do people from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Indeed, a few of these ancient genetic fragments have been found only in the Khoisan.
These findings, which are still emerging, "help us understand our past," says Himla Soodyall, a South African geneticist who has conducted much of this work. In addition to bolstering the theory that modern humans arose in Africa and then migrated around the globe, these findings also weigh in on the newer debate of exactly where humans originated. They support the idea that the cradle of humanity is southern Africa, where the San live, and not eastern Africa, as was widely thought.
On this continent, where people are trying to kindle an African renaissance, this new genetic research "can reinstill pride in the richness of African history," says Soodyall.
Yet the research could also be twisted to bolster deep-seated prejudices against the San, probably the most abused and downtrodden ethnic group in southern Africa. One method used to determine the age of genetic fragments is to compare them to the genes of chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates. The ancient DNA segments in the Khoisan are more closely related to chimp DNA than are those of any other people. Given how the Khoisan have been dehumanized—scientists once postulated that they had fewer chromosomes—it is all too easy to imagine how this research could be misused. Here in the village, an elderly San man named Xuma Kgao ponders the idea that his people bear traces of the first humans. "God made us lucky in that way," he says. But, noting how his culture has been denigrated and destroyed, he adds, "It's not luck anymore. It's a drawback."
So, given the tragic history of the San, not to mention all the other ethnic and racial bigotry this continent has endured, perhaps the most astonishing fact is that the research appears not to have inflamed prejudice. In fact, when Soodyall and her colleague Trefor Jenkins presented their preliminary findings to a 1997 conference devoted to Khoisan identity, they were met with praise, not protest.
That's partly because the researchers vigorously resist bigoted interpretations of their findings. They note that the genetic traces that date back to the first humans are just that: traces, fragments picked out of the 3 billion letters that make up the human genetic code. In other parts of their DNA, the Khoisan have very recent mutations. "It's not as if they stopped evolving and were put away on a shelf," says Michael Hammer, a University of Arizona geneticist who has collaborated with Jenkins and Soodyall. "They preserve ancient lineages, but they are not an ancient group. They are as evolved as any other people."
The new South Africa might be the best place for such research, because freedom from the crushing oppression of apartheid has fostered a candid and mostly positive discussion about ethnic differences and identity. In his inauguration speech last year, South African president Thabo Mbeki vowed to "rediscover and claim the African heritage," noting that, "From South Africa to Ethiopia lie strewn ancient fossils, which, in their stillness, speak still of the African origins of humanity." What geneticists have essentially discovered is that DNA is also strewn with "fossils," mutations that have been preserved through generations.
In addition to shedding light on humanity's origins, "population genetics," as this branch of science is known, can also illuminate more recent episodes in history. For instance, Jenkins and Soodyall have studied the Lemba, a group of so-called Black Jews who claim to be a lost tribe of Israel, and found that many of them have genetic markers similar to those of Semitic people. Another team of geneticists has discovered that a few of the Lemba even have a marker common among the Jewish "Cohens," a hereditary lineage of priests. "There are so many stories written in the genes," says Soodyall. "My goal is to understand the history of each mutation."
For Jenkins, the goal is to "counter racism scientifically" and candidly. "You can't claim there are no differences" among ethnic groups, he notes, "because people will say, 'We can see we're not the same.' " What genetics does show is that the similarities among all humans far outweigh their differences.
Under apartheid, when every citizen was assigned an official racial identity, people used to ask Jenkins to help them gain a "race reclassification." He recalls, "I would say to the person, 'What race do you want to be classified as?' " Examining their blood, it was always easy to find genetic markers in blacks or "coloreds" that were also present in whites, allowing Jenkins to bolster their appeal to be racially reassigned. As Jenkins explains: "What people use to classify the races"—skin color, hair type, and nose shape—"represents only a very small proportion of the whole genome."
But then, no one ever needed DNA analysis to oppress the San. That's why Xixai Gakekgosi, a politically active villager, doesn't fear racist ramifications from the new research. It can hardly make matters worse, he says. "People already see us as outsiders and look down on us."
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In nearby Quaa village, some women spot a mophane worm in a tree, and a boy clambers up into the branches to knock it down. Like the sweet, yellow-orange motsontsojane berries, this worm is one of the many delicacies relished by the !Kung hunter-gatherers. Avoiding the sharp, black spines that jut out from its blue and yellow body, a woman tosses the worm, fat and long as a breakfast sausage, onto hot coals. While it cooks, an elder named Tcgoma Xontae plays a handmade lyre called a quru and sings in a high, beautiful voice.
But if the scene appears idyllic, the life of the San is not. "My parents could control the forest and go out to hunt," says Xontae. "But now someone else controls our life." Indeed, for all practical purposes, the Botswana government has barred the San from hunting. Most have been removed from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The few licenses that are granted limit the hunting season and the number of animals the San can kill.
It's merely the latest chapter in an ancient history of oppression. The Bantu-speaking Africans, farmers who expanded throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa from the area near the present-day border between Nigeria and Cameroon, pushed the Khoisan off their land, sometimes enslaved them, and deemed them inferior. White Christian settlers slaughtered thousands of these indigenous people and had serious debates about whether the Gospels applied to them. (The Khoikhoi, called Hottentots by the Dutch settlers, herd cattle, while the San, to whom they are closely related, live by hunting and gathering.)
In the 1970s, the army of the old apartheid South Africa used the San as scouts in its war against Namibia and Angola. Pawns in a war that wasn't theirs, those scouts and their families—about 4000 people altogether—now live in a tent city in South Africa, hundreds of miles from their homeland. And in Botswana, which has some of the world's richest diamond deposits, mining interests inevitably prevail in land disputes.
The San are quite possibly the most studied indigenous people on earth, yet myths about them abound. The San are reputed to be wholly innocent and peaceable—"the Harmless People," as the title of one influential book put it—but, as the anthropologist Richard Lee documented, murder does happen, and the San sometimes execute the perpetrators.
But nothing has been as damaging as the myth that the San are backward and primitive, which is profoundly entrenched in southern Africa. One widespread misconception is that they do not wash. A recent report on the educational problems facing the San—they have astronomical dropout rates—reported that one boarding school headmaster wouldn't give San children mattresses or even blankets, on the rationale that their unwashed bodies would dirty the bedding. It is possible that their isolation—first geographic, then cultural—is what preserved the ancestral genetic patterns.
Forced to abandon their traditional way of life but barred by prejudice from joining modern life, the San now subsist in a kind of limbo. In this region of Botswana, they live mainly on government food handouts. While they used to store what they gathered for future use, now they try to sell it—and the cash often buys alcohol and tobacco.
"We don't have a life, says Xuma Kgao. "There is nothing we can do for ourselves. Our hands and feet have been cut off."
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Joining the discussion on the origin of humanity, a young mother named Nxae Nxu rules out the possibility that people evolved from animals. "The first two people were San, and we were always like this," she says. So why do the races look so different? "That's a tough one," she says, laughing. "After God created these first two people, they had children, and generation after generation they started to change a bit."
And that, pretty much, is what the geneticists also think. They examined DNA from the Y chromosome, which is passed only from father to son, and from the mitochondria, tiny cellular proto-organisms that are passed down the maternal line. Using various mathematical models to estimate how frequently mutations are made, the researchers estimated the age of the different genetic variants, called polymorphisms.
At least two teams, working independently and looking at different parts of the Y chromosome, found that the oldest variants are most common in the Khoisan. Jenkins and Soodyall also analyzed the mitochondrial DNA. Virtually all of the !Kung have the most ancient mitochondrial fragments, which date to about 120,000 years ago, roughly the time humans are thought to have evolved into their modern form. The genetic findings accord with at least one line of fossil evidence, and various likely mathematical models yield similar results. Yet just as fossil evidence has often been reassessed, this genetic analysis could be off the mark. As one !Kung man said about the research, "I don't know my relationship to the first people, because I wasn't alive then."
One of the myths about the San is that their genes are what enable them to survive in the harsh Kalahari climate, where the nights are frigid, the days scorching, and water is scarce. But while they may have evolved some advantageous traits, the notion that they owe their survival mainly to unique physical characteristics is false, says Phillip Tobias, a South African anthropologist who has studied the Khoisan. He notes that the San traditionally filled ostrich shells with water and buried them for use in dry times, that they drank the juices out of the stomach of freshly hunted animals, and that they smeared their skin with animal fat to keep from dehydrating. Such "cultural tricks," he says, were more important than any genetic mutations in helping them to survive.
Now the San face the harsh climate of a culture stacked against them. Again their survival depends not on their genes, but on the ability to adapt culturally. But this time, their way of life depends not only on the San themselves, but on whether southern Africa's majority populations can overcome one of humanity's oldest and possibly inherent characteristics: prejudice.
Research intern: Elinore Longobardi
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 15 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Thu, Sep 14, 2000 (10:11) * 79 lines
Wednesday September 13, 5:26 PM
Inside look at African music scene and daily life
By Gary Hill
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new book and CD, both titled "In Griot Time," by American writer and musician Banning Eyre offer a unique inside look at daily life on the music scene in the West African country of Mali.
It was Mali's melodic, hypnotic music, increasingly popular overseas and believed at home to have secret powers when sung by "griots," that drew Eyre to study with master guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, but even readers with no special interest in the music may find the book fascinating.
"In Griot Time" is not exactly travel writing but its deft, novelistic descriptions of smells and tastes, sunny outdoor guitar lessons and murky late-night dive-bar visits, the central market teeming by day and eerily deserted at night, all evoke the rich colours and textures of African life.
"There's a story here that's got some more universality to it for anyone who's curious about another culture, anyone who's curious enough to breach the lines and go in," Eyre, 43, who lived for seven months in Tounkara's family compound in the capital city of Bamako, said in an interview.
The book is filled with sharply observed small professional intrigues, individual struggles and family squabbles -- some recognisable as simply another culture's version of everyday life anywhere, some frighteningly incomprehensible to Eyre, who communicated easily in French but learned only basic Bambara.
On his first day, while riding in from the airport, Eyre realised he had already been forced to choose sides in a local rivalry. "Though I was riding with the (French expatriate) producer, I had cast my lot with the musicians," he wrote.
CD OF HITS AND INTIMATE MOMENTS
The CD, a generous 75 minutes and 19 cuts, has choice hit songs from Mali's greatest stars -- including Salif Keita, Ali Farka Toure, Tounkara's Super Rail Band, Oumou Sangare, Habib Koite, Toumani Diabate -- and some more intimate musical moments recorded by Eyre during his lessons with Tounkara.
"The thing that I consistently felt every time I heard him just sitting out on the porch -- and some of the things on the CD have this feeling, just that string music totally pared down -- was so exciting to me and so beautiful," Eyre said.
In earlier travels to many of the musical capitals of Africa, he had found his journalistic inquiries would segue into musical exchanges when he got out his guitar. "I was able for whatever reason to pick things up pretty fast and that would always create this energy and excitement and a certain electricity and I was totally intoxicated with that," he said.
"And every time that I would finish an interview with a guitarist I would think, why am I leaving? We're just getting started."
Eyre, who believes Mali has "the richest music of any country in Africa," comes through as always patient, flexible and tactful under sometimes difficult conditions, but no matter how well he learned to play the guitar styles, he always knew he had only scratched the surface of the tradition.
"It's one thing to appreciate the music, but to be able to really, fully enter into that context is considerably more demanding, on a whole lot of levels," he said.
Or, as they say in Mali: "No matter how long a piece of wood floats in the river, it will never become a crocodile."
CAN'T LIVE WITH THEM, CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM
Most difficult for outsiders to understand -- and Eyre does not claim to, fully -- is the role of the griot (pronounced gree-yo), whose praise songs are an essential part of West African life.
Listeners being "sung" are expected to shower the griots with money. Westerners, while loving the music, may feel uneasy with the money hustle that goes with it. "Me too," agreed Eyre. "You can never transcend your culture."
One snippet on the CD includes an exchange in French in which the teachers are explaining that a certain technique will make the music flow. An American friend of Eyre jokes that then the money will also flow and the Africans laugh and say, "Ah, he has understood well."
Non-griot Malians may resent having to pay the griots but they could not conceive of holding major events without them.
"People don't exactly hire them, they invite them, and then the griots work the audience," said Eyre, adding that even other griots may "feel manipulated when they're being sung."
Not all musicians are griots, a role passed down by birth. International superstar Salif Keita, an albino outcast from a noble family, helped change that. Ali Farka Toure, whose home is near Timbuktu and whose music reminds Westerners of the blues, is quoted as saying he is Songhoi, not Manding, and that "griotism is an art of exploitation and flattery."
But for many West Africans, the griots are a necessary part of society. "There's a sense that the griots are not telling everything, they have secret knowledge and they're using their knowledge in particular ways," said Eyre.
And there is something about the griot's "nyama," or power, that cannot be resisted. "That thing they get that we really can't get is that emotional connection," Eyre said.
"Those phrases and that sound and the character of the performance are calculated to have an emotional effect, and it really does work. And sometimes it's overwhelming. You can tell by the way a person surrenders the money. Sometimes they just hand it over and sometimes they are incredibly moved," he said.
"They're digging in their pockets instinctively, just wanting to give. 'Please make the nyama stop,' giving money with the trembling hand saying 'Please stop,'" Eyre said, chuckling. "And I've seen that."
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 16 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Tue, Sep 19, 2000 (12:10) * 12 lines
More on African music - specifically Gambian music
Here is a site you should visit ...lots of audio examples
http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara/cu.html
Also Dr Roderic Knight has researched the music of the Mandinka of the Gambia and gives examples on his website.
http://www.oberlin.edu/~rknight/
(I lived and worked in The Gambia for five years ...and lived in a Mandinka village)
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 17 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Thu, Sep 21, 2000 (05:21) * 18 lines
More from Mali for you ...
Traditional Handicrafts
http://www.discovertimbuktu.com/am/culture.html
Many Tuareg designs are geometric and clean-cut, reflecting the austerity of desert life. Because of the Tuareg's relative isolation, these designs have not altered much over time. The motifs are repeated in jewelry, leather work and embroidery. Tuareg jewelry is worked exclusively in silver, the metal of the Prophet Mohammed, as gold is considered impure. It is said that there is a Tuareg tribe with extrasensory powers. The only way they can lose these powers is by simply looking upon gold.
Tuareg crosses, nowadays worn only by women, were once only worn by men, passed down from father to son with the words: "I give you the four corners of the world because one cannot know where one will die." Most famous are the crosses of the Agadez (Niger), which incorporate elements of celestial constellations. In fact, these amulets sometimes serve triple duty as protection, ornamentation and as a compass for orientation in the desert.
According to Muslim belief, the four points of the cross disperse evil to the four corners of the earth. Some might see similarities between the Tuareg cross and the ancient Egyptian ankh, but there is no known connection. In times of drought, these crosses are used as currency to buy cattle, cloth or food. Crosses incorporating the phallus and circle are said to be powerful fertility talismans.
Tuareg women also wear necklaces made of shell and leather or silver in the form of a geometric hand, which protects the wearer and ensures fertility; they are passed down from mother to daughter. Silver finger rings are usually gifts of affection between men and women.
More contemporary designs mix semiprecious stones (usually malachite) and/or ebony with silver.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 18 of 33: Carys (Carys) * Sat, Sep 23, 2000 (12:17) * 5 lines
Does the modern day nation of Mali take its name from the medieval Mali? I think medieval Ghana was known as the Gold Empire. Unless that was Mali? Help!
When I was teen/early twenties a got into African pop music. People like King Sunny Ade and Youssou N'Dour. Youssou was from Senegal, I believe. I'm not sure what country King Sunny was from. I don't know how traditional musical forms influenced the work of African pop musicians. Still they might have.
Thanks for the information an the Tuareg design tradition, Maggie.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 19 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Sat, Jun 2, 2001 (11:42) * 28 lines
I was in Bamako during this .. it was amazing and the gunfire went on allthrough the night.
Maggie
BBC News Online: World: Africa
Tuesday, 13 February, 2001, 14:41 GMT
Thousands celebrate hunting in Mali
By Joan Baxter in Mali
They were taking pot-shots at the heavens even before they reached the
presidential palace in the Malian capital, Bamako. Thousands of men, armed
with home-made shotguns or bows and arrows, their mud cloth outfits
weighted down with fetishes, were on the march. Traffic came to a
standstill on the steep, winding road. The invaders came from the far-flung
corners of Mali, as well as Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger and Senegal. Outside the palace gates, some danced, while the trigger-happy continued to shoot at the sky. One man wrestled a hyena on a leash, while others showed off their pythons, which were allowed to slither around the gardens.Traditional hunting is about much more than killing animals. Hunters are healers, they are diviners
Week-long festival
This was the first-ever festival of traditional West African hunters. The Malian organisers said the aim was to celebrate a 1,000 years, or more, of hunting culture. The idea was also to find a role for traditional hunters in the third millennium, given that there really isn't much left to hunt. The hunters' ball at the presidency was the grand finale of the week-long festival. The hunters were paying a visit to Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare in his splendid palace on the cliff overlooking the city. Panicked officials tried urged them not to shoot when they were parading in front of the president, the prime minister, the cabinet, diplomats and other VIPs.
Contrasting views
Behind the noise and the spectacle, serious issues were being discussed. Although some 40,000 people packed the stadium in Bamako for the opening ceremony, many said they feared the hunters because of their reputed occult powers that allow them to commune with the spirit world or transform themselves into wild animals. One Malian journalist said he thought it "ridiculous to spend vast amounts of money bringing all those animists into the capital of a country that is 95% Muslim and very poor." This was not a view shared by the scholars from three continents who attended. "Hunters' societies go back into the depths of time," says Tereba Togola, Director of Art and Culture in Mali. "I would say they are the first form of democracy. They are open to everybody."
Women's role
Cheick Cherif Keita, a Malian professor based in Minnesota, USA, says the hunters' societies have always stressed equality and moral virtues, which are rapidly being eroded in modern West Africa. "Philanderers, cowards, ones who cannot put up with thirst and hunger cannot be hunters," Keita says. There was only a handful of women among the hunters' ranks at the festival, but Keita says that is because traditionally women were not active hunters. "The female figure was always important for the hunter. He owed all his powers to a female figure - his mother or his sister - who would follow him into the bush and protect him when he was in danger by changing herself into an animal or something magical."
The future
Perhaps the main issue was to determine a role for the hunters, given the disappearance of wild game. But according to Togola, "Traditional hunting is about more than just killing animals. Hunters are healers, they are diviners, they have great knowledge of the bush, of the stars and even the planets around earth." While the traditional hunters from Niger were in Bamako for the festival, the Nigerian Government banned all hunting. Neino Chaibou, director of patrimony in Niger, who led the Nigerian hunters to Mali, admitted that desertification and disappearing wildlife were serious problems in his country. But he said traditional hunters were not to blame for either of these problems, saying it was big-game hunters from "far away" who had decimated the big game in Niger. The hunters have always been protectors of society. Cheick Cherif Keita, Malian professor. In the past three decades, wealthy trophy hunters from the Middle East and Europe have been allowed - for hefty sums - to kill lions and other endang
red species in several West African countries.
The hunter is more than a hunter. Not everyone in Bamako was as enthusiastic about the festival as the hunters and the scholars. We fear the president wants to use all the hunters' powers to extend his mandate. Some private newspapers alleged there were sinister political overtones. Citing the examples of Sierra Leone and Guinea where hunters have taken sides in political upheaval and warfare, one observer said "this festival should remind hunters that they should consider their hunting activities as a culture and should not follow a military way and attacking people." As one woman quipped when I asked her if she wasn't going to watch the hunters parade to the presidential palace: "It's not good, this hunter thing. We fear the president wants to use all the hunters' powers to extend his mandate. That's what people are saying. Besides, all the shooting has given me a headache."
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 20 of 33: Cheryl (CherylB) * Sat, Jun 2, 2001 (15:39) * 1 lines
Thanks Maggie. I really know very little about animists and their belief systems. I found the concept of the hunters and their mothers and sisters being able to to transform into animals quite interesting. It's the metamorph legend, which is very ancient and almost universal. I did know that in some sub-Saharan African societies their are stories of shamans who could transform into leopards.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 21 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Wed, Jun 13, 2001 (16:20) * 12 lines
Anyone who visits Africa will see that football (soccer) is more than a game it is part of culture ..and has a culture all its own.......the African Nations Cup will be held in Mali next year and is BIG thing. This news clip from the BBC gives you a little feel of it .....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/football/africa/newsid_1385000/1385047.stm
Tuesday, 12 June, 2001, 14:49 GMT 15:49 UK
Fierce battles for last Mali places
Competition is still hot for places in Mali
There are only four places left to be filled at next year's African Nations Cup, but the final round of qualifiers is still sure to produce some thrilling battles. Group One sees three teams on five points, with Madagascar, Zambia and Namibia all rating their chances of reaching Mali highly. Madagascar are all but certain to appear at their first Finals if they beat Zambia in Antananarivo on Saturday, and will look back to a 2-1 upset win against the Zambians early on in qualifying to prove they can do it. The Malagasy only lost 1-0 in Nigeria last time out, and the fact they did not concede a crucial second goal means even a draw will keep them ahead of Chipolopolo on goals scored. However, a draw would allow Namibia to sneak second spot and, although they face Nigeria, the strong west Africans have named an inexperienced, largely home-based team. It would be no surprise therefore if the Brave Warriors won to give themselves a chance of only their second Finals after debuting at Burkina Faso '98. In Group
hree, Kenya are holding second spot but will have to produce a formidable performance to come away with the draw they need in Tunisia to keep the north African giants at bay. Kenya held Morocco 1-1 at home last time, although they faded badly, and warmed up with another 1-1 scoreline against Egypt last weekend. Gabon could still sneak in with an unlikely victory in Morocco. Angola have only a slim chance of taking second spot in Group Four as they will expect to beat Burundi in Cabinda, but must hope Burkina Faso do not pick up the point they need at home to Algeria. The Burkinabe are unlikely to fail against an Algerian side in transition that struggled to beat Angola 3-2 at home in the last round to secure their own spot. The critical game in Group Six is DR Congo v Zimbabwe, with morale in great contrast in the two camps. Under new coach Yuri Gavrilov, the Congolese picked up a valuable 0-0 draw in Lesotho and will be hot favourites at home against the Warriors. Zimbabwe were desolate to concede a last-m
nute winner to Ghana in Harare when victory would have taken them to their first Nations Cup finals. If that game ends as a draw, then Lesotho could become Finals debutants if they can pick up a point in Ghana.
The other matches are in groups which are settled, and many teams will field inexperienced sides as the trend continues towards including more home-based players. Already qualified: Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa, Liberia, Morocco, Algeria, Togo, Senegal, Ghana, Egypt, Ivory Coast
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 22 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Wed, Jun 13, 2001 (16:35) * 1 lines
Yes, Cheryl, I am still finding out more about the hunters. I met a couple of years ago a young man (on the internet) who is studying them and has actually lived in the same village that I was working in in Mali (it was an amazing coincidence).
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 23 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Thu, Jun 14, 2001 (10:58) * 42 lines
WEST AFRICA: IRIN Focus on renewal of small arms moratorium
ACCRA, 11 June (IRIN) - West African civil society groups have urged the subregion's leaders to renew a three-year moratorium on the import, export
and manufacture of small arms that expires this year and "ensure its effective and efficient implementation".Participants in a civil society consultation on the moratorium, held on 7-9 June in Accra, Ghana, also called on the UN system to "pursue its political, technical and financial support to the moratorium" and declare the illicit trade in small arms a "crime against peace and humanity" to be punished as such.
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) signed the 'Declaration
of a Moratorium on Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Light Weapons
in West Africa' on 31 October 1998 in Abuja, Nigeria. They followed this up
on 10 December 1999, by approving a 'Code of Conduct for the Implementation
of the Moratorium' in Lome, Togo.
Encouraging signs
Although the moratorium was a political initiative and not legally binding,
the fact that some states had applied for exemptions to buy weapons - as prescribed in the code of conduct - was an encouraging sign, Afi Yakubu of
the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA), said.
"It is on record that countries such as Ghana, The Gambia, Senegal, Cote
d'Ivoire and Nigeria (have) actually sought exemption from the ECOWAS
executive secretary to import small arms for training the police or armed
forces, or for peacekeeping in Sierra Leone," she said. "Five years ago this
would have been unheard of." However, she said, there had been "one or two violations" by countries and the moratorium had failed to curtail the recycling of weapons from one conflict zone to another and there were still wars in the region. Civil society organisations plan to evaluate the moratorium, propose changes and help to monitor implementation. The Code of Conduct requires governments to create national commissions to "promote and ensure coordination of concrete measures for effective implementation of the moratorium. However, only about six countries have done so. The civil society representatives called on ECOWAS leaders to set up the commissions where they do not exist and strengthen existing ones. They also urged governments to ensure full participation of civil society in the commissions", another Code of Conduct requirement. The Accra meeting's final declaration, issued on Saturday, also calls on ECOWAS leaders to declare 31 October an annual Moratorium Day.
Effects of the proliferation of small arms Small and light weapons are those which can be carried by one or two persons or loaded onto a light vehicle. They include rifles, carabines, pistols, submachine and machine guns, anti-tank guns, mortars and howitzers. Such weapons have been used to wage 46 of the estimated 49 wars fought in Africa between 1970 and 1996. Each year, there are over 700,000 deaths from small arms, more than half of them in Africa, according to 'Light Weapons, the Making of the Moratorium', a study published in April by the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, based in Lome, Togo, in cooperation with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Yakubu said there were an estimated 100 million small arms in the hands of non-state actors in Africa. The proliferation of such weapons was the major factor in the ethnic and religious strife, political instability and violent crime on the continent, she said. Within West Africa, examples of the effects of small arms abou
d, including the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by conflicts in Guinea,
Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. The proliferation of small arms and light weapons in West Africa "undermines good governance, violates fundamental human rights and jeopardizes economic development, social justice and peace," the forum noted in its final declaration. The civil society representatives were also concerned about "the increasing complexity of the global flow in both licit and illicit small arms and its close linkages with organised crime", including the trafficking of blood diamonds, armed robberies, child trafficking, the drug trade, money laundering and mercenary activities. Factors that encourage the proliferation of small arms Factors that encourage the proliferation of small arms in Africa include problems of governance, such as the mismanagement of resources, non-adherence to the rule of law, ineffective policing, ethnic domination and manipulation and the conflicts and political instability they often cause, according to Dr Olumide Ajayi, programmes manager of the Africa
Leadership Forum in Ota, Nigeria. Weak national and regional legislation on the manufacture, trade and use of small weapons were another contributory factor, and "current conflicts are major vents for the supply and accumulation of small arms," he said. Most of these conflicts were over economic resources and involved international networks of political and business concerns which were
sometimes difficult to decode. This, he added, was why the major prolonged
wars - those most lucrative to weapons dealers - were concentrated in
resource-rich countries such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and
Sierra Leone. Most export control systems in the region were weak and inaction by governments and officials encouraged the cross-border transfer of arms, he
said. And, he added, "some of the small arms and light weapons being used
within a (given) state are from government armouries."
Comprehensive approach needed
A comprehensive approach to peace building as a means of stemming arms
proliferation was needed, he noted, and in this connection the principles of
the Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa
were particularly relevant. The CSSDCA, proposed in 1991 by the ALF, amended with inputs from civil society organisations in April 2000 and adopted by the Organisation of African Unity at its 36th summit in Togo in July 2000, is a standing conference that meets every two years. Its components are security,
stability, development and cooperation. Two of the principles on which its security component is anchored are that measures should be taken to prevent or contain conflicts before they become violent confrontations, and that Africa needs a framework of common and collective continental security. African governments must also be guided by the principles of good neighbourliness and peaceful resolution of conflicts, and national and continental self-reliance in certain strategic areas are vital for Africa's security and must cover military and non-military aspects. The idea that security, including the issue of small arms, needs to be looked at from a broad perspective, was an underlying theme at the consultation. "Real security lies in development, in the sustained improvement of people's living standards," Togba na Tipoteh, president of the Movement for Justice in Africa, told IRIN.
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 22-40-4440; Fax (Admin): +225 22-40-4435; Fax
(Editorial Desk): +225-22-41-9339; e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci]
(For further information on the campaign for the renewal of the ECOWAS
Moratorium and related issues, see
www.iansa/ecowas/moratorium )
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 24 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Mon, Jul 2, 2001 (01:12) * 2 lines
This About.com site is a marvellous repository for information about African Cultures. http://africancultures.about.com/culture/africancultures/library/extras/blwel.htm
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 25 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Fri, Jul 6, 2001 (05:49) * 43 lines
WEST AFRICA REVIEW (W.A.R.) is pleased to announce the publication of
Volume 2, Number 2. It is available at:
http://www.westafricareview.com -- or go directly to the issue at:
http://www.westafricareview.com/war/vol2.2/index2.2.htm
Join us at http://www.westafricareview.com for the usual bold scholarship
by some of the most exciting writers. Read the essays online with our
eye-and-hand-friendly pop-up footnotes technology, or simply print from the
accompanying "print copy" prepared in adobe format. Enjoy hip original
cover art specially selected for each issue. Thank heavens the best things
in life, like air and WEST AFRICA REVIEW, are still free!
------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Editorial:
TO OUR READERS
Olufemi Taiwo
Articles:
CHOOSING A LEGAL THEORY ON CULTURAL GROUNDS: AN AFRICAN CASE FOR LEGAL
POSITIVISM
Jare Oladosu, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria
CAN AFRICA INCREASE ITS GLOBAL SHARE OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI)?
Honest Prosper Ngowi, The Norwegian School of Economics & Business
Administration, Bergen, Norway
RETURNING TO THE AFRICAN CORE: CABRAL AND THE ERASURE OF THE COLONIZED ELITE
Charles Peterson, The College of Wooster, Ohio, USA
THE FUTURE OF SUBJECT PEOPLES
William Esuman-Gwira Sekyi (also known as Kobina Sekyi), Ghana
Review Essays:
IMPROVISED AFRICANS: THE MYTH AND MEANING OF AFRICA IN NINEENTH CENTURY
AFRICAN AMERICAN THOUGHT (TUNDE ADELEKE'S UNAFRICAN AMERICANS
Corey D. B. Walker, Carter G. Woodson Institute for Afro-American and
African Studies, University of Virginia, Virgina, USA
In Focus:
"THESE WOMEN ARE STRONG": WOMEN OF BIAFRA
Azuka Nzegwu, Binghamton University, New York, USA
ON BIAFRA: THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS OF NDI IGBO IN THE
FEDERATION OF NIGERIA
Oha-Na-Eze Ndi Igbo, Nigeria
...and a new RESEARCH FOCUS section profiling the essays and analysis on
the war and political conflict...
________________
Editors
WEST AFRICA REVIEW
http://www.westafricareview.com
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 26 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Tue, Jul 10, 2001 (13:59) * 2 lines
Hair braiding is an important part of life for most women in Africa. Here's a super picture. While you're there..have a look around the pictures on the site.
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/snapshots/misc1.html
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 27 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Mon, Jul 16, 2001 (17:05) * 3 lines
This study which is written in a very approachable style plus photos will give you a good idea of communications in a West African village today.
http://www.ixpres.com/twolff/senegalcommunicationresearch.htm
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 28 of 33: Culcha (terry) * Mon, Jul 16, 2001 (21:49) * 4 lines
Reminds me of a powerful statement made by Angelica Huston, who plays one of the leads in tonights "Mists of Avalon"
I don't think this is a movie about special effects. I think this is a movie about communication, before telephones, before television, before the Net. I think there's basic true power - a power that we all contain within ourselves that's been there long before other means of communication. I saw a program a few years ago about a tribe in Africa that could summon its sister tribe from 200 miles away just by beating drums. This is very much the essence of The Mists Of Avalon. It's that sort of ESP where, for example, you know who's calling you on the telephone before you answer it. These were times where they didn't have modern conveniences so thought was that much more powerful.
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 29 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Tue, Jul 17, 2001 (04:10) * 3 lines
The family we lived with in Cameroon had a 'drum house' ...the drums had their own language .. and we witenssed several occasions where they were used to send messages to people working in the fields .. I don't know about 200 miles away ... we were in a dense forested area and sound didn't carry that far!
I'm not familiar with the Mists of Avalon ....a TV programme?
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 30 of 33: Culcha (terry) * Tue, Jul 17, 2001 (08:54) * 1 lines
It was a tv show on last night, there's a topic for it in the tv and movie conference. It's replaying on TNT a couple of more times (schedule in these topics).
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 31 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Tue, Jul 17, 2001 (09:13) * 1 lines
Hasn't made it to the UK yet ......I presume TNT is a TV channel?
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 32 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Fri, Aug 31, 2001 (03:24) * 79 lines
The Editors of IJELE: ART EJOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN WORLD are pleased to
announce the publication of Volume 2, Number 1.
Join us at http://www.ijele.com/ijele/vol2.1/toc2.1.htm for the usual fest
of scholarship and fascinating exhibitions. Read the essays online, or
simply print from the accompanying "print copy" prepared in adobe format.
------------
Table of contents:
Editorial: READ ON AND BE CHALLENGED!
Ikem Okoye, University of Delaware, USA
Articles:
RE-/PRESENTING BLACK FEMALE IDENTITY IN BRAZIL: 'FILHAS D'OXUM IN BAHIA
CARNIVAL
Carole Boyce Davies, Northwestern University, USA
"'SWINGING' THEORY: THE BLUES IDIOM AS VOX POPULI
Charles Peterson, The College of Wooster, USA
FRENCH COLONIAL ART EDUCATION IN MOROCCO
Hamid Irbouh, Binghamton University, USA
ART AS TIME-LINES: FAMILY REPRESENTATION IN SACRAL SPACES
Nkiru Nzegwu, Binghamton University, USA
NEGOTIATING IDENTITY: URBAN COMMUNITY MURAL ART IN SOUTH AFRICA
Sabine Marschall, Cape Town University, South Africa
THE COUNCIL OF FEDERATED ORGANIZATIONS MISSISSIPPI LITERACY PROJECT & THE
STUDENT NONVIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE
Lee Jack Morton, New Jersey and Eric Morton, Fort Valley State
University of Georgia USA
Film & Video Reviews:
"RECALLING THE FUTURE: ART IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA"
Julie L. McGee, Bowdoin College, USA
Exhibition & Book Reviews:
(MISSED) CONNECTION AND CONTEXT: AMERICAN EXHIBITS/AUDIENCES AND MODERN
AFRICAN ART: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF ENCOUNTERS WITH THE CONTEMPORARY
Courtney E. Cole
OZIOMA ONUZULIKE: REDRAWING THE FRONTIERS OF CERAMICS
C. Krydz Ikwuemesi
Exhibitions:
CELEBRATING ADIRE: THE BATIK ART OF NIKE
Artist: Nike Ojo (Davies) Okundaye
bodies/BODIES
Artist: Kelechi Amadi-Obi
THE BEST IS YET TO COME
Artist: Chinwe Uwatse
ONE PLUS ONE...THE INFINITY OF POSSIBILITIES
Artists: Uche Edochie
MANUSCRIPTS: ANCIENT SYMBOLS / CONTEMPORARY FORMS
Artists: Victor Ekpuk
OZIOMA ONUZULIKE: EARTH TO ART
Artist: Ozioma Onuzulike
CRITICAL VISUAL COMMENTARY
Artist: Kasumba Stephen
Research Photograph Gallery:
FILHOS DE GANDHI, BAHIA CARNIVAL
Carole Boyce Davies
________________
Editors
IJELE: ART EJOURNL OF THE AFRICAN WORLD
http://www.ijele.com
Topic 29 of 42 [cultures]: African culture
Response 33 of 33: Maggie (sociolingo) * Wed, Apr 10, 2002 (14:36) * 20 lines
The Dagara tribe of West Central Africa successfully categorize their people into five different categories: fire, water, mineral, earth and nature. These are shown above on the African Wheel with the colors the Dagara normally associate with each type. Each of the five types of people play a very specific role. Every person born into this world comes from one of these categories in order to help fulfill the kind of function that that category of people is supposed to fulfill in order to keep the community together.
There are certain people that are referred to as "fire" people and these people are connected with the element named fire. Symbolically these people are supposed to be the link between the village and the world of the ancestors. They are supposed to be the ones that function as conduits through whom ancestral energy is passed on to the village. Therefore, more often than not, the kind of perception that they are linked to is dreaming. Their dream world is, so to say, very enriched. Their so called "intuition" is also very rich, and so is their perceptiveness.
It is not difficult to tell whether you have fire energy or not. If you don't dream, be careful. If you dream, still be careful, :) because either way something has happened. The important thing is to be very alert to the detailed images that are coming to you (in dreams). This is why you need fire people with an ability to help other people who encounter these images to be able to know how to deal with them. The Dagara do not encounter a strange dream experience, and then wake up acting as if it had been a spectacle, a movie. Instead they take action. If you do not know what action to take, then you go find somebody who can help you find out. It is a participant attitude. A lot of times when you don't know what to do, you are advised to tell Spirit that you would like to do something, but you don't know what to do. This is considered acting on it. But it is not acting on it to think about it as some kind of interesting view. It is not supposed to be interesting, it is supposed to be effective. It is suppos
d to be something real.
We also have people that are called the "water" people. These people are usually considered the peacemakers. They are the ones with the ability to reconcile differences, both differences within the self and differences with one another. Therefore, when there is conflict, they say "Well, is there a water person around?" Not that a water person is supposed to come and hose the people :), but because there is a general understanding that if you have a conflict with someone, and a water person shows up, you have got to take that into account. You have got to postpone shooting one another! :) So a water person may be referred to as a reconciler, one that brings peace back, and the one that also helps maintain the serene nature of village life.
To these people you add what are called the "earth" people, who are directly a reflection of earth energy search. There function is to empower people, to nurture people, to make them feel at home. One of the challenges of existence is to constantly have a way to tell that we are welcome. Another one is to be able to be seen the way we are. If the world around us truly sees us, we have an opportunity to build hope. Otherwise, we tend to draw a circle. So therefore earth people are expected to be the ones that bring the best out of others, give them a sense of belonging, a sense of home.
To these three categories we add another one which is referred to as "mineral." Mineral is what I was basically referring to when I talked earlier about memory existing in the bone. Mineral people are referred to in English slang as "real story tellers." In a non-literate culture these people are equipped with a baffling memory, a powerful memory. They have all of the stories. Not just generic kinds of stories that are easy and mythological, but also genealogic stories, mechanic stories, stories of the kind that address the issue of creation.
Certain things have the power to produce healing within us provided that we remember them. Just like certain kinds of illness can only grow inside of us if we maintain silence around them. The same way the ability to remember something releases that thing into an energy form capable of making a lot of difference in our lives. That's what mineral people do, and what mineral energy as such is capable of producing within individuals.
The last one we call "nature." The nature people are also referred to as the "witches." I know the Western world doesn't like the word witches. They have killed a few of them over time. :) Probably they intend to kill some more. :) But the point is, a witch is really a great thing to have, because this is what we call nature energy in its purest form. In my village for instance, the tree that we see is not a fixed thing that stays there for several hundred years. The tree is probably the most mobile consciousness that we can tap into. There is no real clear English way of demonstrating a,b,c why . . . why the tree can be the most mobile thing. But believe it or not, this is the way it is. The Dagara people believe in a certain hierarchy in consciousness. The highest consciousness is the vegetable world, the nature world, trees. The second is the animal world, and the third one is us. :) So we are trailing behind. :)
Therefore a nature person is considered to be extremely important. That person knows the book of nature in such a way that they have the key to the evolution of our consciousness. The jungle is itself a decipherable book. When you look at nature it appears to be chaos, but you can perceive patterns in the chaos. If you only see chaos in nature it is a reflection of the chaos inside yourself. There is a very perfect order in nature. Understanding this kind of order is understanding the cosmic phenomenon.
http://www.malidoma.com/Malidoma/some2.html
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