WHI.16


 *  **

=Explain how extended family/kinship & tribal relationships have shaped indigenous African cultures, and their effects on the political and economic development of African countries.=


 * Topics on this page: **

//Focus Question: How did family/kinship and tribal relationships shape African cultures, politics, and economic development?//
Here is an overview of the "Traditional African Family" __**KINSHIP SOCIETIES:**__ 1. //Nuclear Family//: Centering around the father, it includes his wives and children. 2. //Extended Family//: Along with the nuclear family, also includes his brothers, sisters, their children and his parents. 3. //Age-Set//: In a community, groups of individuals born with-in a few years of one another. Members learn tasks appropriate to their age levels, develop together, and, through this, naturally form friendships and later political allies. Depending on the community, young boys and girls will split up to learn their gender-specific roles (see gender roles below). 4. //Clan//: Persons in a community bonded by a common name and identity, marriage rules, common religious obligations, property ownership, mutual economic and political support, or protection from a rival or aggressor, among others. 5. //Lineage (Ancestry)//: Family units that incorporated extended family members who all lived together. The members of this unit all have claim to a common ancestor.

I. Lineage Groups: Extended family units were combined into larger communities.
Lineage groups... - ...determined identity. - ...were parents, children, and grandparents and family dependents. - ...lived in small round dwellings. - ...where all members could claim membership to a real or legendary ancestor. - ...provided mutual support for all members.

Family units or clans dominated the early communities of Africa. Family units were a way of survival and provided members with a sense of importance and meaning. The basis of kinship in Africa as elsewhere was and is descent from a common ancestor. The clan is the most widespread descent group and can be either paternal or maternal. Still, Men have always had the most power in the family. Clans are clusters of kin who claim to share a common ancestry, but can rarely trace the actual links of descent. Every African society has some sort of descent group which is the basis of social organization. The recognition of descent can help clans last for several decades or longer based on the notion of common "blood." These clans can claim ownership to family property and through marriages clans can gain more land and "cultural diversity." These strong kinships still exist in Africa despite industrial and technological advancements. These clans are well suited to traditional forms of production and exchange while providing a sense of personal identity and security of high emotive value.

A. Impact on culture
**//__Role of Women:__//** - Subordinate to men - Bear children to make lineage group or family larger - Work in the fields - Raise children to 6 years old; teach language, family history & songs that gave life meaning - Teach girls how to care for home and work in fields - Teach daughters how to be good wives and mothers

For a current view of women's role in African society click here

//The Dahomey Warrior Women:// The Gbeto warriors were a group of women enlisted as an elite bodyguard to the king of the Dahomey who served through the 18th and 19th century. European travelers compared them to the mythological Amazonian women of Ancient Greece but they were fierce and dedicated fighters with a semi-sacred status in the kingdom. Today, descendants of the Gbeto warriors serve as a ceremonial contingent of the King's bodyguard. Watch a brief clip on the Dahomey Warrior Women: @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHoUS9GAHz4.

- Tend cattle - Control boys’ education after age 6 - Teach boys how to survive with hunting/fishing (Spielvogel, 2005)
 * __//Role of Men://__**
 * At the age of puberty all children undergo initiation ceremony where they symbolically die and are reborn. Boys and girls then enter the full life of the community.

Click here for an article about Aka, an African tribes, gender roles.

Most slaves were captives of war and were most often used for agricultural labor but, depending on the community and environment, could also work in mines or as porters. Others could be debtors or criminals but because of the bonds in kinship societies it was preferred to enslave a person from a rival tribe.
 * __//Slavery://__**

Some of the first accounts of slavery in Africa have been recorded as early as 3,500 years ago in Ancient Egypt when slaves were acquired from raids or through slave markets along the Nile. Slaves were often sold after capture to move them away from familiar territory to prevent runaways. Most slaves in early Africa were women. They performed agricultural duties as well as domestic and economic activity including spinning cotton, preparing food, and cleaning. In some societies they were also kept as wives or concubines. Men generally performed more physically demanding duties such as farming, herding animals, construction of buildings, or metalwork. Slaves found kinship connections with the familes they were owned by. Many were considered to be like extended family and in some cases they could earn their freedom.

Overview of African Slavery

BBC radio series on The Root of African Slavery

//**__A____ncestors:__**// Ancestor veneration was an important part of most African Tribal cultures and religion. Ancestors could be prayed to or appeased in times of drought, infertility, war or natural disasters. The importance of communication and respect between the living and the dead was extremely important for most tribes.

Traditional African Society Slideshow

African History through Art: Essay from Professor James Giblin at the University of Iowa that discusses art as a source for understanding history. About halfway down the page, there is helpful and progressive insight into the modern understandings of "Tribalism" that disputes the simplistic connotations of African Society.

B. Influence on politics:
- Clans/lineage groups had own local leaders without states. - South Africa mixed economics of trade, herding, farming. Therefore, villages were built inside walls to protect animals/possessions. - By the 11th century, villages were consolidated while forming the first states. - Zimbabwe prospered from gold trade.

//In recent decades, historians have questioned the "tribal" model by investigating inter-regional connections, political institutions, and the multiplicity of social identities which existed in the African past. Historical research has been particularly effective in demonstrating that, far from living in isolated "tribes," Africans developed institutions which maintained political, social and economic relationships across wide regions. Consequently, African identities were shaped by both village life and the world of road and market, and by highly localized concerns as well as inter-regional relationships.//
 * __An excerpt from the essay__ __"Issues in African History" by James Giblin__** (Find the link under bibliography):

__**Politics //after// European Missionaries and Colonialism**__ Due to the great importance placed on kinship and ancestral ties, African politics did not evolve into the complexity of modern Western politics. Within these clans small communities formed and usually males took on the positions of power and made the decisions. This form of politics is far less complex than what the Europeans had.* Politics, as many Westerns know it, only came to Africa through colonization by Europeans. Within the colonies the politics of Europe spread through some parts of Africa. Another influence on African politics came from the missionaries of Europe during colonization. For example, in Ghana missionaries, along with establishing churches, established schools, universities, and colleges. Methodists established a strong presence in Ghana through education and ideals. They believed education was the best method to establish a central governing body and a modern society. A great deal of African politics came from the establishment of different churches by missionaries. These missionaries came during the colonial expansion in Europe and the Western world.

//*These statements seem misleading and out of context. Who decides what is considered "complex" politics?// //What are the ways in women participated in politics in tribal Africa that were not easily documented or understood by Western historians? Does this paragraph lead us to believe that colonization and missionaries in Africa led to "development" and "progress"?//


 * __Lesson Plan Idea__:** Words are powerful and bias the way we view history. Teaching Tolerance has a great lesson plan that gets into the fact that "The general sense of tribe as most people understand it is associated with primitiveness. To be in a tribal state is to live in an uncomplicated, traditional condition." Adapt it for your classroom here: @http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-19-spring-2001/feature/trouble-tribe.

__Concept Map 1:__



 * Bibliography**

Beck, Black, Naylor & Shabaka, Roger, L., P., & Dahia Ibo (1999). //World History.// Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell Inc.

Harris, J (1998). //Africans and Their History//. New York, New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.

Isizoh, C (2006 11 06). African Traditional Religion. Retrieved February 17, 2007, from African Traditional Religion Web site: http://www.afrikaworld.net/afrel/

Mwase, I Kuona, An African Perspective on Religions: J.N.K. Mugambi's Contribution. Retrieved February 17, 2007, from Kuona, An African Perspective on Religions: J.N.K. Mugambi's Contribution Web site: http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Reli/ReliMwas.htm

Robinson, D Saint-Louis: Religious Pluralism in the Heart of Senegal. Retrieved February 17, 2007, from Africa Online Digital Library Web site: http://www.aodl.org/robinson/

Spielvogel, Jackson J (2005). //Glencoe World History.// Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Michigan State University, Exploring Africa. Retrieved February 17, 2007, from Unit Three; Studying Africa through the Humanities Web site: http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m14/activity3.php

Mami Wata West African & Diaspora Vodoun The World's First Religions. Retrieved February 17, 2007, from Mami Wata West African & Diaspora Vodoun The World's First Religions Web site: http://www.mamiwata.com/index1.html#culture

http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Introduction-to-Africa-Family-Kinship-and-Domestic-Groupings.html