There were many cultural beliefs and practices that changed the outcome of Abina’s life including liberalism, industrialism, imperialism, colonialism, nationalism, slavery, and gender discriminations. Through the Western influences that the British brought to Africa, not only did Abina’s life change but the positive and negative effects influenced everyone in her village.
There are so many cultural ideologies and beliefs that shaped Abina’s testimony. There is little bit of nationalism with a sense of pride of there African heritage, who wish to deny western and colonial cultural influence would reject European style suits and wear traditional African clothes. You could say there is industrialism and imperialism, with the growth of the different western countries for there benefit and because it was during the industrial era, it was used to export raw materials and the import of goods. The two ideologies that I think are big in the Abina’s story. Colonialism affects the story of Abina so much and we do not truly understand that until we look deep into it. First starting in the eco...
In the novel, Abina And The Important Men written by Trevor Getz and Liz Clarke, Abina who is a woman from West Africa who was wrongfully enslaved and decided to bring it to the attention of the courts in 1876. While reading this book, the reader begins to see how the officials in Britain where turning a blind eye to the fact that slavery was indeed present all for the sake of maintaining there economic status as well as maintaining good relations with the “important men” of West Africa. Palm oil is one of the most valuable as well as important harvests and the men described in the book as the head of production are equally as valuable. The power and authority that these men have on the growth of the economy is what allows the reader to see that these men are the “important men”. Because palm oil is an important factor in the economic status of West Africa, the men who are in charge of producing it are equally as important. Abina believed that her enslavement was without merit and was willing to do whatever it took to get somebody to listen to her and to eventually take the man who did keep her as a slave, to court. Because, the man was a palm oil grower, this case would not be, in the least bit, a silent matter. Thanks to the new laws being enforced against slavery however, Abina’s story would now be put placed in the mercy of Judge William Melton who thought she deserved a fighting chance.
Throughout history, it is not uncommon for stories to become silenced; especially, when such a story is being told by the voice of a slave's. Slaves were not granted the same equal rights as the free men. They also were not seen as whole individuals -- worth less than the average citizen, to be sold and traded as property. Abina Mansha was a female slave whom once lived in Asante but came to live in the British Gold Coast Colony during 1876, after being sold to Guamin Eddoo by her husband, Yawawhah. As Abina claims in her testimony, her purchase was no accident. "Slavery had been abolished throughout the British Empire, a law extended into the Gold Coast in 1874. Yet ironically, the demand for laborers on the growing palm oil plantations and in the houses of those who own them means that the trade in slaves into the Gold Coast does not dry up following the war" (Getz and Clark, 2011, p. 6). Abina And The Important Men: A Graphic History written by Trevor R. Getz and Liz Clarke, but spoken in different perspectives, helps shed light on Abina's personal lifestyle; while the date and location provides us with further insight on how the world reacted to 19th century Western culture.
In the graphic history of Abina and the Important Men, the social construct of gender played an enormous role, and became the major determinant of the outcome of Abina’s case. The protagonist, Abina, was a young woman who lived in the nineteenth century in the British Colony of the Gold Coast, which is presently the country of Ghana (Getz and Clarke, 127-128). She believed that she was sold into slavery at a time when it was illegal, and decided to testify against Quamina Eddoo, her supposed master. The premise of her case was the legality of Eddoo’s “ownership” of her, and what was problematic in this time and place was the definition of “freedom” while being a woman. By challenging Eddoo’s innocence in court, Abina challenged the extremely
At first, traditional urban life continued as it always had, but then Western imperialistic ideas began to come into their midst. It started when a tannery was established in their small village town, then white men begin building, and prostitution became a menace to their lifestyles. The tannery had been a source for income during difficult times when famine struck their livelihood. After awhile Western imperialistic ideas began to manifest themselves in her sons lives, as when they became aware of the idea of union type strikes. This occurred when the white owners were cheating them of their proper earnings. “Then one day they di...
There are constant struggles between gender, identity, commodification, and class. Among the men and women in many African tribes that still exist today, there are divergences, which will always remain intact because of the culture and the way in which they are taught to treat each other. Chinua Achebe wrote the novel, Things Fall Apart, which is a great piece of African literature that deals with the Igbo culture, history, and the taking over of African lands by British colonization. The ongoing gender conflict is a prominent theme in Things Fall Apart, presenting the clash between men and women of the African Igbo society. Throughout history, from the beginning of time to today, women have frequently been viewed as inferior, men’s possessions whose sole purpose was to satisfy the men’s needs.
The situations described by these three articles cannot be used to make grand, sweeping statements about women’s roles in all of Africa;...
Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, was based on a story and the culture in Nigeria, Western Africa. Women’s roles and responsibilities have transitioned over several of years. The book arises a situation of how the Ibo women were treated and looked upon. In the Ibo culture, the women did not only suffer a great loss of their dignity, but also their pride as women. The whole role of women in the Ibo culture is different in various ways compared to the female race in modern society. The modern society in Nigeria, women are not so powerless, and also have the opportunity to work alongside the opposite gender.
An overwhelming majority of African nations has reclaimed their independence from their European mother countries. This did not stop the Europeans from leaving a permanent mark on the continent however. European colonialism has shaped modern-day Africa, a considerable amount for the worse, but also some for the better. Including these positive and negative effects, colonialism has also touched much of Africa’s history and culture especially in recent years.
In this unit of our class, we went more in depth of the life of the people of Africa. The book we ready was "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. Then in lecture about one of the last nomad tribes in Africa, the Woodabe tribe. This section was more after the colonialism, and more about how their society and people acts. What I thing was important in this section was how they view a family. Coming from a broken family, I hope that my family will not end up like my parents. Reading the book, watching the clips in class, and the lecture, we see how they view family and family matters. How the men takes multiple wives, how they raise their children, and how the men view themselves in the family. These views are not the main views of Africans today,
In a postcolonial analysis of “Anowa”, we can see some evidence of Colonialism. Colonialism is a situation whereby a dominant imperium or center carries on a relationship of control and influence over colonies (Key Terms in Post-Colonial Theory, n.d.). In this drama, Aidoo portrays a crucial historical moment in Ghanaian history through the personal tragedy of Anowa and Kofi Ako. Anowa in a sense represents Africa, her destruction representing its conquest and the resulting breakdown of the morality, spiritu...
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Africa was caught up in a sea of change. By 1880, the slave trade was all but abolished, thanks to many of the European powers. This resulted in an almost complete reshaping of the political, social, and economic landscape; the upper class of Africans that were participating in this horrendous trade had lost one of their biggest means of acquiring wealth. Luckily for the rest of the population, the goods that had a high market value: ivory, copal, cloves, beeswax, honey, wild coffee, peanuts, cotton, rubber, and palm oil, could be procured by simple gathering or agriculture practices. This led to “a more equitable distribution of wealth, especially in the rural areas” (Boahen, 4) because everyone, not just the ruling class, could participate in this up and coming economy. This, in turn, gave rise to the status of the average African, because now he could produce commodities for sale. Additionally, since there were no concerns about becoming a commodity himself he was free of the worry he might be enslaved and shipped off to some unknown land. But most of all, with the absence of slavery came a period of peace and stability because the rulers of various kingdoms ceased to participate in the wars and raids that furnished them with slaves. It is because of these factors that on the eve of colonial conquest and occupation by the European powers, Africa was on the rise, politically, socially, economically, and intellectually. It could therefore be postulated that if it were not for the imposition of the colonial system the nation states emerging at the time, or even the entire continent itself, would have become a formidable world power.
In Kenya men are dominated of profit, and women are used for leisure. After two years of the great change. Wariinga changed the perspective of women. She had now gone back to school in the field that most would describe as a man’s job. Wariinga had become successful at fixing cars, she eve demanded respect from the men that would come in and get their cars fixed who would always look at her body before wanting service done for the car. Even though some were a threat if it had not been for some of the characters for standing up for what they believed in then some people in Kenya would have still been taken advantage of. Some people may have not notice have foreigners used workers to make their homeland better. Foreigners and robbers had been taking from Kenya and each character stood up to make the country
The small African village in this story has being taken over by the western culture. Westernization is shown in the beginning of the story. “Julius Obi sat gazing at his typewriter.” “There was an empty basket on the giant weighing machine.” In these two quotes the typewriter and the weighing machine, odd objects for the African native of this village show perfectly how this town has being westernized. “Julius Obi was not a native of Umuru. He had come like countless others from some bush village island. Having passed his Standard Six in a mission school he had come to Umuru to work as a clerk in the offices of the powerful European trading company …”This quote shows how Julius has himself being westernized. Westernization wasn’t welcomed by many of the Umuru natives. The natives had long prayed for their town to prosper and grow. “The strangers who came to Umuru came for the trade and money, not in search of duties to perform…” This shows that people who now came to town, came strictly for business and money, which tells the reader how the town isn’t what it used to be. “And as if it did not suffice, the young sons and daughters of Umuru soil, encouraged by schools and churches were behaving no better than the strangers. They neglected all their old tasks and kept only the revelries.” This show how even the young ones of this village have being westernized to the point, where they completely neglect their own traditions and beliefs.
While their beliefs are strong, post colonialism has placed an inferiority complex upon the culture of the people. As opposed to highlighting their relatively new freedoms, Achebe speaks as if Africans let their beliefs serve as a shadow cast upon them in the high technology modern world that they are looking to find. Achebe wants to build a confidence in his people that makes them as proud of their culture as any other. He mentions "anti- racist racism" as a way to uplift the African people. With African writers implanting the positive power of ethnocentrism and acceptance, the people will gain the confidence to infuse their old ways with that of the new world.
Having done the above analysis on my favourite text, “Anowa” by Ama Ataa Aidoo, I realise that my like for the text have heightened because the analysis of Anowa has given me a deeper understanding of Africa’s colonialism. I now know what actually led to our colonialisation (the betrayal) and how it began(the bond of 1844) through the personal lives of Anowa and Kofi.