The effects of colonization have additional influences on the structure of the South African’s personal lifestyle. Scholars note that colonization has had an effects on the gradual breakdown of traditional family values (8). The reason being that the Western idea of social organization has been brought into the African countries, resulting in the gradual loss of the traditional ancestral honor. Arowolo’s account on the situation stated: “there is no more respect for age; no more respect for values that we held sacrosanct in Africa; younger ones now find it very difficult to greet elderly ones (8). The Western values have also promoted the ideas of individualism rather than communism in the family’s structure. There is a larger incidence rate of children belonging to single parents before colonization—a phenomenon that is identifiable with America, has clearly influenced the South African families (8). In addition, Emma Guest, a researcher that has visited Africa, believes that westernization, along with disease, and other extraneous factors that negatively impact family structure, ultimately threatens to “destroy entire cultures [in South Africa, and other parts of …show more content…
the continent]” (10). Many children are left without the benefit of growing up in a family, and they are instead raised up in westernized orphanages, “never learning traditional values, customs, or skills”, which ultimately negatively impacts the South African society as a whole (10). Moreover, the European colonization of South Africa, and quite frankly Africa in general, has created a disastrous societal organization in the efforts to Westernize the country more. The building patterns differed from before the colonial era, as described by Arowolo: “the way we build now is different from the way it was; we no longer take into cognizance our own peculiarity in the building process. We now build houses without ventilation” (8). Additionally the urbanization in itself has led to the rural exodus and furthermore the displacement of large segments of the population (8). Along with the building projects, came the frequent instances of corruption from the government—de-legitimizing the natives’ views of the nation’s governing bodies. Arowolo states that the “western civilisation has promoted corruption in Africa; leaders in Africa now look up to Europe and America as safe havens for looted funds. It is a consequence of Western civilisation” (8). The government corruption has additionally negatively impacted the few traditional tribes that are left in South Africa. A prime example of this situation would be the fate of the San Bushmen, otherwise known as the Basarwa. The tribe is native to several parts of Africa, including South Africa— with total population of about 90,000 (insert wiki). The tribe has been categorized as a hunter-gatherer tribe, essentially the oldest societal-type there is. It has resisted the modernization over time, keeping their loyalties to the ancient processes that have allowed them to survive for ages. The governmental intrusion to assimilate the tribe’s lifestyle has caused many changes in their traditional practices. From the 1950s through the 1990s, the San Bushmen switched to farming due to the government-mandated modernisation programs (insert wiki bushmen). Nonetheless, despite of their lifestyle changes, they have provided plenty of valuable information in anthropology and genetics. One study of African genetic diversity completed in 2009 discovered that the San Bushmen were actually among the five populations with the highest measured levels of genetic diversity among the 121 distinct African populations sampled (insert). Although they have not posed a threat to modern South Africa, the government has constantly attempted to eradicate them, much like in the European-influenced style of assimilation. The primary goal of the societal assimilation is to modernize them into the standards of today, but most importantly to take the large areas of land that has been claimed by their tribe. The government has believed that the lands would be useful in the construction of larger building projects, which will consequently bring in more money to the government. It is disheartening to know that South Africa has allowed the idea of assimilating their indigenous tribes. It shows how accustomed they have gotten to the Western ideals, and it ultimately shows that they have accepted the works of colonization as a feasible tool. Nonetheless, it would not be beneficial to get rid of the indigenous tribes that have defined the authentic South African culture. The removal of indigenous tribes through assimilation would deteriorate the true self-identity of the South African culture. Not to mention that the eradication of ancient civilizations will evidently have a consequence on the eradication of important knowledge that could come useful to today’s modern civilization. Conclusion (2 pages) Furthermore, the effects of colonization have clearly resulted in the constant harm towards the authentic South African culture.
The European colonization has forcibly attempted to Westernize the country in which they settled in. As mentioned, one of the major negative impacts are the violations of human rights that came upon with colonialism. The many violations that were emplaced by apartheid determined to undermine the self-identity of the South African people. Additionally, the language that was enforced by the European-ruled South Africa. The children are forced to leave behind the native languages that were taught by their families, in exchange for the colonists’ languages. The language barrier results in the deterioration of the academic grades that were received by the South African
natives. The trading strategies that were emplaced onto the South African culture also resulted in further negative impacts onto the lives of the South African people. The country has gradually become more heavily dependant onto the external countries that have both economical and political connections. The dependency has disallowed the South African economy to use its own resource power to expand. The effects of colonization have had additional influences on the structure of the South African’s personal lifestyle. The traditional family structures have increasingly differed from the original lifestyles. The people have not seemed to taken the values of comradery and respect to the ancestral folks. Scholars have noted that colonization has had an effects on the government, inciting corruption. The modern government has attempted to assimilate the tribes within South Africa—which is essentially the same ideologies that were done by the settlers who did harm to their lifestyles and culture. It would therefore be unfair to follow the same path of the people whom did damage to the country as well. The San Bushmen, also known as the Basarwa, is a clear example of South Africa trying to desperately have a grip on the culture they have left. They refused to modernize along with everyone else, keeping their loyalty to the traditions that have been passed down through many generations. The biggest concern of losing these indigenous tribes is the fact that their preserved knowledge may also leave with them. It is ultimately more beneficial to keep knowledge than to get rid of it. South Africa, and basically all the other African countries that have been affected by European colonization must take appropriate action solving the issues that came with the attempted Westernization. The people of South Africa are most likely aware of the fact that they are experiencing a cultural crisis. Sadly, there are some people who are completely oblivious to the fact that being Westernized will negatively impact them as a whole. The people of South Africa, and everywhere else in Africa, must be educated of the reasons to why disacknowledgement of their traditions will not bring in any type of benefit. It’s interesting that after colonization, the people did not necessarily revert back into their embracement of their indigenous traditions. Nonetheless, the abandonment of their traditional values will directly affect their future generations for years to come. The future generation will be derived of the stories, the knowledge, and the overall self-identity that defines them as a South African. Nonetheless, one must also understand that the effects extends towards other areas besides the overall culture as well, affecting the South African people as a whole. Not to mention that the effects impact other countries of Africa that has suffered from European colonization as well. As mentioned, the people of South Africa must be aware of the effects of their sufferings from colonization, in order to make the efforts to retract back from the cultural-harm and potentially safekeep their indigenous culture that originally defined them.
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.
Prior to the 19th century, the Europeans traded mainly for African slaves. It turns out they were not immune towards certain diseases and therefore had an increasing risk of becoming sick. For years to come this continued, but not much land was conquered. Eventually, conference between only the Europeans was held to divide up the land appropriately, and the scramble for Africa began. The driving forces behind European imperialism in Africa were expanding empires, helping natives, and natural resources.
A true saying is “Colonization often does more damage than contribution.” Colonialism encouraged Africa’s development in some areas, but in many others it severely damaged the natural progress of the continent. If colonialism was never imposed on Africa, Africa’s developments would be significantly different and many of the problems that the continent faces now would not exist today. In conclusion, at first it seems that colonialism has both positive and negative effects, but the truth is it only damages the colonized nation.
Europe, in the late 1800’s, was starting for a land grab in the African continent. Around 1878, most of Africa was unexplored, but by 1914, most of Africa, with the lucky exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, was carved up between European powers. There were countless motivations that spurred the European powers to carve Africa, like economical, political, and socio–cultural, and there were countless attitudes towards this expansion into Africa, some of approval and some of condemnation.
When the Age of Imperialism began in 1875, it effected Africa in many ways. Nowhere was the competition for colonies more intense than in Africa. Europeans went after North and South Africa splitting up the continent. Egypt and Sudan were taken over by Britain to obtain the Suez Canal. Imperialism helped to develop Africa’s economy and turned it into a continent of colonies.
In this section, I will provide a brief history of U.S. military involvement on the African continent, starting with the Barbary Wars and working up through the current date. This historical documentation will highlight the change in the role the United States has played in Africa [post 9-11???]. Prior to 9-11, the United States’ interactions were mainly [capture summary here]. Since [?], however, the continent has faced a marked increase in violent extremism and terrorism leading the United States to partner with many African nations in counterterrorism initiatives. These, and other initiatives, mean an increasing number U.S. service members are deploying to Africa to take part in training, humanitarian issues and military operations. These military activities are run by United States African Command, a recently created combatant command.
When Africans were brought to America during slavery they were forced to give up most of their heritage and were usually separated from their families. This common occurrence usually brought about tremendous pain and grief to the slaves. “West Africa family systems were severely repressed throughout the New World (Guttmann, 1976)”. Some slaves tried to continue practices, such as polygamy, that were a part of traditional African cultures but were unsuccessful. However, they were successful in continuing the traditional African emphasis on the extended family. In the extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents played important roles. Slaves weren’t allowed to marry, but they didn’t let that stop them, they created their own marriages. And through all the hardships they had placed on them, they developed strong emotional bonds and family ties. The slaves discouraged casual sexual relationships and placed a lot emphasis on marriage and stability. To maintain some family identity, parents named their children after themselves or other relatives or sometimes gave them African names.
Colonialism has plagued indigenous people worldwide and has spelled disaster for countless cultures, languages, and traditions. Over the past 500 years there have been different phases of colonization in Africa as well as other various parts of earth. There were many reasons behind exploration and colonization including economic and tactical reasons, religion, and prestige. Colonialism has shaped the contemporary understanding of individuals from Niger as well as other parts of Africa and other places too, like the Chambri and Tlingit people; mainly in economics. Because of the colonial past of so many cultures, numerous indigenous people today face many issues. Today colonialism is still active, known as Neocolonialism, which has devastating effects on global cultural groups.
During Imperialistic times South Africa was a region of great resources that was greatly disputed over (Ellis). Europe’s main goal during these times was to compete against each other and played a “game” of which country can imperialize more African countries than the other. Imperialism was a curse to South Africa, because many wars, laws, and deaths were not necessary and would not have happened if South Africa were not imperialized.
Images have the power to shape the mind of an individual’s knowledge of a place. The world is full of beautiful cities, states, and countries. The large continent of Africa is brought together by fifty-four beautiful countries, but in the media the images misrepresent Africa as a continent. Africa is constantly portrayed as victims of poverty, violence, hunger and diseases. Also, Africans are stereotyped to be uncivilized and uneducated. These images in the media neglect the upside to these countries. The only positive images of Africa that are consistently shown are ones the safaris filled will majestic animals that graze the land. The media chooses to cover the negative side of Africa; they do not focus the achievements
The term Imperialism is used a means to describe a policy of formal or informal domination over a foreign land or territory, without significant settlers from the imperial centre or metropol. Within this definition there are two very different ‘branches’ for imperialism. One being ‘old’ imperialism, which refers that of the early – mid Victorian political and social climate of Britain, contrasting against ‘new’ imperialism which is said to have arisen in the later Victorian era during the 1870’s and beyond. The two terminologies have much debate and speculation as to their exact time frame and implications on not only Britain, but also the rest of the world during that time. By examining the expansion of the British Empire during the Nineteenth century and analysing the two variations of imperialism, this argumentative piece will provide a collective examination into the differences of ‘new’ imperialism versus ‘old’ imperialism, focusing on the main points of economic, social, political and ‘formal’ against ‘informal’ intention.
During the 19th century, Europe found a way to use Africa for its own growth and power. Using Africa for their resources, the Europeans colonized Africa without a second thought. European imperialism in Africa had a negative impact because of social disarray, cultural loss, and death it caused. As the Europeans started to invade Africa and split up the land, they paid no attention to the already existing natural boundaries. Over time, villages with different cultures had set these boundaries.
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,
Overall in South Africa’s manufacturing industry there are still fundamental cultural differences between management level employees and general floor staff level employees. This verity leads to a number of predominate problems such as a difference in mind- set and general attitude towards the business. Corporate culture is often defined as “the way things are done around here” (Deal and Kennedy, 1982). It is quite clear that at the moment there is still a large gap between the ways things are done at each level of employment.