Culture is an integral part of every society. Culture is a learned pattern of behavior or ways by which people live their lives or how society behaves. Some characteristics of the culture of people or a society are their music, food, laws, arts, marriage, festivals among others. Ghana is the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain its independence from the British in 1957. It is located in West Africa and it consists of different ethnic groups with different dialects. One such group is the Ga-Adangbe tribe. The Ga-Adangbe tribe constitutes of the Adangbe and the Ga people of Ghana who form one ethnic group known as the Ga-Adangbe tribe. The Ga-Adangbe people inhabit the Accra Plains. The Adangbe people inhabit the eastern part of Accra while the Ga people inhabit the western part of Accra coastlands. The language of both ethnic groups is from a common proto-Ga-Adangbe ancestral language. There is one notable thing about these ethnic groups in Ghana and it is their culture of festivals. These festivals range from the naming of a child, puberty rites, marriage and funerals among other things. One of these beautiful festivals that this paper seeks to discuss is puberty rites. The Ashanti tribe who hail from the Ashante Region of Ghana and the Adangbe tribe who hail from Eastern Region of Ghana celebrate this beautiful festival called puberty rites. The Ashanti tribe of Ghana calls …show more content…
The practice was observed when the Krobos still inhabited the mountain and was continued when they settled in the areas surrounding the mountains. There are different versions as to how Dipo originated in the Krobo society. There are no disputes about the different versions even though some Krobos are more inclined to some versions than others (especially the one about the nobleman who had two wives). I believe that accounts of the origin of the custom would help give a better understanding of its
o Herero's are the largest groups of in the Dobe area. They are Bantu speaking people.
In the Maasai society, genital cutting is a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood, and both men and women go through the process of circumcision. As society ages, opinions on cultural norms change. This is true for the Maasai society, where the views on female circumcision have and are changing. Female circumcision is classified into three categories, and defined by the World Health Organization, Type I is the removal of the foreskin on the vagina, Type II is the removal of the clitoris, and Type III is the removal of all external genitalia with the stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening (“New Study”). Traditionally in the Maasai society, women underwent Type II or Type III circumcision. Written in 1988, “The Initiation of a Maasai Warrior,” by Tepilit Ole Saitoi, and is an autobiographical story of Saitoti’s circumcision in his initiation to a warrior. Though his story mainly focuses on the male circumcision part of the Maasai society, women’s circumcision and other basic traditions are discussed. Throughout the short story, the topic of circumcision and the rite of passage, both long- standing traditions in the Maasai society, are central themes.
The first step to understanding the response of the Benin people to this arrival is to look to their conception of their own identity. The Benin call themselves, their capital, and their language Edo, and some Edo can rightfully claim to have lived in the region for a thousand years. When speaking of Benin, the idea of a "traditional" culture is not wholly erroneous - their ancestry is older and on a more direct line than most Europeans can imagine. But the ancient kingdom of Benin did not encompass all Edo-speaking people and it was also not restricted to them, as it included ethnic groups such as the Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, and Itsekiri (Duchateau 9). The amount of racial cohesion in this "traditional culture" should no...
This essay deals with the nature of a cross cultural encounter between the Benin people and Portuguese traders in the 15th and 16th centuries, which resulted in the depiction of Portuguese figures in Benin brass plaques. It will propose that this contact between people with different cultures was on the basis of'mutual regard' (Woods, K. 2008, p. 16), and although the Portuguese had qualms about idolatry in Benin it will show that assumptions by Europeans up to the 20th century of the primitive nature of tribal African societies was inaccurate with regard to the Benin people, who had a society based on the succession of the King or 'Oba', a Royal Family and Nobility. The essay will finally suggest that Benin’s increase in wealth following the arrival of the Portuguese led to a resurgence in bronze sculptures and the introduction of a new form, the rectilinear plaque. The plaque under consideration, is of a forward facing man, with an aquiline nose, thin lips, neatly trimmed beard, wearing a sun hat with flaps and looking intently at the viewer. He is dressed in a typical 16th century Portuguese style, wearing a decorated tunic with padded shoulders and tight breeches with short boots.
The center of discussion and analysis about the sex/gender system focus on the differences between African, European and Creole Women. The sex/gender system describe by Morgan focus on their production, body and kinship. European women are seen as domestic, African women’s work overlaps between agricultural and pastoral. They’ll work in the field non-stop, even after giving birth. African women hold knowledge about the pastoral and agricultural work “in the planting and cultivation of fields the daily task of a good Negro Woman” (145). While Creole women were subordinated, with the job of produce and reproduce. When it came to body, European women’s bodies were seeing as fragile. After birth the rest for a while before they could stand back again or return to their activities “European observers believed the post-delivery period of abstinence lasted three months, and others commented up two- to three year period o...
Leading up to the celebration the girls are taught a certain dance that must be performed at the ceremony. “the new initiates are brought into town for the first time since the initiation process began…” At the ceremony the Mende girls wear a Sowei mask and costume which is considered to be the embodiment of the river spirt Sowo. Once the mask and costume is on the person transforms and her actions are no longer hers but are the actions of the spirt Sowo. A sacred dance is performed and dance moves represent the strength and power of woman as members in the Mende community. “Sowo mask are divided into three structural components- the neck, face, and coiffure. Carved from a single block of lightweight wood, the masks weigh only two to four pounds. The mask displays a shiny black surface representative of the value assigned to smooth dark skin.” The rings around the masks neck demonstrates a trait that is considered beautiful in Mende cultures. Every mask has a different hairstyle, representing the style of the woman the mask is made for, you can see items such as shells, metal and claws on the coiffure.
Thesis & Preview of Main Points: I will discuss the culture of Ethiopia and its geography
In the late 1800s, the Yoruba’s formed a treaty with the Fulani and in 1901 they
Located in the Great Lakes area of East Africa, Kenya is home to an estimated 47 million. The country, covering over 223,000 square miles is bordered by Ethiopia and Sudan to the north, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and Somalia to the east. The areas around the coast of the Indian Ocean present a tropical climate, while the highlands are more temperate. There is no specific cultural normality with the nation because of such diverse ethnic backgrounds. As much of Kenya is riddled with poverty, her economy is based on labor-intensive industries, such as mining, manufacturing, mining, forestry, and agriculture. The
One of the biggest ways Africans were able to endure the institution of slavery was by finding similarities in the European culture that coincided with their native customs. “ The similarities between many European and African Cultural elements enabled the slave to continue to engage in many traditional activities or to create a synthesis of European and African cultures.”1 While there were many
middle of paper ... ... ’s depictions of both traditional and modern beliefs in varying degrees illustrate the importance of both in contemporary Nigerian culture, as well as the greater Africa as a whole, and how both are intertwined and cannot exist without the other. In effect, she skillfully subverts stereotypes or single perceptions of Africa as backward and traditional, proving instead, the multifaceted culture of Africa. She further illustrates that neither traditional African nor western culture is necessarily detrimental. It is the stark contrast of the fundamental cultures that inevitably leads to clashes and disagreements.
Sex transcends the mere act of copulation, but is used to indicate that there is a deep connection between sex, worship, and African traditional beliefs. In essence, sexuality in African carvings is used more for the purpose of deification rather than to demonstrate human eroticism. Sex was considered sacred among most African traditional communities, and to talk about sex let alone incorporate sex in carvings was considered a taboo (Marshall Cavendish Corporation 79). It was only when such carvings were intended to glory some deity that sex was freely used in carvings in African communities. It is for this reason that most carvings that depicted sexuality were exaggerated in terms of the size. This was to create a distinction between the sexuality of ordinary people and the sexuality of the supernatural (Marshall Cavendish Corporation 79). The paper will look at how sexuality was used in African carvings to bring in...
Nigerian culture is as multi-ethnic as the people in Nigeria. The people of Nigeria still cherish their traditional languages, music, dance and literature. Nigeria comprises of three large ethnic groups, which are Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and Igbo.
There has been an uneven distribution of poverty incidence and poverty gap in Ghana over the past decades. A proportion of the population of Ghana enjoys fair outcome of the national development whiles others lumber in poverty. In fact, poverty level would have reduced in Ghana if there is a decreasing inequality. The disparities in the distri-bution of welfare between the rural poor and the urban population in Ghana may be attributed to several factors.
The small African village located on the bank of the river Niger has a story of its own, that only the old and wise are able to des...