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Top 11 Most Spoken Languages in Africa
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Top 11 Most Spoken Languages in

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Guys, Africa is a huge continent.
I mean, really huge—more so than you might expect. We’re talking a continent as big
as the U.S., India, China and most of Europe combined.
For us language enthusiasts, that means more languages than you can count. Africa
is a veritable buffet for the language learner. In fact, it’s estimated that there may be
over 3,000 languages spoken in Africa!
Not only is Africa the second most populous continent in the world with over one
billion people, but it is also home to the highest linguistic diversity in the world, with
over 1500 different languages.
The principle languages on the continent include Arabic, French and English. Arabic
was ranked the 5th most spoken language in the world by research group
Ethnologue, with over 240 million speakers worldwide. In Africa, there are more than
100 million speakers, with Egypt accounting for more than 54 million. It is also the
most widespread official language on the continent, incluing in Algeria, Tunisia,
Libya, and Egypt.
English reached the 3rd spot as the most spoken language in the world, with over
330 million speakers. It is known as the ‘lingua franca’ of the world, widely used for
international business, and is the language of the scientific and medical fields, which
use English as a basis for much of the terminology. In Africa, majority of native
English speakers are from South Africa, and the language is most spoken in
Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda
and Zimbabwe.
African languages form part of four language groups, namely Afro-Asiatic covering
Northern Africa, Central Sahara and the Horn of Africa, Nilo-Saharian covering
Central and Eastern Africa, Niger-Congo covering Central, Southern and Eastern
Africa and Khoisan, covering the western part of Southern Africa.
English and French are both widely spoken throughout the continent, though the
number of native speakers is probably less that of Amharic. For example, English has
around 5 million native speakers in South Africa and probably less than 10 million
continent-wide.
Below are top 11 African languages to know when doing business on the continent or
enjoying tourist destinations and experiencing diverse cultures on the continent:
1 SWAHILI
Swahili is the most spoken language in Africa, with over 100 million speakers. It is a
Bantu language believed to have originated from other languages, mainly Arabic, due
to historical interactions between Arabs from the Middle East and East Africans.
Swahili is Tanzania’s official language, as well as the medium of instruction in all
schools. It is also Kenya’s official language as well as Uganda. Other Swahili
speaking nations include Rwanda, Burundi, southern Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan
northern Mozambique and the Comoros Islands. To greet in Swahili, one says,
“Jambo”, or “Habari” when greeting an elder.
Second on our list is Swahili, known as Kiswahili in the language itself.
Swahili is a Bantu language widely spoken in the African Great Lakes region, which
comprises of a huge swath of Central, Southern and East African. There’s also a
huge number of Swahili speakers in countries adjacent to the Great Lakes region.
With Swahili under your belt, you’ll be able to visit gorgeous countries like Tanzania
and Kenya, where Swahili is an official language. Swahili will also help you get
around parts of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. While it’s natively spoken by 15 million people, there are
more than 150 million speakers total, and it’s a common second language throughout
this region!
Swahili is quite appealing to many language learners due to the fact that it’s widely
spoken and for its history. Kiswahili (the name of the language in Swahili) means
“coastal language,” and it’s a trade language that was created to facilitate
communications between a number of Southern and Eastern Africa’s wide variety of
ethnic groups.
It’s also not too hard for English speakers to learn—unlike many African languages,
Swahili doesn’t use tones and, unlike Arabic and Amharic, it uses the Latin alphabet.
If you do know some Arabic then you have a good head start, as there are tons of
Arabic loanwords in Swahili.
What’s more, I guarantee you already know a handful of Swahili words. Why? The
writers of Disney’s “The Lion King” had a bit of a love affair with Swahili. Hakuna
Matata? That’s Swahili for “no worries!” Simba? Swahili for “lion!”
How to Learn Swahili

If you want to get into the basics of Swahili, try BBC’s guide to pick up some
vocabulary and greetings. And here’s a fun song to practice those greetings!
2 AMHARIC
Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia and is the second most spoken language
in the country after Oromo, with over 21 million speakers. It is the second most
spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic, and is also the language of over 2
million Ethiopians living outside of the country. The Semitic languages are a branch
of the Afroasiatic language family originating from the Middle East. Amharic, along
with Arabic, Hebrew and Tigrinya, are the most spoken Semitic languages in the
world by way of native speakers. It is written in the Ge’ez or Ethiopic script, with over
30 different characters. To say hello in Amharic, one says, “Salam”.
Amharic is a rich and ancient Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia.
It’s related to Arabic and Hebrew, and with 22 million native speakers it’s the second
most widely spoken Semitic language after Arabic.
Amharic is gorgeous when spoken, and it’s even more stunning when written in its
unique script. It uses an alphasyllabary called fidel—basically, each “letter”
represents a consonant/vowel combination, but the forms of the consonants and
vowels change depending on the combinations.
Learning to write fidel might take a little longer than learning the Arabic script, but it’s
still well within reach of the average learner. Try taking advantage of tools like SRS
(Spaced Repetition Systems) to efficiently memorize each letter and its various
combinations.
Amharic is also host to a growing body of Ethiopian literature. Poetry and novels are
both popular, and learning Amharic will open the door to experiencing literature far
different from that of the rest of the world. Once you have the basics down, try your
hand at reading the most famous Amharic novel, “Fiqir Iske Meqabir” (translated into
English as “Love Unto Crypt”) by Haddis Alemayehu.
Getting started with Amharic has never been easier. Learn some phrases and basic
vocab at Amharic Teacher, and listen to Australia’s SBS Amharic stream here.
3 YORUBA
Yoruba is one of West Africa’s most spoken languages, accounting for over 30 million
speakers in Nigeria, Benin and Togo, and it is one of Nigeria’s official languages. It is
also widely spoken by West African expats in the US and UK. It is the mother tongue
of the Yoruba people in Nigeria, and has over fifteen dialects including Awori, Ijesha,
Ilaje and Ila. It is a tonal language with three tones: high, mid and low, and forms part
of the Volta-Niger branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages. To say hello in
Yoruba, one says “Bawo”.
4 OROMO
Oromo is spoken by over 30 million people in the Horn of Africa, particularly in
Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Egypt. The Oromo people account for more than 40%
of the Ethiopian population, and are the largest ethnic group in the country. The
writing of the language was forbidden between 1974 and 1991 under the Mengistu
regime, even though limited usage of the Ge’ez script was allowed. After 1991, the
language adopted the Latin alphabet. It falls under the Cushitic branch of the
Afroasiatic language family. To say hello in Oromo, one says “Akkam”.
5 HAUSA
Hausa is one of Nigeria’s official languages, and one of the most spoken Chadic
languages on the continent, with over 40 million native and second language
speakers. It originated as the language of the Hausa people in northern Nigeria and
southern Niger, and soon spread as the lingua franca of western Africa due to trade.
It is spoken mainly in northern Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR,
Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Germany, Ghana, Sudan, Togo and much of North Africa. It
uses the Boko and Latin alphabet as its writing system, and is also the basic
language for most Muslim populations in western Africa. To say hello in Hausa, one
says “Sannu”.
6 IGBO
One of Nigeria’s official languages, Igbo is spoken by over 20 million people, with a
significant amount of speakers in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. The language
has more than 20 dialects, with Central Igbo being the most prevalent. The language
was made prominent by author Chinua Achebe, who wrote the popular book “Things
Fall Apart” and wrote most of his books in Igbo, mirroring and popularizing Igbo
culture. It falls under the Volta-Niger branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages.
To say hello in Igbo, one says “Nnoo”.
7 ZULU
IsiZulu, or Zulu, is one of South Africa’s official language, and has over 10 million
speakers. It is a member of the Bantu/Nguni family of languages, and is spoken
mainly in eastern South Africa. It is the second most widely spoken Bantu language,
after Shona, and is written using the Latin alphabet. It is characterized by unique click
sounds within the dialect as a result of influence from the Khoisan language. To say
hello in Zulu, one says “Sawubona”.
8 SHONA
Shona is the most spoken language in Zimbabwe, with over 10 million speakers in a
population of over 14 million. It is Bantu language from the Bantu/Nguni family of
languages, and has speakers in Botswana and Mozambique. It is the principle
language of Zimbabwe, along with Ndebele and English. To say hello in Shona, one
says “Mhoro”.
9 ARABIC
Arabic is a huge language, fit for a huge continent.
If you decide to learn Arabic, well, you’ll probably get more bang for your buck than
you even thought possible.
Arabic is a Semitic language, and it’s spoken by 280 million native speakers
worldwide. As far as Africa is concerned, Arabic is an official language in Egypt,
Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, Eritrea… the list goes on! It’s also widely spoken
in countries where it hasn’t yet been recognized as an official language.
Arabic comes in a number of flavors—to start out, you’ll choose between Modern
Standard Arabic and colloquial dialects. If you learn Modern Standard Arabic, you’ll
be able to communicate with most Arabic speakers around the world. Modern
Standard Arabic is the written form of the language—this is the Arabic used in news
articles, online and in novels. It’s spoken in newscasts and in some TV shows.
However, this is not the form of Arabic that native speakers always learn as children.
They learn various dialects of Arabic, unique to their regions. Some of these dialects
are more mutually intelligible (speakers of different dialects can understand each
other) than others, but learning, say, Moroccan or Egyptian Colloquial Arabic gets
you deeply connected with a culture in a way that Modern Standard Arabic can’t.
So, if you get really into Arabic, you’ll want to learn Modern Standard first, and then
adopt a colloquial dialect of your choice!
How to Learn Arabic

So you wanna get started learning Arabic? Check out Stanford University’s Arabic
Department site for more information on how to learn all aspects of the language,
beginning with the basics.
If you want to put your efforts into learning a dialect, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic is a
great place to start if you don’t have a specific country in mind—it’s the most spoken
dialect. Browse this textbook for Egyptian Colloquial basics.
And what about the script? To readers of the Latin alphabet, Arabic looks
incomprehensible. For starters, it’s written only in cursive, there are multiple forms of
each letter and there are no vowels! What to do?
Well, let me tell you, learning to read Arabic is far easier than it looks. Give it a week,
set some time aside to copy each letter down and, believe me, you’ll be sounding out
texts before you know it.
9 PORTUGUESE
Portuguese is the official language of six African states, including Angola,
Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome e Principe and Equatorial
Guinea. These states are also referred to as Lusophone Africa. Portuguese has
become a post-colonial language in Africa and one of the working languages of the
African Union and the Southern African Development Community. It coexists on the
continent with indigenous languages, mainly the Niger-Congo family languages in
Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau and Portuguese-based creoles in Guinea.
There are approximately 14 million people who use Portuguese as their mother
tongue on the continent, and over 30 million secondary speakers. to say hello in
Portuguese, one says “Olá”.
10 FRENCH
Twenty-six African states form part of Francophone Africa, forming part of the top
French-speaking countires on the continent. There are over 120 million French
speakers who use the language as their mother tongue or secondary language. The
highest percentage of people who speak French are from Gabon, Mauritius, Cote
d’Ivoire, Senegal, Sao Tome e Principe, Tunisia, Guinea, Seychelles, Democratic
Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea. The second largest French speaking
country is Algeria, with over 50 percent of the population being French speakers.
Much of the central and western Africa states form part of Francophone Africa,
including Morocco, Mauritania, Rwanda, Comoros and Djibouti. To say hello in
French, one says “Bonjour”.
Other widely spoken languages of Africa include Berber, which is a popular dialect in
North Africa, specifically in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mali and Egypt, with
approximately 20 million speakers; Somali, which is a Cushitic language spoken in
Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya by approximately 20 million speakers; Fulani, which is
widely spoken in western and Central Africa by approximately 18 million speakers;
Rundi from Burundi which is spoken by over 10 million people; Kinyarwanda in
Rwanda which is spoken by over 10 million speakers and Tigrinya, which has over 6
million speakers in Central Eritrea and Sudan. Chichewa is popular in Malawi with
over 6 million speakers, and Spanish is also spoken in Equatorial Guinea by over
600,000 people.
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1. Hausaman
Fake, Hausa has over 150 million speakers in Africa, check your data again!
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African weddings
Culture
African weddings
All around Africa, traditional weddings are dying out with the normalization and influx
of the so-called White Western African weddings. The article below is to show you
importance and the richness of African weddings.The marriage between man and
woman is a special celebration of the natural continuity of life in every part of Africa. In
all the communities all over Africa the bride plays a very special role and is treated with
maximum respect because she is a link between the ancestors and the unborn and is
the most important part of family. A bride might bear a very powerful and strong child
which is so important for Africans. In some places of East and South Africa the grooms’
family move to the brides’ village because they think this process is so important for
their bride to be happy and to create a healthy family.
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia the Karo people usually enhance a young brides beauty by tattooing and
painting her body with different African symbols. In Ethiopia most marriages are
negotiated by the two families sometimes with a civil ceremony sealing the simple
contract. In those ceremonies a priest may be present. After the marriage divorce is
allowed but this must also be negotiated.
The girl in marriage is paid housekeeper’s salary, and is not eligible to inheritance, but
children from the marriage are legally recognized and be entitled to inheritance. Priests
may marry but not eligible for divorce as well as remarriage. The Wedding procedure
starts while using grooms side sending any representative who request the marriage
between their parties. Then an appointment is given plus a verdict on the marriage.
Before the wedding the Dowry is provided as agreed. On the wedding morning the
groom and three to four “bestmens” goes to the brides’ house. At the house the ladies
family ceremonially block the entrance on the house. The associates must play strongly
and force their way into your house. The first “bestman” contains sprays and perfume
everywhere at home while the bride’s family play songs.
Christian marriages, mainly in Amhara and Tigray places, are often arranged from the
parents of the special couple with lots of negotiation. According to tradition in addition
to culture the bride have to be virgin when the marriage occurs and this is old traditional
ritual . Because the bride virginity will be highly valued and pleasure in Christian
marriage, with everyone in your house being shamed if the bride is not virgin at
marriage.
Ghana
The Ghana marriage is a traditional ceremony where the groom accompanied by his
family goes to the bride house and formally asks for the bride’s hand in marriage in the
presence of friends, family and well-wishers. The traditional Ghanaian ceremony is a
necessary common rite of all marriages for all Ghanaian couples. Today in Ghana , a
lot of couples perform this alone as a marriage Ghanaian ceremony. All couples in this
place try to make their marriage ceremony as much traditionally as they can because
this rite is so important for their culture.
The Ghanaian weddings bands starts with the “knocking” (kokako) around the house.
In this knocking ceremony the future husband together with his daddy and some elder
family members visits the brides house to announce their relationship intentions. Most
of the time this ceremony is carried out a week or two ahead of the actual marriage
ceremony.
The knocking (“kookoo ko”) comes from the Ghanaian tradition of knocking on the
entrance of a house before entering as being a visitor. For the knocking ceremony the
groom’s family members brings along two wine bottles on alcoholic drinks, some
money and cola to the property to present to this brides family. (Libation is really a
traditional form of prayer on the ancestral spirits and God). In way back when, and to
date, the drinks are widely-used to pour libation. In those ceremonies when the drinks
are presented, spokesman designated through the grooms’ delegation formally
requests the bride’s family regarding permission to enter the property and announce
their goals. Then if drinks are accepted then it means permission has been granted on
the visitors to state their intentions. The spokesperson will explain in the many lyrical
language, that this groom, has seen a “beautiful flower” in the house of the brides family
that she desires and would like to “uproot” that flower, not necessarily steal, from its
keeper, hence they are here to look for the brides hand inside marriage and inquire
about what is required in order to make that flower his personal.
In some situations family may ask the groom or his family to come back at a set later
date because they like to see:
a) if the family has no genetic disabilities or chronic illness in the family
b) if family has a good reputation in the city and of course good incomings
c) if he has no illegitimate children or girlfriend or has another marriage .
d) if the groom is of good and lovely person and well matched to the new bride
For the set date the groom themselves and his family, in conjunction with invited guests
show up early for the brides house. First husband family sits on one side, while the
brides family sits on the reverse side facing each other. Guests from both family begin
the big event with a prayer and also introductions. The grooms family will start by
presenting the dowry and all the other items on the list one, by one. With each stage,
the items are checked to be sure everything asked on the list is being presented.
Negotiation is possible in the event the grooms family feels an excessive amount of is
being asked of these. The bride is not present in most of these proceedings. After this
husband, although present, does speak in most of these proceedings as all the actual
speaking and negotiation is conducted on his behalf because of the designated
spokesperson by his family.
Kenya
Normally the Massai girls of Kenya grow up with other children of their own age and
normally form good relationships with them but when it comes to marriage women are
given to a man that they don’t know and is important for this person to be much older
than bride. At the ceremony the father or brother of the bride spits on the brides head
as a blessing and then she leaves the house with her new husband walking to her new
home. This can be a very sad and boring experience for the bride, because most of
the time is 13-16 years old and may walk a long way to get to her husband’s house.
The particular Swahili of Kenya shower brides in sandalwood oils and tatoo henna
designs on her behalf limbs. A women elder, or somo, gives instructions towards the
bride on how for you to please her husband. Sometimes the somo may also hide under
the bed in the event there are any issues! In a small city called Lamu, situated away
from the coast of Kenya, lives several Swahili Muslims. In this community the weddings
might be going on for an entirely week with a great deal of festivities consisted of
performing, dancing and food. But these festivities are celebrated separate for men
and women and for children too. After the “real” wedding the bride is shown in public
places, with a so-called “kupamba”. Wedding ceremony is always happening the
evening after the wedding and it’s the grand finale from the passage rite, in that your
young bride enters your married women’s world. In Kenya the kupamba has grown to
be more popular of numerous reasons, but one of the reason is the belief that it is a
chance for women to meet and socialize without their husbands.Today this particularly
ceremony has grown to be more in focus than some in years past when the kuinngia
ndani (the entry) was the main attraction. It is a ceremony once the groom is walking
down the streets to satisfy his bride and next complete first phase from the wedding.
If the enter this party they all take off their African American veils and underneath
they’ve got beautiful dresses and wonderful haircuts etc. Another problem with this
kupamba is a large number of families almost ruin themselves just every single child
have this party because of their daughters. In some cases the mother from the bride,
female relatives and neighbors ought to help out with the foodstuff and devote
themselves for making the food some days prior to the ceremony. The musicians and
food in African weddings costs a lot of money.
Namibia
The Himba people of Namibia have a special and unique way to take a bride to their
house. They first kidnap a bride before the ceremony and then they dress her in a
leather marriage headdress decorated with beautiful African jewelers. After the
marriage ceremony she is brought into her father’s house where the family tells her
what are her responsibilities as the wife and in the end they anoint her with butterfat
from cows. This process of the wedding shows that she has been accepted into the
family.
Niger
People in Niger most of the time court their cousins for marriage. Before marriage the
male cousins wear special and powerful amulets which are supposed to show and
heighten their attractiveness to the girl. First the family of the groom gives their “bride
price” to the bride’s family and then the couple is consider married. After this a bride
stays with her husband until she becomes pregnant, then after she becomes pregnant
she returns to her father’s home. Here she will remain for the next 3-4 years. Bride will
deliver her baby at her mother’s home and since that moment she becomes
a “boofeydo” which in African literally they use it to name people who has committed
an error or something bed.
While bride is considering “boofeydo”, she is not permitted to speak or see with her
husband or anyone of his family. It is a traditional African sin for him to express any
interest in the newborn child or in his new wife. After 2-3 years, bride’s mother will
release her to see and speak to her husband. She still will not be permitted to live with
her husband or to bring her child with her until the mother can purchase all things that
are needed for her home and in the end when these items are purchased, than girl is
allowed to go in her new house and live with her husband, and normally taking her
child with her.
Nigeria
In Nigeria which is located in West Africa, a husband never calls his new wife in her
name. Only the women’s own children and relatives are allowed to use her name and
this name is only for unmarried girls. If other people want to learn a married woman’s
name they have to ask her husband to tell the name that her first family gave to her,
and use that.
Dancing and singing are two of most important fragments in the wedding in this country
and they are always combined with different big feast. The new bride is kept in a special
hut where have to wait till her new husband is let inside. Before this husband has to
give tobacco and chicken to the guest and when all have got those kind of products he
goes the brides’s hut and since this moment the marriage is announced.
In the first day of marriage they kill a goat for the bride and the blood of this goat is
poured over the hut. After this brides women comes and asks her daughter if she is
pleased with her husband.
Then the dancing starts again and the drums call make visitors come and they give the
bride anything at all to see her experience and another penny intended for camwood
to rub the woman body. In Nigeria marriage is seen as a bound between blood relations
and are also considered as very crucial.Today the traditional African-American
weddings are dying and are also becoming more like the actual Western-style church
weddings. This has essentially become norm in Nigeria currently. Even though people
are born and raised in Nigeria they may be still likely to get a Western-style white
wedding in the expense of a correct African wedding.
The reason behind this can be the Eurocentric missionaries and the Nigerian Church
who influenced the African and the Church groups. Some people in Nigeria still live
with old traditions and are preforming the traditionally ceremonies for they weddings.
After a week from wedding, next step in the wedding process is the meeting with the
two involving families where they investigate and organize launch or dinner for each
other.At this process next step is to donate some gifts to the new bride’s family,
consisting mostly of yams, cattles or some money. After this process the bride is
considered married to the groom and since this day she is member of his family. A long
time ago there was must for the bride to be a virgin before the wedding, but in those
times there are some exceptions but even today pregnancy outside of marriage is
considered shameful.Polygamy marriages are legal and exist in country of Nigeria, but
the Christian religion forbids it. Those marriages have though become less common in
Nigeria those days. Maybe this happens due to the fact that a man in Nigerian
marriages is responsible to provide for his family and in this place to provide for a family
is a little bit expensive and the economic situation in this place it has become less
common with polygamy marriages.
South Africa
Many Zulu virgins converge on the Enyokeni Zulu Royal Palace in September on a
yearly basis to celebrate the Umkhosi woMhlanga (Reed Dance Festival). In african
wedding the Reed dance is definitely an activity that promotes chastity among virgin
girls and respect for women. The festival is perhaps the annual festivities on the
calendar in the Zulu nation. During the Reed show up the virgins fetch the reeds from
the river and bring these to the palace for your royal king, King Goodwill Zwelithini in
order to inspect. During the Reed show up the virgins fetch the reeds from the river
and bring these to the palace for your royal king, King Goodwill Zwelithini in order to
inspect. To many, this ceremony helps you to preserve the custom involving keeping
girls as virgins right up until they get married. It was within this festival that the Zulu
California king chose his youngest better half. An in a state ravaged by loose morals
and HIV/AIDS it is just a cultural buffer which contains back loose morality in addition
to promiscuity, thus giving women power over their bodies and thus self-respect in
addition to dignity.
Tswana Marriage Customs This Tswana (Setswana) speaking persons of Botswana

and South Africa employ a marriage ceremony which begins that has a delegation from
the groom’s side approaching the bride’s side in a elaborate ceremony which takes
place early every day. The delegation which involve an even number of men and
women enter the compound in the bride’s family. Bride carry perhaps the dowry or
labella on the heads and proceed to the compound crawling on their knees. Boy
delegation approaches one of many several gathers of men which are representing
the bride. These men are in a number groups at the flames. There is a ceremonial
fresh air of tension. When the party on the fire greet the groom’s delegation they only
reply that has a rubble acknowledgment. They deliver gifts such as whisky in addition
to a sheep which is to get slaughtered for the celebration to visit. The women wait on
the knees and the bride’s bash calls them “enemies” in addition to ceremonially treat
them that has a slight contempt because they’re there to take an affiliate of their family
out.
The lobolla include things like blankets (always), undergarments, along with other
useful things which can be delivered and inspected by the bride’s representatives. By
the fire the particular men discuss at size the lobolla and make a deal and sing praises
on the husband to be. Nowadays money replaces cows as well as R6000 (South
African Rand) may well represent one cow. Thus a typical dowry could be 10 cows, my
spouse and i. e. R60, 000 Following your negotiations are completed the complete
delegation enters the house and is accommodated with refreshments. All people that
where in the party return to their home and return later inside day for a lavish
celebration along with a meal. The bride’s parties need to give a sheep as a return
offering process, but in modern times for practicality sometimes money is employed to
represent this reward. In Tswana culture wedding culture the man purchases a bed
and that is pre-delivered to the bride’s loved ones house. Boy in those ceremonies
must remain there until they can provide a house with regard to his new wife. They are
expected every day to vacate the property at 03: 00 each morning and avoid being
seen by some of his in-laws. In Africa this is asked encourage him to give a new home
for the new family.
Zulu weeding
The Zulu in Africa wedding takes many forms and shapes. In those weddings usually
the bride changes her dress more than three times on her wedding day because she
has to show off to her in-laws how beautiful she is in different dresses and different
colors.
Although it isn’t a Zulu custom for the bride to wear the white wedding dress, nowadays
brides prefer to do this. The Zulu wedding takes place at the church, and during this
time the bride is wearing white. After church the wedding ceremony occurs at the
bridegroom’s property. The bride changes in to traditional outfit. During this ceremony
the family of the groom slaughters a cow to demonstrate that they accept the bride
inside their home. During the traditional wedding the parties from your bride and the
groom’s facet compete through Zulu dance and songs. The bride puts money into the
stomach of the cow as you move the crowd looks on. It is a sign that she is now section
of the family. In Zulu parties the wedding ceremony ends with the bride giving gifts in
the form of blankets to her brand new family, including the expanded family. This
tradition is termed “ukwaba”. The family cover themselves with the blankets in an open
up area where everybody might find. Even the long-deceased close relatives receive
gifts and are represented because of the living ones. The spectators ululate, shout,
and dance for the family.
Somali
In Somali which is located in South Africa, marriage laws are practically same like
Muslim marriage laws. In this place a man may have four wives. Boy in this place may
become engaged to a girl even before she is born by making an arrangement with girls
family. This “engagement” in some cases is arranged between the girl’s guardians or
parents, and is clinched by some small present from the man to them as a token and
price of finality.
Should the man die his following of kin may marry the woman on making a small further
payment. If she refuse this alliance another must be found to take the bride place, or
the yarad be returned to the deceased’s estate. The marriage is generally celebrated
by the Kathi or Sheikh, and at the ceremony the quantity of dowry-or mehr, as it’s called
here is to be settled within the wife by her partner is recorded. In Somalia traditional
culture the mehr may consist of anything-generally stock-and need not be paid during
the time, but it is a very important matter for the woman which it be clearly defined.
Should she be divorced the girl husband must hand to be able to her the mehr decided
on at the marriage wedding service. Should he die she gets first claim on his estate for
my child settlement, which is quite besides any subsequent share with the estate she
is eligible to as deceased’s wife. Even so, should she refuse to be able to marry her
deceased partner’s next of kin or possibly a man of his group chosen by his folks, she
forfeits all privileges to both her mehr and share with the estate. This is roughly the
basis of Somali marriage legislation.
Sudan
In traditional culture of Sudan the new husband must pay 30-50 cattle, and afar this
the marriage is completed only in the moment after the wife has born 2 children. If the
wife only bears 1 child, the husband can ask her for a divorce and he can also ask for
either the return the first child or the cattle. In this place process of divorce therefore is
very difficult and so complicated. Other interesting fact about Sudan traditional
weddings is that if a husband dies then his family must provide a brother to the widow
and all children’s that are born to the brother are considered the deceased’s children.
Senegal
In traditional Wolof wedding ceremonies in Senegal, the parents of the husband-to-be
sends elders to the bride parents with money and kola nuts to ask for her hand in
marriage. The bride parents consult with their daughter and together they consent to
or reject this proposal. If this proposal is accepted, the parents of the bride-to be
distribute the kola nuts present among the neighbors’ and family. This part of wedding
is an informal way of announcing the impending of new wedding.
In more traditional practices, the groom to be’s family paid the girl’s bride price as
money. This Senegal tradition, may be modernized and dowry is usually paid in money,
cars or perhaps houses. After the completion on the new groom’s obligations, the two
families set being married day. Before the big day, the groom’s family provides party
to welcome their daughter-in-law in order to prepare her to be living with her new
family. The elders and imam advise the groom with the presence of the some
representatives on the bride’s parents. Weddings traditionally occur at the groom’s
house. Parents receive guests with drink and food (but not alcohol), while guests bring
gifts associated with money, rice, drinks, cruises, sugar, or spices. In those ceremonies
people feast as well as dance with guests getting a griot (praise-singer) as well as
giving further gifts towards groom’s parents.
The girl moves towards husbands (or his parent’s) house or compound, bringing
utensils for cooking which she buys with the money from the bride price.
Shona
This marriage in Shona can be a process of several a few months. In those weddings
in Shona, Roora” the same as South Africa’s lobola is paid in the similar fashion to
South Africa and Botswana. This bride however, decides when to attend her husband.
She goes through the night, with her female relatives escorting her. The day that she
chooses for the wedding can be a surprise to the future husband. Bride in Shona
weddings is covered in white from head to toe so that it’s impossible to see her. As she
walks into the village, his family starts off ululating and dancing. Additionally family
begins to prepare an impromptu party. The groom is located and told that his bride has
arrived. The surprise is to find out how the groom’s family reacts with an emergency.
The bride, insured, walks through the total village, taking her moment. The villagers,
all linked to the groom, encourage her and keep on walking. They less dense her. They
throw money at her feet and they sing songs about how happy these are that their
people will continue to exist because the bride has decided have babies for their own
son. Bride is eventually escorted directly into her mother in law’s home where the girl
with encouraged to take off of her veil with items and pleadings. A big party regarding
dancing, and drinking begins and last and last long into the day. That is when the
household gets to see their own daughter in law for the 1st time.
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6 RESPONSES
1. Phebe
Who created this article please I need to know
Reply
2. Caroline
Somalia is not in south Africa.
Reply
3. briane gray
Why must an Ethiopian bride remain in the house during day time.
Reply
4. Ufuoma
I don’t know where you got your information from but what you have written about
Nigerian weddings is very wrong! There are very many different tribes in Nigeria and
though there are similarities between their customs, there are also marked
differences. It is therefore NOT possible to give one description of a typical Nigerian
marriage ceremony. Marriage customs vary in Nigeria. You would need, at the very
broadest, to describe separate customs for Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western
Nigeria. And as the south is very diverse, you would need several other descriptions
for the many ethnic groups there. I am from the Niger Delta in Southern Nigeria and
we have many different customs there alone. That statement of a man not saying his
bride’s name is very alien. I am an elder and have never heard of it!
Reply
5. Nigerian citizen
Okay, you got most of your Nigerian wedding tradition ideas wrong. What the F. Is
the blood of a goat doing? I am a Nigerian. All you have to do is to meet the family of
the bride, get their approval, there is no blood involved so please get your facts
straight.
Reply
6. Nnaji chigbogu
The entity called Nigeria is made up of many tribes with no cultural heritage, so
please when talking about Nigeria be sure to educate us on the particular tribe your
talking about. I’m an Igbo and we don’t use no blood
Reply
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150 Unique and Most Common African Last Names (Surnames)
Culture
150 Unique and Most Common
African Last Names (Surnames)
Africa is home to several language families and hundreds of languages all these
different cultures countries and people have something in common they can be found
now world wide and one way of keeping and telling others about your roots is African
Surname and there for it is considered as very important in todays African culture. The
people can be divided into over a thousand different ethnic groups. Some practice
various tribal religions, others Islam or Christianity. This complex background makes
summing up African naming traditions in a few paragraphs very difficult.
Traditional African given names often reflect the circumstances at the time of birth.
Names such as Mwanajuma “Friday”, Esi “Sunday”, Khamisi “Thursday”, and Wekesa
“harvest time” refer to the time or day when the child was born. Other names reflect
the birth order of the newborn, for example Mosi “first born”, Kunto “third born”,
Nsonowa “seventh born”, and Wasswa “first of twins”. Some names describe the
parents’ reaction to the birth (such as Kayode, Gwandoya, Abeni and Monifa) and still
others are descriptive of the newborn or of desired characteristics (like Yejide, Dada,
Chiumbo and Zuberi). Vocabulary words are also often used as given names. For
example: Sefu “sword” and Tau “lion” (masculine) and Marjani “coral” and Ife “love”
(feminine).
Ghana’s founding father Kwame Nkrumah chose to name his two sons after fellow
African leaders.
Sekou Nkrumah was named after Guinea’s first President Sekou Toure, while Gamal
Nkrumah got his name from Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Nkrumah is not alone in fostering the identity of Africanism – the late President Mobutu
Sese Seko dropped his own Christian name and even renamed his country – the then
Belgian Congo – which became Zaire.
But 32 years later the late Laurent Kabila kicked Mobutu out, and re-baptised the
country the Democratic Republic of Congo.
His reason was to rid the country of all of Mobutu’s influence and he felt a change of
name was the way to do it.
1. Ajanlekoko The Dog is chasing the Wolf

2. Omiata Pepperwater
3. Apeloko One who works late on the Farm”
4. Abimbola Rich child
5. Abioye The son of royalty
6. Adebowale Return of the crown
7. Adisa The lucid one
8. Afia Friday born child
9. Afolabi Child of high status
10. Afua Friday born child
11. Akachi God’s hand
12. Akinyi Born during forenoon
13. Akua Wednesday born
14. Baako Baby first born
15. Babajide Father is coming home
16. Babak Small father
17. Babatunde Return of the father
18. Babette Promise of God
19. Chiamaka God is gorgeous
20. Chibuzo God give me directions
21. Chidike The strength of God
22. Chidubem God is my guide
23. Chike Power of God
24. Chikelu Created by God
25. Chikere Created by God
26. Chipo Present
27. Chuks God did great deeds
28. Chukwuemeka God did great deeds
29. Ekua Wednesday born
30. Emeka God did great deeds
31. Emem Person of peace
32. Faraji Solace
33. Femi Adored by God
34. Folami One who demands respect
35. Fumnaya Give me love
36. Furaha Delight
37. Ife Woman of love
38. Imamu Spiritual leader
39. Imani Faithful person
40. Imari Faithful or loyal
41. Jabari Courageous
42. Jaheem Dignified
43. Jaz Unclear
44. Jelani Full of strength
45. Jojo God raises
46. Kanye Freedom
47. Katlego Achieving
48. Kenya From Mount Kenya
100 Unique and Most Common African Last Names (Surnames)
1 Azikiwe 51 Asari-Dokubo
2 Awolowo 52 Jomo-Gbomo
3 Bello 53 Anikulapo-Kuti
4 Balewa 54 Iwu
5 Akintola 55 Anenih
6 Okotie-Eboh 56 Bamgboshe
7 Nzeogwu 57 Biobaku
8 Onwuatuegwu 58 Tinibu
9 Okafor 59 Akinjide
10 Okereke 60 Akinyemi
11 Okeke 61 Akiloye
12 Okonkwo 62 Adeyemi
13 Okoye 63 Adesida
14 Okorie 64 Omehia
15 Obasanjo 65 Sekibo
16 Babangida 66 Okar
17 Buhari 67 Amaechi
18 Dimka 68 Bankole
19 Diya 69 Nnamani
20 Odili 70 Ayim
21 Ibori 71 Okadigbo
22 Igbinedion 72 Ironsi
23 Alamieyeseigha 73 Ojukwu
24 Yar’Adua 74 Danjuma
25 Akpabio 75 Effiong
26 Attah 76 Akenzua
27 Chukwumereije 77 Adeoye
28 Akunyili 78 Adesina
29 Iweala 79 Saro-Wiwa
30 Okonjo 80 Gowon
31 Ezekwesili 81 Ekwensi
32 Achebe 82 Egwu
33 Soyinka 83 Onobanjo
34 Solarin 84 Aguda
35 Gbadamosi 85 Okpara
36 Olanrewaju 86 Mbanefo
37 Magoro 87 Boro
38 Madaki 88 Akerele
39 Jang 89 Alakija
40 Oyinlola 90 Balogun
41 Oyenusi 91 Mbadinuju
42 Onyejekwe 92 Okiro
43 Onwudiwe 93 Okilo
44 Jakande 94 Jaja
45 Kalejaiye 95 Fagbure
46 Igwe 96 Falana
47 Eze 97 Ademola
48 Obi 98 Ohakim
49 Ngige 99 Orji
50 Uba 100 Kalu

While doing our research for African Names we found these interesting aricle parts and
we feel like sharing them with you
My name (Noxolo) means peace in Xhosa. What I like about this name is it reflects
which tribal group of South Africa I come from. The Xhosa as well Zulu languages have
3 distincts clicks “X”, “C” and “Q” but Xhosas use more clicks than Zulus in their
everyday conversations. My family name has a click “C” as well. When my mother was
pregnant, she was always fighting with my father and his family; she was in this
constant state of depression. When I was born, she gave me this name NOXOLO
because she wanted peace. Actually just after I was born, peace was restored in my
family. My African name reflects my personality – I hate fights and arguments ; I am a
peaceful person.
Noxolo Judith Ncapayi, South Africa
I just feel happy to say that this programme of conscientization is excellent. African
names have always been associated with personal identity and personality structure
expressed in the hopes and aspirations of the parents and passed on to the individual
child. So “Ndubueze” means that “life is king” – to live is to be a king. There we go!
Dr. Ndubueze Fabian Mmagu, Austria

I find it quite silly in retrospect that almost all Kenyans have a “Christian” name which
is quite English. Mine’s Margaret, or Latin for some Catholics. Nowhere in the Bible
does it say one should have a Christian name and it certainly did not require it to be
English or Western. We can be baptised another Kenyan/African and more meaningful
name than being another of the somewhat bland Peters and Janes of the world.
Wairimu Kuria, Kenyan in US
African names comes with great pride and power. Maduabuchi means Humans are not
God. Also: no one can dictate my life, nor my destiny, strong to be God to my destiny
and my self. Last name Onwuachimba means Death could never wipe out a
community. What a wonderful name; Maduabuchi Onwuachimba (Igbo-Nigeria). In
abreviation “ABUCHI” for my Western folks, short and simple is’nt it.
Abuchi, USA
I have a western surname, presumably that of the slavemaster of my forebears. But by
the grace of God, my first and middle names are not only African but reflect the ethnic
origin of where I know my maternal ancestors come from, the Mandinka people. In May
2003 I took a genetics test and found out that I’m a direct descendent of the Mandinkas
maternally. My parents wanting to embue me with an African name, unknowingly gave
me a first and middle name that reflects part of my ethnic origin
BR, USA
I am responding to Vince Gainey’s point – “Why are African Christians so ashamed of
their Christian names in comparison to Muslims who have pride in their Arabic Islamic
names.” I think Vince is confusing “European” with “Christian”. In many languages of
Ethiopia for example, typical names are compounded of the divinity and some aspect
of it. For example “Gebre-Egziabher” in the Ethiopian/Eritrean languages of
Amharic/Tigrinya means “Servant of God” and those are Christian names. And many
of the names in Oromo (another Ethiopian language) that contain “Waaq” as in
Waaqgari, or Waaqayoo are similar derivations from the Oromo word for God (“Waq”).
The Muslim name Abd-Allah is equivalent to the “Gebre Egziabher” I mentioned above.
And a Nigerian friend has told me that many Ibo names are equivalent compounds of
the divine’s name and some desirable relationship. I am certain that many other
cultures equally create such names. So I would say that perhaps one would find God
in a lot more African names than one would suspect.
YM, Ethiopia
Good question! My name is meaningful (‘in your God’s name I’m happy’ is the direct
translation of my first and last names taken together). I think my name shows more the
hope and wish of my parents than mine (given that I am on the atheistic side of things).
It is actually an oxymoron, a religious friend has suggested I change my name BUT,
why should I? I am a product of religious parents and culture; hence I shall carry this
name, however unfitting it seems, to the grave. (Both proud and amused!).
Banchiamalck Dessalegn, Ethiopian in U.S.
My name Derefaka figuratively means: Continuing the heritage of our fathers. From
the time I got to know about the traditional meaning of my name, I developed a sense
of responsiblity to my Family, my heritage and my culture.
Derefaka Gogo, Canada
In Most West African countries (Togo, Benin, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire), the majority of
Southern people name their children based on their day of birth. For instance in Togo,
apart from their original meanings, those names also have other interesting meanings.
For example if you were born on a Monday and named Kojo or Kodjo for a boy or Adjo
for a girl, you would be taken as a zealous man or woman because Monday is the first
day of work after the weekend, and if you were born on a Wednesday and named
Kokou for a boy or Akwa for a girl, you were taken as a half-lazy person because
people usually work or go to school for just the first half of the day -from 7 to 12- and
use the other half as leisure time, and if you were born on a Sunday and named Kossi
for a boy or Kossiwa for a girl, you were taken as the child of God, the pure, pretty child
because people dress up pretty to worship God at the mass on Sunday. Playing with
names really is part of many African cultures.
Abi, Togo
I love my name to death. My first name is from the bible as Christanity was an old
religinon in Ethiopia/Africa. When we come to my dad’s name “Negussie” it means “my
king” and my grandpas name “Aberra” means “it’s shining” so when you read my entire
name it has a meaning of “Daniel my king shines.” Yeah, I hope I will shine forever and
be a man for a change.
Daneil Negussie Aberra, Ethiopia/USA
What makes a person is his/her identity. So a name is really very important.
Paul Gisemba, Kenya
Given the importance of names in my social background (among the Dinka people), I
am proud to be one of those named after the “famous” legendary ancestor of the Dinka
people of Sudan, Deng, who was believed to be the direct decendant of Adam
(Garang) and Eve (Abuk). Any child named after the above names is a blessed one
whom the community expect to live up to the due reputation e.g has leadership
qualities and being honest.
Deng Mador K-Dengdit, Sudanese in Australia
African names like most traditional names like John (Yahweh is gracious) , Patrick
(nobleman) , Natasha (christmas day), Abdul (servant of..) etc.. have meanings. The
main difference is that African parents will not just put a label on their progeny without
finding out what the label is saying about their hopes and aspirations, beliefs and
culture and life experiences.
Tawedzwegwa Purpose Katakwa, Zimbabwe
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7 RESPONSES
1. Kaitlyn
Hi, I am writing a novel and the main character (a girl) is from Sudan. I am having
trouble picking the right name for her, and I want to get it correct so the first name
and last name come from the same culture and make sense together. It would be
great if you could help me out. Thanks!
Reply
 Mahmoud
It depends on what region of Sudan the girl is from. As Sudan is filled with
many different tribes and ethnicities.
Reply
 Elle
How about ‘Nadia Ibrahim’?
Reply
 Kaitlyn
Thank you! Do you know what region or tribe that that would be
from?
Reply
2. David S
Interesting article, where did you source the data this research is based on. How big
and representative is the sample. The name list is disproportionately nigerian . And
Its curious there aren’t many hausa names (if any at all). according to the nigerian
census. hausas are the most populous group in nigeria. I suppose it depends what
you mean by “most common” . what are the parameters you have used to arrive at
this results ?
Reply
3. Kwena
My name is Kwena and it means crocodile. Because I am a petite and sweet-looking
woman, I find myself often underestimated and underminded. I interpret my name to
mean that I lie low, allowing my snout to be poked and proded until I emerge to
reveal all that was hidden below the murky water’s suface.
It took me most of my life to come to this understanding about my name.
Reply
4. Desiree Harrell
I am trying to find out if the sir name(last name) can indicate what part of Africa a
person is from. Do you know what or where the last name Uwagbal or Ofenjiaguan
came from or what it means. The first name is Bright.
Reply
Leave a Reply
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Phronimon
On-line version ISSN 2413-3086
Print version ISSN 1561-4018
Phronimon vol.16 n.2 Pretoria 2015
African culture and values
Gabriel E. Idang
Department of Philosophy, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State,

Nigeria gabrielidang@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The main objective of this paper is to examine African culture and values. Since culture is
often seen as the sum total of the peculiarities shared by a people, a people's values can
be seen as part of their culture. In discussing African culture and values, we are not
presupposing that all African societies have the same explanation(s) for events, the same
language, and same mode of dressing and so on. Rather, there are underlying similarities
shared by many African societies which, when contrasted with other cultures, reveal a
wide gap of difference. In this paper, we try to show the relevance of African culture and
values to the contemporary society but maintain that these values be critically assessed,
and those found to be inimical to the well-being and holistic development of the society,
be discarded. In this way, African culture and values can be revaluated, their relevance
established and sustained in order to give credence to authentic African identity.
Key concepts: Aesthetic; African; change; culture; economic; moral; political; religious;
social; values
INTRODUCTION
The culture of a people is what marks them out distinctively from other human societies
in the family of humanity. The full study of culture in all its vastness and dimensions
belongs to the discipline known as anthropology, which studies human beings and takes
time to examine their characteristics and their relationship to their environments.
Culture, as it is usually understood, entails a totality of traits and characters that are
peculiar to a people to the extent that it marks them out from other peoples or societies.
These peculiar traits go on to include the people's language, dressing, music, work, arts,
religion, dancing and so on. It also goes on to include a people's social norms, taboos
and values. Values here are to be understood as beliefs that are held about what is right
and wrong and what is important in life. A fuller study of values rightly belongs to the
discipline of philosophy. Axiology as a branch of philosophy deals with values embracing
both ethics and aesthetics. This is why philosophical appraisal of African culture and
values is not only apt and timely, but also appropriate. Moreover, the centrality of the
place of values in African culture as a heritage that is passed down from one generation
to another, will be highlighted. We shall try to illustrate that African culture and values
can be appraised from many dimensions in addition to examining the method of change
and the problem of adjustment in culture. Here we hope to show that while positive
dimensions of our culture ought to be practised and passed on to succeeding
generations, negative dimensions of our culture have to be dropped in order to promote
a more progressive and dynamic society.
Before we can have an appraisal of African culture and values, it is necessary for us to
have an understanding of the concept of culture and its meaning. This will help us
grapple with the issues we will be dealing with in this paper. Let us now look at the
concept and meaning of culture, as this is fundamental to our understanding of what
African culture is.
THE CONCEPT AND MEANING OF CULTURE
Edward B. Taylor is reputed as the scholar who first coined and defined culture in his
work Primitive Culture (1871) and reprinted in 1958. Taylor saw culture as that complex
whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs or any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. This definition captures
the exhaustive nature of culture. One would have expected that this definition would be a
univocal one - but this is not so. In fact, there are as many definitions of culture as there
are scholars who are interested in the phenomenon. Culture embraces a wide range of
human phenomena, material achievements and norms, beliefs, feelings, manners, morals
and so on. It is the patterned way of life shared by a particular group of people that claim
to share a single origin or descent. In an attempt to capture the exhaustive nature of
culture, Bello (1991: 189) sees it as "the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in
their attempts to meet the challenge of living in their environment, which gives order and
meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms thus
distinguishing a people from their neighbours". Culture serves to distinguish a people
from others, and Aziza (2001: 31) asserts that:
Culture...refers to the totality of the pattern of behaviour of a particular group of people.

It includes everything that makes them distinct from any other group of people for
instance, their greeting habits, dressing, social norms and taboos, food, songs and dance
patterns, rites of passages from birth, through marriage to death, traditional occupations,
religious as well as philosophical beliefs.
Culture is passed on from generation to generation. The acquisition of culture is a result

of the socialisation process. Explaining how culture is passed on as a generational
heritage, Fafunwa (1974: 48) writes that:
The child just grows into and within the cultural heritage of his people. He imbibes it.
Culture, in traditional society, is not taught; it is caught. The child observes, imbibes and
mimics the action of his elders and siblings. He watches the naming ceremonies, religious
services, marriage rituals, funeral obsequies. He witnesses the coronation of a king or
chief, the annual yam festival, the annual dance and acrobatic displays of guilds and age
groups or his relations in the activities. The child in a traditional society cannot escape
his cultural and physical environments.
This shows that every human being who grows up in a particular society is likely to
become infused with the culture of that society, whether knowingly or unknowingly
during the process of social interaction. We do not need to have all the definitions of
culture and its defining characteristics for us to understand the concept and meaning of
culture. Even though there are as many definitions of culture as there are writers, there
is an element of similarity that runs through them all. This singular underlying
characteristic is the attempt to portray and capture culture as the entire or total way of
life of a particular group of people. Etuk (2002: 13) is of the opinion that "an entire way
of life would embody, among other things, what the people think of themselves and the
universe in which they live - their world view - in other words, how they organise their
lives in order to ensure their survival". It can be safely stated that there can be no
culture without a society. It can also be said that culture is uniquely human and shared
with other people in a society. Culture is selective in what it absorbs or accepts from
other people who do not belong to a particular cultural group.
Culture is to be understood as the way of life of a people. This presupposes the fact that
there can be no people without a culture. To claim that there is no society without a
culture would, by implication, mean that such a society has continued to survive without
any form of social organisation or institutions, norms, beliefs and taboos, and so on; and
this kind of assertion is quite untrue. That is why even some Western scholars who may
be tempted to use their cultural categories in judging other distinctively different people
as "primitive", often deny that such people have history, religion and even philosophy;
but cannot say that they have no culture.
In this paper, we shall be dealing with African culture and drawing examples from
Nigerian culture. It is true that based on the consideration of culture as that which marks
a people out from others, groups one can rightly say that there are many cultures in
Africa. Africa is inhabited by various ethnic nationalities with their different languages,
modes of dressing, eating, dancing and even greeting habits. But in spite of their various
cultures, Africans do share some dominant traits in their belief systems and have similar
values that mark them out from other peoples of the world. A Nigerian culture, for
instance, would be closer to, say, a Ghanaian culture on certain cultural parameters than
it would be to the Oriental culture of the Eastern world, or the Western culture of Europe.
It is true that culture is universal and that each local or regional manifestation of it is
unique. This element of uniqueness in every culture is often described as cultural
variation. The cultures of traditional African societies, together with their value systems
and beliefs are close, even though they vary slightly from one another. These slight
variations only exist when we compare an African culture with others. Certainly African
cultures differ vastly from the cultures of other regions or continents. And we believe
there is no need to over-labour this point since there are sufficient similarities to justify
our usage of the term "African culture". Here we would be sure to find a world of
differences and diversity in beliefs, values and culture generally. Using Nigerian culture
for instance, Antia (2005: 17) writes that "Nigerians always behave differently from the
French, or Chinese, or Americans or Hottentots, because Nigerian beliefs, values and
total thinking are different from those of the French, Chinese, Americans or the
Hottentots".
Culture has been classified into its material and non-material aspects. While material
culture refers to the visible tactile objects which man is able to manufacture for the
purposes of human survival; non-material culture comprises of the norms and mores of
the people. While material culture is concrete and takes the form of artefacts and crafts,
non-material culture is abstract but has a very pervasive influence on the lives of the
people of a particular culture. Hence beliefs about what is good and what is bad, together
with norms and taboos, are all good examples of non-material culture. From the
foregoing, it is obvious that culture is shared since it consists of cherished values or
beliefs that are shared by a group, lineage, and religious sect and so on. Apart from this,
culture is dynamic in the sense that it is continually changing. Culture is not static. We
are not alone in this observation as Antia (2005: 17) states that "culture is not fixed and
permanent. It is always changed and modified by man through contacts with and
absorption of other peoples' cultures, a process known as assimilation". Etuk (2002: 25)
has also observed that "cultures are not static, they change. Indeed culture needs to
change; which wants to remain static and resistant to change would not be a living
culture". We can see that since culture is carried by people and people do change their
social patterns and institutions, beliefs and values and even skills and tools of work, then
culture cannot but be an adaptive system. Once an aspect of culture adjusts or shifts in
response to changes from within or outside the environment, then other aspects of the
culture are affected, whether directly or indirectly. It is necessary to know that each
element of a culture (such as material procedures, food processing or greeting patterns)
is related to the whole system. It is in this respect that we can see that even a people's
technology is part of their culture.
Idiong (1994: 46) opines that "there are some misconceptions that are widely held about
'culture' as a word. Such misconceptions can and often lead some persons to have a
negative perception of 'culture' and all that it stands for. Such persons raise their
eyebrows and suddenly frown at the word 'culture' as they in their minds' eyes visualise
masquerades, idol worshipping, traditional jamborees and other activities they consider
bizarre that go with culture". This "misconception", we believe, does not appear to be
widespread but the posture may have arisen from a partial understanding of the meaning
of culture because as we shall see, culture generally, and African culture in particular, is
like a two-sided coin. It has soullifting, glamorous and positive dimensions even though it
is not completely immune from some negative outcomes. African culture, as Ezedike
(2009: 455) writes:
...refers to the sum total of shared attitudinal inclinations and capabilities, art, beliefs,
moral codes and practices that characterize Africans. It can be conceived as a
continuous, cumulative reservoir containing both material and non-material elements
that are socially transmitted from one generation to another. African culture, therefore,
refers to the whole lot of African heritage.
We could see that African culture embraces the totality of the African way of life in all its
forms and ramifications.
THE PLACE OF VALUES IN AFRICAN CULTURE
The value of a thing, be it an object or a belief, is normally defined as its worth. Just as
an object is seen to be of a high value that is treasured, our beliefs about what is right or
wrong that are worth being held are equally treasured. A value can be seen as some
point of view or conviction which we can live with, live by and can even die for. This is
why it seems that values actually permeate every aspect of human life. For instance, we
can rightly speak of religious, political, social, aesthetic, moral, cultural and even
personal values. We have observed elsewhere that there are many types and
classifications of values. As people differ in their conception of reality, then the values of
one individual may be different from those of another. Life seems to force people to
make choices, or to rate things as better or worse as well as formulate some scale or
standard of values. Depending on the way we perceive things we can praise and blame,
declare actions right or wrong or even declare the scene or objects before us as either
beautiful or ugly. Each person, as we could see, has some sense of values and there is no
society without some value system (Idang 2007: 4).
Whether we are aware of it or not, the society we live in has ways of daily forcing its
values on us about what is good, right and acceptable. We go on in our daily lives trying
to conform to acceptable ways of behaviour and conduct. Persons who do not conform to
their immediate society's values are somehow called to order by the members of that
society. If a man, for instance, did not think it wise to make honesty a personal value,
and it is widely held by his immediate society that truth telling is a non-negotiable virtue,
it would not be long before such an individual gets into trouble with other members of his
society. This shows that values occupy a central place in a people's culture. It forms the
major bulwark that sustains a people's culture, making it more down-to-earth and real.
Elsewhere, we have seen African culture as "all the material and spiritual values of the
African people in the course of history and characterising the historical stage attained by
Africa in her developments" (Idang 2009: 142). This simply means that there is a
peculiar way of life, approach to issues, values and world views that are typically African.
Based on cultural considerations, some forms of behaviour, actions and conduct are
approved while others are widely disapproved of. To show the extent of disapproval that
followed the violation of values that should otherwise be held sacred, the penalty was
sometimes very shameful, sometimes extreme. African culture, with particular reference
to the Ibibio people in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, for instance, has zero tolerance for
theft. The thief once caught in the act or convicted, would be stripped naked, his or her
body rubbed with charcoal from head to toe and the object he or she stole would be
given to him or her to carry around the village in broad day light. The sense of personal
shame and the disgrace the thief has brought on himself or herself, family, relations and
friends would be enough to discourage even the most daring thief. Antia (2005: 17)
writes that "what a people hold to be true, right or proper with regard to those things
explains much of the cultural traits by which they become identified". What Antia calls
"traits" here can as well be called values; and Etuk (2002: 22) writes that "no group of
people can survive without a set of values which holds them together and guarantees
their continued existence".
The concern with values, whether moral or aesthetic, occupies a very wide area in the
discipline of philosophy. To show the fundamental importance of values, it is regarded as
a core area in philosophy, together with knowledge and reality. When we are dealing with
actions that a people see as good or bad, right or wrong, praiseworthy or blame-worthy,
we are dealing with the aspect of value theory that rightly falls under ethics or moral
philosophy. But when we are dealing with an appraisal of beauty in the arts and crafts of
a people, we are dealing with the aspect of value theory called aesthetics. It does appear
that while material culture can be studied and evaluated under the aesthetic aspect of
value theory, non-material culture can equally be studied and evaluated under the ethical
aspect of value theory. Just as ethics and aesthetics are twin sisters that form or
constitute value theory, the non-material and material dimensions of a culture together
constitute two related aspects that give a people their unique identity, hence the
relationship that exists between ethics and aesthetics. Having seen the centrality of
values to African culture and any culture for that matter, it can be stated that the values
of culture are what give it uniqueness and identity. Let us now look at African culture and
values.
AFRICAN CULTURE AND VALUES
Having looked at the concept and meaning of culture and having established the place of
values in a culture, we want to bring this down to the African context. A culture is an
embodiment of different values with all of them closely related to each other. That is why
one can meaningfully talk about social, moral, religious, political, aesthetic and even
economic values of a culture. Let us now look at these values piece-meal, as this would
give us an understanding how they manifest in an African culture and the importance
being attached to them.
SOCIAL VALUES
Social values can simply be seen as those beliefs and practices that are practised by any
particular society. The society has a way of dictating the beliefs and practices that are
performed either routinely by its members or performed whenever the occasion
demands. Hence, we have festivals, games, sports and dances that are peculiar to
different societies. These activities are carried out by the society because they are seen
to be necessary. Some social values, especially in African society, cannot exactly be
separated from religious, moral, political values and so on. This is why we can see that in
a traditional African society like in Ibibio land (Nigeria), festivals which were celebrated
often had religious undertones - they ended with sacrifices that were offered to certain
deities on special days in order to attract their goodwill on the members of the society.
Social values are backed by customary laws. They comprise of those traditional carnivals
that a people see as necessary for their meaningful survival. Let us illustrate with an
example: the new yam festival as practised in Ibibio land has a way of encouraging hard
work and checking famine. It was a thing of shame for any man to buy yams for his
family within the first two to three weeks after the festival. Doing so would expose a man
as being too lazy. These festivals really discipline the society because nobody is to do
anything when it is not time. For instance, new yam could not be eaten until the new
yam festival has been celebrated.
MORAL VALUES
African culture is embedded in strong moral considerations. It has a system of various

beliefs and customs which every individual ought to keep in order to live long and to
avoid bringing curses on them and others. Adultery, stealing and other forms of immoral
behaviour are strongly discouraged and whenever a suspected offender denies a charge
brought against him, he would be taken to a soothsayer or made to take an oath for
proof of innocence. In Ibibio land for instance, ukang (ordeal) is very popular as a
method of crime detection. The soothsayer who specialises in it sets a pot of boiling oil,
drops a stone into it and asks the suspects to attempt to retrieve the stone. The guiltless
can reach to the bottom of the pot and retrieve the stone without the hair on his arms
getting burnt. But when the culprit approaches the pot, it rages and boils over in a
manner that even the most daring criminal would hesitate to make an attempt at
retrieving the stone. The fear of being made to go through such ordeal or to be stripped
naked and taken round the community as in the case of stealing, adequately checks
crimes of some sort. African proverbs and wise sayings have a rich repository of wisdom.
The proverbs warn the African against evil conduct and, according to Mbiti (1977: 8), are
"therefore a major source of African wisdom and a valuable part of African heritage".
African culture has a moral code that forbids doing harm to a relative, a kinsman, an in-
law, a foreigner and a stranger, except when such a person is involved in an immoral
act; and if that is the case, it is advisable to stay away from such an individual and even
at death, their corpses would not be dignified with a noble burial in a coffin and grave.
Mothers of twins were not welcome and were regarded as the harbinger of evil, hence
unacceptable.
RELIGIOUS VALUES
Religion in African societies seems to be the fulcrum around which every activity
revolves. Hence religious values are not toyed with. African traditional religion, wherever
it is practised, has some defining characteristics. For instance, it possesses the concept of
a Supreme Being which is invisible and indigenous. It holds a belief in the existence of
the human soul and the soul does not die with the body. African traditional religion also
has the belief that good and bad spirits do exist and that these spirits are what make
communication with the Supreme Being possible. Above all, it holds a moral sense of
justice and truth and the knowledge of the existence of good and evil (Umoh 2005: 68).
African religious values seem to permeate every facet of the life of the African and the
African believes that anything can be imbued with spiritual significance. The worship of
different deities on different days goes on to show that the African people hold their
religious values in high esteem. Sorcerers and diviners are seen to be mediating between
God and man and interpreting God's wishes to the mortal. The diviners, sorcerers and
soothsayers help to streamline human behaviour in the society and people are afraid to
commit offences because of the fear of being exposed by the diviners and sorcerers.
POLITICAL VALUES
The African society definitely has political institutions with heads of such institutions as
respected individuals. The most significant thing about the traditional society is that the
political hierarchy begins with the family. Each family has a family head; each village has
a village head. From these, we have clan head and above the clan head, is the
paramount ruler. This kind of political arrangement is observable in the Southern part of
Nigeria. Prior to the coming of Western colonisation and its subsequent subversion of the
African traditional political arrangements, African societies had their council of chiefs,
advisers, cult groups, and so on. It was believed that disloyalty to a leader was disloyalty
to God and the position of leadership was either hereditary or by conquest. In Akwa Ibom
State, Nigeria, for instance, even though the traditional political institution was
overwhelmingly totalitarian, there were still some checks and balances. Any ruler who
attempted to usurp powers was beheaded by the Ekpo cult. Antia (2005: 145) writes that
"such checks and balances were enforced by the existence of secret societies, cults,
societal norms, traditional symbols and objects, various classes of chiefs who performed
different functions on the different aspects of life". Hence, with respect to political values,
we can see that it is inextricably linked with religious, social, moral values and so on. It is
the political value that a people hold which makes them accord respect to their political
institutions and leaders.
AESTHETIC VALUES
The African concept of aesthetics is predicated on the fundamental traditional belief

system which gave vent to the production of the art. Now art is usually seen as human
enterprise concerned with the production of aesthetic objects. Thus, when a people in
their leisure time try to produce or create objects that they consider admirable, their
sense of aesthetic value is brought to bear. If we see art as being concerned with the
production of aesthetic objects, then we can truly say of African aesthetic value that it is
immensely rich. Let us have an example: the sense of beauty of the Ibibio people is
epitomised in their fattened maidens whom they call mbopo. These fattened maidens
are confined to a room where they are fed with traditional cuisines. The idea behind it is
to prepare the maiden and make her look as good, healthy and beautiful as possible for
her husband. This is usually done before marriage and after child birth. The Western
model of beauty is not like this. It is often pictured as slim-looking young ladies who
move in staggered steps. This shows that the African aesthetic value and sense of what
is beautiful is markedly different. Aesthetic value is what informs a people's arts and
crafts as it affects their sense of what is beautiful as opposed to that which is ugly. The
aesthetic value of a society influences the artist in his endeavour to produce aesthetic
objects that are acceptable to the society in which he lives.
ECONOMIC VALUES
Economic values of the traditional African society are marked by cooperation. The
traditional economy, which is mainly based on farming and fishing, was co-operative in
nature. In Ibibio land, for instance, friends and relatives would come and assist in doing
farm work not because they will be paid but so that if it happens that they need such
assistance in the near future, they will be sure to find it. Children were seen to provide
the main labour force. That is why a man took pride in having many of them, especially
males. The synergetic nature of the African society is what made two or more individuals
to pool their resources together and uplift each other economically through the system of
contributions called osusu. Apart from this, they even cooperated in the building of
houses and doing other things for their fellow members. When any of them was in
difficulty, all members rallied around and helped him or her. Hence, we can state without
fear of contradiction that the economic values of the traditional African society such as
the Ibibio were founded on hard work and cooperation.
Having looked at some of the values that characterise the African culture, it is important
to state here that these values are inextricably bound together and are to be
comprehended in their totality as African cultural values
CULTURAL CHANGE IN AFRICA AND THE PROBLEMS OF

ADJUSTMENT
It is pertinent to examine some of the changes in culture and the problems of

adjustment. Within this context, "change" means a significant alteration or marked
departure from that which existed before. Invention, discovery and diffusion are some of
the ways by which a culture can change or grow. Invention, for instance, involves the
recombination of existing cultural elements to fashion new things. Ogbum (1922: 200),
on this view, maintains that "the rate of invention within a society is a function of the
size of the existing culture base". The culture base or the cultural elements, objects,
traits and knowledge available in all sections of the pre-1600 African society were limited
in types and variation. Thus, few inventions which could profoundly alter the culture
could take place. Most appliances and utensils used then were made of wood, as metal
was not a commonly known cultural element of the people. For example, a canoe was the
only available means of transportation then. It was wooden in all aspects until recently
modified with motorised propeller and tarpaulin.
Also, building materials were wooden frameworks, sand and leaves knitted into mats for
roofing. In spite of the introduction of new inventions from other cultures, most houses
are still built in the traditional methods using traditional materials, probably for economic
reasons and sheer conservatism. Again, the pre-European-contact African pattern of
exchange was mainly by barter. The need for currency did not arise and so none was
invented. Trade by barter, sale without standardised weights and measures and the
general non-contractual pattern of exchange, all went a long way to foster, enhance and
sustain social solidarity. The introduction of currency along with imported material
artefacts generated or at least accentuated acquisitive propensities and profit orientation
among the people, thereby gradually articulating social inequality based on purely
economic criteria. Inventions may be material or social in nature.
Apart from invention, culture can change and grow through discovery and diffusion.
Discovery, unlike invention, does not involve recombination of traits but the sharing of
knowledge of an existing but yet unknown thing. The importance of discovery in culture
lies in its use and or when it generates certain challenges to the people, which in turn
metamorphose into invention for the development and survival of the society. Another
process which can bring profound change in the culture of African people is the process
of cultural diffusion (the spread of culture traits from one society into another through
cultural contact). Diffusion entails intentional borrowing of cultural traits from other
societies with which the beneficiary society comes in contact, or an imposition of cultural
traits on one society by a stronger society intending to assimilate the weaker society.
The likelihood of reducing the period of culture lag is very much dependent on the
desirability of yielding to change in the non-marital culture, the compatibility of the
anticipated change with the existing culture or its flexibility, and the nature and
magnitude of force available to exact or induce compliance. However, the desirability of
yielding to change in the non-material culture depends on whether the people perceive
the new mode of conduct to be better than what they were used to.
In most instances the attractiveness of yielding to change is often mediated and
conditioned by the compatibility of the expected change with existing culture. A change
which calls for the replacement or total abandonment of pre-established and originally
preferred modes of behaviour is less likely to be accepted than one that is preservative-
that is one which either provides other alternatives and or extends the culture by merely
adding new things to it.
Now, it should be known that force has its own limits in bringing about change as it is
impossible to spell out every bit of a people's ways of life and formulate legislations to
cover them. This is actually where the problem of adjustment to externally induced
change has arisen. Most contemporary Africans find it difficult to adjust between their
primitive beliefs in certain aspects of their culture and the supposedly modern mode of
accepted behaviour. For instance, how does the African explain disasters, deaths,
accidents and other misfortunes in the family? A new convert of the Christian church
would run to the church for explanation and comfort, but if the church's reaction is not
immediate or prompt, the person may turn, in secret, to the native medicine man for
immediate remedies. If the relief comes, he finds himself having to hold dual allegiance -
one to his new found faith, and the other to his primitive beliefs. This form of dichotomy
goes beyond misfortunes and permeates most aspects of the person's life.
EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION
Since values are an integral part of culture and culture is what defines a people's
identity, then the values that a people hold are what differentiate them from other
people. It does appear that cultures always try to maintain those values that are
necessary for the survival of their people. For the Africans, for instance, we see that
close kinship relations are held at a high premium. The synergetic nature of the society
that allows people to build houses and work on farms together is directly opposite to the
Western individualistic model. In those "good old days" as some would say it was usual
to see a neighbour, friend or relative correcting an erring child whose parents he knows.
This was based on the true belief that the churning out of a well-behaved child would be
to the benefit of not only the immediate parents, but also the society. In the same vein,
it was believed that if the child turned out to be a failure, it is not only the immediate
family that would bear the brunt: neighbours, friends and acquaintances could also fall
victim of his nuisance. But today, we see people adopting more and more nuclear family
patterns and the individualistic life style of the West. A friend or neighbour who tries to
correct an erring child will in no time, to his embarrassment, be confronted with the
question: "What is your business?" Kinship ties and love are what characterised the
traditional African culture. It is only love that would make a community, for instance, to
tax themselves through the sale of the products of cash crops like oil palm and use the
proceeds to educationally support a child who is brilliant. In this respect, the synergetic
nature of African culture is what made the society very amiable.
It is part of the African world-view to treat the environment in which he finds himself
with respect: the African cooperates with nature and does not try to conquer it. There
were taboos against farming on certain days as a way of checking the activities of thieves
who may want to reap where they never sowed. It was against the custom to cultivate
on certain areas of the community or even fish on certain streams for some time. This
system, whether it was founded on myth or not, had a way of preserving and conserving
nature. Thus, whether consciously or unconsciously, the society was guaranteed an
increase in agricultural productivity, which was the mainstay of the traditional economy.
Today, with the violation of those customs and myths, we suffer low agricultural
productivity and denuded farmlands because the traditional values that safe-guarded the
land, have been watered-down and we do not have the technological know-how to
replace these beliefs that have been abandoned.
A look at the African reveals that marital rites and practices are usually carried out in line
with the custom of the society concerned. The polygamous marriage was more
preferable; not because the African is naturally polygamous as some would say, but
because it was associated with wealth, power, influence, social status and the strong
African desire to be surrounded by many children and relations.
Children were seen as social security and economic assets and parents took pride in
having many of them. A man who marries a woman, expects her to give him many
children and if the woman could not deliver on this duty, it was sufficient reason, not to
divorce, but to take a second or perhaps a third wife. As a man gets wealthier in
farmland and herds of cattle, his children would provide the workforce. So it was
desirable for a woman to keep bearing children as long as she was fruitful. From this, it is
not hard to see why the first wife would pressurise the husband into taking another wife
in order to alleviate her of some workloads and childbearing. Because of the demand for
children, African women of old would just keep bearing children until perhaps nature
intervened to halt further pregnancies. Apart from this, failure to pressurise the husband
to take another wife would be misinterpreted as selfishness - that she does not want
anyone to share in her husband's wealth. So she urges her husband to take another wife
to avoid being called bad names. Talbot (1969: 136) has observed that polygamy was
considered right because of the civil conditions concerning child bearing in the traditional
society. He writes that "the custom by which a woman is prevented from being 'spoilt' by
a too early pregnancy or through intercourse being tabooed until the child is being
weaned by excessive child bearing is, as a rule, strictly kept among most tribes".
Childlessness was seen as a curse and the failure to give birth to male children was
blamed on the woman since it was believed that she determines the sex of the child.
Following this, Etuk (2002: 91) writes thus:
In my part of Africa, the woman bears the brunt of attack for childlessness in marriage.
The male except where he is clearly impotent, is hardly ever suspected as the cause of
infertility. So where there are no children, the husband will not go for investigation,
although medical experts say the male factor is a lot easier to establish or eliminate. For
a man to go for investigation, is already to point accusing fingers at his manhood and
that is something no proud African male wants to subject himself to.
Beside this, some societies are still practising the system that if a man dies leaving
behind a young wife and little children, the widow is required by custom to name
someone in the family of the deceased husband for whom she will stay on and fulfil the
life-time obligation that she owes her dead husband. Very rarely do they stop to wonder
about the welfare of the widow and that of the children left behind by their brother's
demise. These instances show that marriage practices and the cultural values that are
held about them are due and in urgent need for revision in some African societies. It
does appear that while African culture and values have positive, soul-lifting and
humanistic-dimensions, it also has some negative and dehumanising aspects. Prior to the
arrival of Mary Mitchell Slessor (1848-1905) in Africa, ignorance, superstition and
negative values made multiple births to be seen as a harbinger of evil. Explaining how
twins were looked at in those dark days, Udoh (2007: 103) writes that "one of the twins
was said to be genuine, the other, an impostor. By sharing the same cradle bed together
they were both infected and cursed; their parents were equally guilty of defilement,
particularly, the mother". The birth of twins was seen as a very bad omen. In order to
save the community from
the anger and wrath of the deities, the twins were killed together with their mothers.
Since this custom was stopped by Mary Slessor, multiple births are now seen as multiple
blessings. Members of the public freely make donations to aid their upkeep. We do not
experience any wrath of those deities that demanded the head of twins today. Twins
have grown up to become normal, healthy, respected and respectable members of our
society contributing economically, socially, morally, politically and intellectually to the
development of the African society.
The conclusion here is simply that those positive dimensions of our culture -our
synergetic society, our conservation of nature and even our native arts, dances and
games that offer us interesting sources of entertainment and happiness, should be
encouraged given the fact that culture ought to be knowledgeably innovative and
instrumentally beneficial to people in such a way that the society can move from one
level of development to another. Unfortunately, some traditional practices cannot be
demonstrated empirically and such go against the spirit of globalisation, science and
technology. Therefore, negative and harmful traditional practices that dehumanise people
and portray them as unimproved and backward people without future, should as a matter
of urgency be discarded since culture is an adaptive system together with values that
play a central role in giving the society its uniqueness.
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Umoh, J.0. 2005. Elements of Sociology of Religion. Ikot Ekpene: Iwoh

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African Cultural Complex

CULTURE March 25, 2017 Alik Shahadah
Featured29
Personalities of African culture(s)
Any study of antiquity must take into account that Africa 5 minutes ago, 50 years ago, 500 years
ago and Africa 5000 years ago is not static–‘Alik Shahadah
This article is broken up from the original article due to length.
Any study of complex African culture must take into account that Africa 5 minutes ago, 50 years
ago, 500 years ago and Africa 5000 years ago is not a static feature. A diverse Africa has
influenced, and been influenced. Concepts and cultures of African origin have been exported and
re-imported, just as genes, ideas and technologies have exited and reentered African
populations.
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History and cultures, by both conscious and unconscious forces, distills those characteristics that
are deemed relevant and pass them on from generation to generation. The phenomenon of
history and culture is the further back you look at it, the more monolithic/compressed it
becomes. So over time cultural distinctions between similar communities blur and becomes
monolithic: Just like the further you move away from an object the smaller and less
distinguishable it becomes. But Just as nature is a celebration of diversity, Africa testifies to a
floral mosaic, the full spectrum of diversity created by African creativity.
There is no such thing as African monolithic purity, cultures smash through deserts, cross trade
routes, travel through immigration borders, disregarding our notions of geography and race.
Throughout history, names, foods, cultures, religions, genetics have jumped between Asia and
Africa from the dawn of humanity with blatant disregard for our social constructions.
But as much as culture drifts on the open ocean of human interaction and technological
development, pushed on by the winds of globalization. The ethics of culture are pretty
much static. And where Africa is concern, the centrality of life-systems and functionality have
always been at the root of all African cultures.
Now and in antiquity, from KMT to modern Congo, respect for elders has remained an unbroken
cornerstone in African cultural systems. Marriage rites, burial rites, ancestors rites, still honor
their original foundation. For 2000 years in Ethiopia the ethics and ethos [3] of Ethiopian
culture have not altered, even though rituals attached to those ethics may have come and gone.
So we might change dowry from Cows-to-Coins but the function of dowry (Labolla/Mahr) remains
the same. And it is also critical to understand African culture is more than symbols, and rituals,
languages and aesthetic, it is also those virtues such as hospitality, empathy, courtesy, and
respect. So much so that the entire foundation of many of the rituals and customs are there to
transmit these virtues. And it is from culture’s creativity that creates music and dancing, poetry
and arts.
Any study of African culture must take into account that Africa 5 minutes ago, 50 years ago, 500
years ago and Africa 5000 years ago is not a static feature.A diverse Africa has influenced, and
been influenced. Concepts and cultures of African origin have been exported and re-imported,
just as genes, ideas and technologies have exited and reentered African populations.
But these are only some manifestations of culture. What some are left with today is the
byproducts of culture, only music or only dance, while having no deep memory of the core
cultural system.
Don’t tear down a fence until you know why it was put up– African Proverb
What is the point of multiculturalism if we all become one? Same ethics, same dress, same
attitude, same way of thinking, same hair, clothes, and socialization. Where is the richness in
that—If Africa looks like Europe? The beauty of the world is in the differences, which allow for
diverse contributions to this world. Culture is the repository of human traditions; long and tested
solutions for living in a meaningful way.
Culture is the core of our African humanity and holds some of the secrets to life’s purpose. There
is no authentic autonomous identity outside of the culture that cradles it. it is certainly
not National Geographic‘s image of drum beating Africans in grass skirts, or CNN’‘s notion of
dancing naked Africans eating bush meat, or even the Kora player playing in a European night
club. It does not exist for the pleasure of Western tourist, like a African culture is not a theme
show at a Walt Disney exhibit. Too often the notion of African or Black culture is viewed through
the touristic culturally-curious lens of Europe. So “culture” per UK’s mission in Africa is
tantamount to “jungle culture.” And it is also certainly not what “blacks’ in urban America do on
MTV base. Today, it is almost impossible to conceive of African culture and not hear some drums
beating, and some guys jumping around the stage: It is someone—not Africans—who defined
that as the total expression of African culture; Africans continue to internalize that myth. But in
Ethiopia culture is in the coffee ritual, in Mali it may be tea ritual and camel racing, in Afro-South
America it can be seen in capoeira; in Haiti it manifest in Vodon, in Trinidad in the Steel Pan, in
Barbados in the Cou Cou and flying fish.
Dark skin is just skin with a high percentage of melanin. It does not inform anything distinctive,
apart from the social historical reality that people with dark skin get treated bad— but beyond
that it does not define someone’s value formation—only culture does that. And in
absences of this culture, blackness just absorbs the cultural identity of
oppression; contributing to the culture-less deserts of humanity. African culture is the culture of
the inventiveness and adaptation of African people, since no continent can sponsor a culture—
only people can. (The physical continent, beyond environmental impact, is a negligible agent of
African culture)
How then can we protect culture when culture is not defined? How can you defend a territory
that has no boundaries? Culture can not float or it would be meaningless at retaining its shape,
and therefore incapable of sustaining itself or creating innovation. And we must always bear in
mind, culture is only as good as its function to living people. And either Africans take ownership
and profit from their diverse cultures (like Jazz, Break dance, herbal remedies, etc) or it will end
up in the claim-books of other people.
‘Culture’ is a concrete social phenomenon which represents the essential character of a particular
nation–Hofstede (1991)
Cultural laws are about boundary-maintenance, which fundamentally inform notions of morality
that in turn inform legislation and nationhood. And Africa’s cultural fences are the bastion to
African self-definition, and if haphazardly torn down and replaced with untested immoral values,
what kind of death will that bring to Africa’s unique humanity?The majority of African cultures
are communal, as oppose to “individualistic and this one difference creates entirely different
paradigm and behavioriors. (Africa would never produce Nihilism orExistentialist though for
example) This communal root spills over to inform notions of “human rites” and ethics. All of
these factors are interwoven in the fabric of Africa’s quilt of cultures.
African culture includes but is not limited to: The centrality of spirituality, the placement of music,
aesthetic, family formations, marriage rites, both the tangible and intangibles intellectual
paradigms. The agents affecting culture are climate, geography, technology, cross-cultural
interaction and unfortunately a history of oppression.
Long ago some wise people realized that certain habits bore bad fruit, while other habits, such as
marriage bore success in the group setting. It was also realized that at some stage children
became adults when they had been fully institutionalized to the ethics of the group’s culture. At
this stage a ritual marking this transition to full group membership. These “rites of passage”
became critical in nation building. [1]
It is clearly not only a hallmark of African civilizations, but many other communities such as
the Bar Mitzvah (Hebrew: ‫[ )מצווה בר‬2] which denotes a Jewish youth being considered
responsible for their actions and being included in the adult rituals of the group.
CULTURE AND MODERNITY
Modernity is not the sole ‘invention’ of Westernization, but more over, ‘modernity’ is the
accumulated Conquest of the Western world
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Modernity is a technological state and has zero ethical considerations in its construction.
Modernity has nothing to do with degrees of civilization, in the humane usage of the term. The
most uncivilized inhumane society may have advanced weapons, which they use to destroy
nature and other humans. Would it be correct to say that possession of weapons of modern
warfare automatically implied civilization? Culture also interacts with modernity at many complex
levels, but advancing culture should never mean the retreat of modernity, and vice-a-versa.
Africans were part of modernity, how many Arabs and Asians were also part of creating
modernity? Modernity may have been assembled in a White man’s house but by many non-White
people. So no one race can claim everything in modernity. Modernity does not imply West or
White. It has been and is the product of a global human effort.
We should go down to the grassroots of our culture, not to remain there, not to be isolated
there, but to draw strength and substance there from, and with whatever additional sources of
strength and material we acquire, proceed to set up a new form of society raised to the level of
human progress–Ahmed Sékou Touré
What is the point of African culture(s) if not to be applied to every aspect of the African world?
Why should the values and traditions which have preserved African humanity be replaced with
the cultures or value systems of those practiced by Europe? Because to do so is to concede to a
superiority in European values and cultures. Just when the circumcision rites were being labeled
as “irrelevant” the same modern science now discovers the health benefits and lower
transmission of STDs among circumcised males. What other revelations lie within the wisdom
found in culture?
Xhosa Rites of Passage
African cultures have evolved to harmonize with the African soul, body, and mind All are a child
of time. Communities enshrine these cultures by practicing them and promoting them. And
contrary to what Mugambi and Masolo suggest, there is no evidence, in any record, which show
that a people who forget their culture prosper in any meaningful way.[1] And part of the
confusion is between “modernity” and “culture.” Cultural values can exist in the most
technologically advanced spaces, without challenge. It is a false dichotomy to think that rites of
passage is incompatible with modernity or dowry belongs in a bygone era. In Africa Ptahhotep
was credited with authoring The Instruction of Ptahhotep, an early piece of Egyptian “wisdom
literature” meant to instruct young men in appropriate behavior in Ancient Egyptian African
society. The rites of passage of Ancient Greeks became the first European universities: So
institutionalized into the world it is no longer seen as a direct aspect of European culture. Another
almost invisible example is how European Gothic traditions and folklore (witches, vampires and
elves) are now transplanted into what is accepted as good Hollywood entertainment.
And the same is true for the billion dollar video-game industry. So normalized and obvious that
the viewer forgets these are just European cultural folklore in modernity. And the failure to place
African cultures in a modern context kills Africa’s ability to extract wisdom, success and
development from African cultures.
Racism against Africans is not the only force operating on Africa’s cultural agency. Africans have
also allowed things to stagnate. In West Africa, a new-rich African goes to Venice to buy
European paintings, skipping a magnificent African arts market 4 sec from his door. And this is
true all over Africa; craftsmen from Mozambique have to see pieces worth $400 US for $20 US so
they can eat. These same crafts are worth $1000s once they fall into the European dealers
markets. No industry can continue to innovate without an economical system of support, that
fosters the burgeoning of the arts. So then culture stagnates when the market economies fail to
provide the incentives to artist. At a future date, Africa will have no high art, only trite touristic
caricatures of a distant craft.
For to free ourselves socially, we must build a consciousness, cohesion and sense of specialness
in community [that] only culture can give–Maulana Karenga
Culture and economics for many nations are so normalized the relationships seem invisible.
Zumba a dance craze worth millions which not only brings in fiscal rewards but promotes Latin
American music all over the world. A perfect example of a cultural economic phenomena. Where
is West Africa in this market with so many rich cultural dances. Where is Reggae in this? And
where we see it never are Africans initiators of benefactors economically.
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Beyond the over reaching hand of Westernization many cultures put their foot down in the
monocultural stream of globalization to take ownership of their spaces. The Japanese practices
Japanese culture in the modern workplace. They did not completely base their work ethos on
Europe just because Europe brought technological gifts to Japan in the 19th century (Convention
of Kanagawa). So why can’t African attire, for example, be the formal dress code of the
governments of Kenya? Is the heavy three-piece suit and tie more “practical” in the Kenyan heat
than African garbs? During the Ethiopian 2000 millennium celebrations Meles Zenawi wore
traditional Ethiopian clothing on national TV for the first time, the next day the local clothing
economy in Addis rose by more than 30%. The same thing happened after Beyonce was shown
on TV with full Ethiopian cultural attire. Verace came to the attention of the world when his
designs were worn by celebrities, it created a status around his work. Now imagine if Beyonce or
Meles wearing the Ethiopian cultural attire creates an entire boast to Ethiopian designers
internationally?
If African leadership is not loyal to the local markets what does that say about African markets?
After Thomas Sankara came to power in Burkina Faso in 1983, he declared locally woven cotton
the national fabric and required civil servants to wear it. With a serious trade deficit anything
which enhances local markets is a critical issue. Not to mention the physiological consequences of
seeing Africans wearing their cultural attire and reaffirming a distinctive African cultural heritage
which makes Africa unique.
And why also can’t African food be served in all hotels in Africa? Why is Africa treated with a false
dichotomy of “modernity” or “culture“? Especially when modernity is a byword for Western
culturalization. The real reason most Africans do not take the ethics and the aesthetic of these
diverse cultures and put them in modernity is due to mental slavery. Many see African cultures
are “backward or impractical” but the truth is most Africans globally do not have the confidence
to seek meaningful applications and models for African culture.
The chameleon changes color to match the earth, the earth doesn’t change color to
match the chameleon– Senegalese Proverb
One example where this has been challenged and won, is with the locks hairstyle, which is seen
across the cultural divide. It has left Jamaica and gone to America, and ultimately been a
successful alternative hairstyle in much of Africa because of Reggae music. (a perfect example of
how mus ic was used as a form of

agency). From a Caribbean fringe culture to a global success story. But how can Africa alter,
change, and utilize what is not understood? It is like going through the cupboard and finding 10
bars of gold and flushing it in the toilet , ignorant of its value. And this is what happened across
the globe, burning ancient artifacts, throwing out beautiful art and replacing it with Chinese junk.
Discarding environmentally friendly thatched roofs for galvanize; trading silver for cheap salt. So
European architects are busy investigating applications of the African cultural aesthetic in
contemporary designs, while African architects are running around trying to be Black versions of
Frank Lloyd Wright. Even the Chinese had no value for the Great Wall of China and other
historical monuments until Europeans showed an interest. But the minute they realized its value
they capitalized on it and have been doing so ever since.
In Africa’s past when people built mosque, churches, halls for kings, etc, they used their own
creativity to formulate an architectural aesthetic. Today you can go anywhere in Africa but will
struggle to find that continuing tradition of an African architectural aesthetic. If anyone is
engaging an African aesthetic it would be European architects designing game lodges, etc. But
not Africans!
Without culture the very meaning of an African identity folds and crumbles. Africa is not just a
geographical set of marks on a map, it is the repository of traditions and wisdoms which, build
African people’s cultural heritage
Despite the wonderful talk of an African renaissance, there is no evidence of attempts to evolve
an all-embracing culture which allows a healthy expression of diversity. Without a mosaic
(national) culture that provides room for co-existence, there cannot be an inclusive political
philosophy that allows all to become stake holders in government. Neither can there be a moral
order–upon which all development is predicated–without a solid cultural foundation…. Africa’s
post-colonial trauma results from institutions, governance and economic development models
without any cultural underpinnings–Sam Mwale
CULTURAL AGENCY STORY
Personal Story | While in OR Tambo airport in South Africa we noticed a pray sign
for Muslim travelers—-the airport had burdened itself with a pray room for 2% of its population.
While starving we could pick between KFC, Nandos, Hawaiian food, American Food, Chinese and
Indian. While waiting for the flight all the authors of E urope
were represented in the bookstore, maybe less than 1% of the content had any African
authorship, less than none had any progressive African history. No Pan-African documentaries or
African filmmakers were available in the Look N Listen DVD shop—only Hollywood and
Bollywood.
On the long-haul flight to Turkey and then on another flight to St Lucia while booking the ticket
there was an option for a Kosher meal (Jews represent a nearly invisible religious demographic).
While watching a film on the plane, the language options were Hebrew, Catalan, Arabic, etc.
While attempting to login to Facebook there were many language options. Under the section
Africa and Middle East there was Afrikaans (spoken by not even 0.1% of Africa), Hebrew
(another minority language) and Arabic. Do you know what all of this tell us? Cultural agency,
and cultural definition driven by pure market economics. [8]
Race or discrimination play no direct role in any of these

happenings. Because the religion/culture of Islam and Judaism has a dietary definition and has
economic power and therefore agency it can impose itself and be accommodated. Because the
economic power of Hebrew speakers or the geo-politics of Jewish filmmakers and Israel as a
dominant market, Hebrew is accommodated for .Because Indian food and other cultures have
the agency, the cultural definition they can have menus representing their cultures—-the local
African cultures/religions cannot.
POWER – DISPLACEMENT
Culture is power, but you first need a powerful culture. So in real world terms, Ethiopia and
Kenya are entering into modernity. Ethiopia already has a highly institutionalized culture, religion,
and script; Kenya does not. Who will be more displaced by modernity? So in some cases Africans
just do not have a powerful enough or sophisticated (taboo but accurate word) culture. And
being political correct in a fire does not help one escape the fire. For example Zulu food vs.
Indian food. There is no hope of Zulu food conquering Indian food in a globalized world.
Ethiopian food vs. Indian food, now with enough investment Ethiopian food does stand head-to-
head. Indian food vs. Arabic food, there is no hope of Arabic food winning that war. Western
clothing vs. Zulu clothing? Again no hope, since Zulu clothing is still in its nascent after all these
centuries. But now West African clothing vs. European clothing there is a fighting chance.
The power of agency determines much of the patterns of

cultural dominance in the world. When Ancient Egypt was conquered it converted the invaders to
the religion/culture of the ‘conquered.’ In Persia despite being destroyed by the Mongol armies, it
was the conquering Mongols who surrendered their culture and gods for Islam. Islam had
enough definition to displace the invaders culture and faith and supplant it with an Islamic-
Mongol culture. [1]
Culturally the UK has produced no serious food heritage. (unless you call Fish and Chips food).
So the arrival of a stronger cultural cuisine of a minority group was able to over power and
culturally displace the entire UK culinary tradition. The “superiority” of Indian cuisine not only in
taste but also in its institutionalization dominance a country as powerful of Britain. Today Indian
food is the “national dish” eaten across the cultural divide. Kebabs are also impacting traditional
British culture in this way.
Displacement is not only by external forces. Many cultures are displaced and absorbed by
neighboring cultures in Africa. In Ethiopia this is evident with the Amhara. In South Africa with
Zulu culture which becomes more monolithic as we come into modernity because of the dilution
of sub-cultures as they merge into or are wholly displaced by the mother culture (or dominant
culture of one Zulu people). Even in the cities we can see instances of people of Zulu heritage
who socialize with Ethiopians become Ethiopianize. It happens more commonly with Somali and
even more rapidly with Eritrean people if isolated and socialize with Ethiopians. It happens to
Ethiopian Jews in Israel, but not by a direct agent by via music and popular Black culture.
CULTURAL SUPERIOR PERCEPTIONS
If we are honest with ourselves then solutions become very clear. If we think hard enough we
know already why people do not want to be African, or reject African culture, native faiths, and
prefer to be something else; It is not really a mystery. And this thing about Europeans
demonizing African culture, well just imagine if they came to Africa and found Africans levitating
and flying spacecraft, would they have demonized our culture then, sure they might have tried
but it would not have stuck? Nobody successfully demonizes a culture that has more power than
theirs. And people, of all races, creeds, and faiths, prefer to be associated with what they
perceive to be more “successful.” The perception of backwardness, true or false; the perception
of unsophisticated, true or false, all factored into why things in Africa were replaced often with
other faiths, cultures, customs, etc. And it was no different in Arabia, China, Europe and India.
What came in, that was perceived to be better was often adopted, integrated, or substituted.
People with a higher degree of agency selectively adsorbed new cultures, technologies, etc, and
made them their own. People with weaker agency got imposed and had no ability to successful
make these new things their own, often their old ways were demonized and flushed out. That is
the way of the world.
AGENCY
See African Agency|
While most African cultures can be seen actively on the family level, and the day-to-day way
people go about their lives, it seems to cut off when it comes to the corporate level. It does not
become institutionalized in education, business, top level trading (stock markets), science, etc.
European culture on the other hand is from top to bottom, not missing and inch of surface it
interacts with in the lives of not only Europeans, but the entire world. So the cultural power of
the Zulu people seems to stop dead after a certain level in society. They have no ritual holidays
comparable to Eid and Easter, or the Jewish holidays. There is no ancient legacy institutionalized
from which to draw new traditions from. And therefore it does not lend itself, outside of the odd
ceremony, to the mainstay of the lives of South Africans. Ethiopian culture on the other hand
does extend itself much further in the fabric of everyday Ethiopian society. It does have ancient
traditions from which it draws its modern set up.
Only people with strong cultural agency can look at new technologies and see the technologies
as distinct from the culture of the techno-bearers. They can then skillful take the technology and
leave what threatens their self-identity. The more agency the more this happens; the less agency
the less this happens. It is as simple as that. If someone is now in a state of zero agency, such
as an enslaved African, then the impact of religion, culture, socialization from the other will
produce a greater than 80% conversion into a cultural orphan.
PRESTIGE
Muslims, Christians and Jews. Romans, Ethiopians, Chinese and Persians. What do they all have
in common? They were able to add a sense of prestige to their identity. It was therefore
something perceived as successful— a brand—that everyone wanted to be part of. To be Muslim
in West Africa in the 12th century was a kind of high life club; associated with the rich
merchants. And we still see it today in places like South Africa, and even Ethiopia– a perception
of wealth. In Tanzania being Arab usually means being wealthy, people see this and want to
absorb into their own lives the secrets that produce this wealth, so they emulate the customs of
those with this wealth. They certainly do not emulate the customs of the person who cannot feed
himself. or the culture that has them going to the savanna to hunt every time they are hungry.
No, they prefer the culture that produces a better way of life, that produces modernity. It is the
perception of better (true or false is not being debated, and almost inconsequential) only the
mechanism of how it happens. So then the Bible or democracy, and all things foreign, are all
secondary factors in the pursuit of what is perceived to be better.
People see an association with speaking French and success. The French have branded their
language as a prestige language, something to be desired, like a Patek Philippe watch or a Lexus
.
Romantics have often lamented at the devaluing of African culture, they throw blame on Arabs,
Europeans, everyone but self. Now get in a time machine and ask yourself honestly Why would
demonizing Ethiopian culture not have worked? The Euro and the Arab have scripts, that will not
impress and Ethiopian, they have scripts to. The European has St Peters, the Ethiopian has
Gonder, the Arab has Mecca, the Indian has the Taj. The Hindu has the Gita, the Ethiopian has
their own Bible, the Muslim has the Qur’an, the European has KJV. The contrast between these
nations is not disparate. Not enough to create the notion of superiority.
CULTURE AND CONQUEST

When the culture of a people fails, or is made to fail by an external oppression, they will absorb
and replace what is lost with the culture available–usually the culture of their oppressors. When a
people experience a trauma, it causes the natural cultural defenses to weaken and this allows in
new cultural components from the strongest source.
Humans, regardless of race, are just human biological blanks, we absorb the culture that we are
settled in. Arabs are Arabs because of Arabic culture. A genetic Arab raised in a strong Jamaican
culture, with no reference to their Arabic roots, will be Jamaican. This is why community is a
fundamental component in the shaping and retaining the cultural character of any community.
Often when a people are displaced they always have a reaction (one which may acquiesce or one
which may reject the invading dominant culture). That reaction may often creatively try to
recreate an image of its self by amalgamating bits and pieces, by integrating new ideas. Or it
might violent reject the new culture, but still try to gather fragments and recreate itself in
opposition to the oppressive force. Depending on agency levels, the new “cultures” may
Africanized everything they absorb, but if agency is low the new ideas will unAfricanize the
African in the process. And this can happen even when their is a conscious and violent reaction
to an imposing culture. Because once people have lost a memory of themselves they might
inherit (unconsciously) a “new identity” modeled on the oppressors template.
CULTURE IS FLUID
What we have to appreciate is that culture is so dynamic it is impossible, most of the time, to
identify a “pure” African (or anything) inside of any specific culture—especially in a world so
globalized. People often look at a popular aspect of identity and culture and make the mistake of
saying “Oh that is 100% African” or “100% European” . So the West African dress (heavily
influenced with coming of Islam), the Masai beads and fabric (trade with Europeans), the Swahili
culture, South African Shweshwe fabric (a European cloth adopted by Xhosa people), Ancient
Egyptian chariots (from Syria), Native Americans on horses (from Spanish), 1,2,3,4 (numbers
from Arabs), on and on. When you go back far enough you will often find it has a multi-cultural
or multi-racial genesis. Today we see some of these things as exiting “As African” from eternity—
but it is not the case. (And this is true for everywhere, esp Europe)
TOURISM AND CULTURE
Tourism strips the living daylights out of African culture. In some respects it preserves the skin of
culture, but hollows out and guts the essence of it. How sad is it to see Masai dancing just for
tourist, with zero attachment to rites of passage, or celebration of the rains? How sad is it to see
a Kora musician, who traditionally played in the royal court, now jumping up on down on a stage
for Europeans? How sad is it to see Zulu culture kicking their feet in the air at airports and
restaurants? Skinning and grinning for tips and smiles. Or a raindance performed for US dollars?
Anyone wanting to witness Islamic culture will not be able to access it outside of its primarily
function—for the religious needs of the adherence. Yet much of what is remaining of African
culture can only be viewed within the context of a packaged holiday. The mask and artifacts that
once were serious aspects of African spirituality are now exclusively crafted for the tourist
market—devoid of any spiritual significance.
Sacred ground and sacred rites now trampled by the beating feet of Western tourist. If they a tip
they can take Facebook photos at The Door of no Return with joking gestures. You can get your
African guide to hold your camera while you French kiss your lover in the dungeons that African
were raped and brutalized in. All cultures have boundaries. Lines in the sand, our culture do not
exist for tourist destinations. Not everyone who comes has an ALL ACCESS PASS for trivial
holiday snaps of African rituals or African rites of passage. And it is high time Africans restore
dignity by learning to say no! With no explanation or apology attached.
Real power is not in saying yes—it is in the ability to say NO!
African culture is now attached to a dollar culture—the service indus
African Kora Player
try of touristic prostitution —devoid of meaning and significance. When the tourist dollar dies so
too does the culture. The “zoos” of African culture will, at this rate, be the hotels and other
tourist nodes. The next generation of Africans in their baggy pants and Western antics, will
bemoan the situation and say; “Long time ago we use to do these things, we can no longer
remember what they mean.”
Personal Story: When we were filming in Goree Island, one of the slave ports in Senegal, We
told the curator this site is a sacred site. And there needs to be special times where Africans can
come and exclusively pay respect to their ancestors who perished in the Holocaust of
enslavement. It is scared ground, and what pained us is we are descendants of that horrible
journey. It is a solemn experience, having Europeans there while we were remembering our
ancestors was inappropriate. Special times should be available to those who want to do more
than take cute snaps.
But there is another side to it. They are poor ignorant and exploited. We in the West are also to
blame. How many of us use our resources to even visit these places, how many of us patronize
our history? Not much support for all these rich entertainers with zero interest in their own
culture and history. So the sad reality is our monuments are supported by White dollars; so
whites have priority—a double tragedy. Had we done more in the Diaspora, we would have
properly educated guides and have some control over having special viewing times for the
Diaspora. Culture cannot be divorced from economy.
MODERNITY DEGRADES CULTURE
Some look at the West as the product of a technologically advanced decadent culture. The
decadency being the product of the people’s inherent culture. But suppose it is the “modernity”
and “wealth” that produces decadence? That would mean as soon as Africa becomes
economically on par with the West we too will lose cultural values, and descend into the same
lifestyle of greed and excess, waste and indifference.
We can look at all wonderful nations throughout history and see the descent into decadence with
the rise of power.
CULTURE IS NOT STATIC
Culture is not static…Culture itself must reconstruct itself if the system in which it exists is
reconstructed and rearranged. Some of us get in trouble because we want to find an African
culture stuck somewhere back in the thirteenth century and want to apply it to ourselves at this
point in a different context…African culture is constantly changing and evolving because the
context in which African people live changes and evolves. What makes it African culture is that it
operates in the interests of African people, is designed to advance African people– Amos Wilson
Khoisan People of Southern Africa
We are not the past; we are the future. What sense is it to take what did not/does not work?
What sense is it to take blindly? We cannot take a religion from the Khoisan just because their
DNA is in our blood, no more that we use stone tools to dispatch meat. Our ancestors did XY and
Z is critical for us to know, but it is not a 100% golden template of what we should be doing
today. Every generation, as Fanon said, must, out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill
it, or betray it. And while we must draw on the past, we must also filter it to suit our modern
situation. Taking the best traditions that suit our communities, nations, and individuals. And even
that will vary depending region, religion, politics, and culture. Amos Wilson states: “The true
nationalist is also not afraid to overthrow tradition when tradition is unproductive. He is not one
who just gives obeisance to African tradition out of some blind ignorance. He is one who says:
“Even though I revere the African past and I revere the African tradition, that tradition can be
built upon. I have a right then to use the legacy of that tradition to confront the realities of my
current times and thus modify that tradition and see to the survival of my people.”
“Foreign interest destroyed African culture”~ Common Afrocentric rhetoric. This statement exist
when culture is not defined, when identity is not defined, when religion is not defined. What
exactly did it destroy? Did it only destroy or did it also build as well? Did the culture of Persia not
depend on external factors, did the culture of Venice not heavily been influenced by Islamic
culture?
Now with the coming of the CD the record was destroyed. Some good elements of the records
were lost. The tactile, the imperfections were lost with the coming of the CD. Now we do not as
sincere balanced people discuss that destruction without also talking about the benefits of the CD
over the record. Now the CD has been “destroyed” (using their political polemic language) by the
Mp3. Again we know it was not “destroyed” in an alarmist way but “replaced” and it was replaced
for good reason. Some good things were lost with the exit of the CD, but more was gained.
With every single change in the world there is good and bad. And at every junction people who
are self-determined use agency (critical word) to make choices about their world. We accept
that as the natural course of human history which can be found the word over. With the coming
of the Europeans to America, the native Americans saw the benefits of the horse and adopted it
into their culture. They did not do so an destroy their spiritual relationship to the old ways. It did
not create an off-axis change. They became a great horse riding nation. With the coming of the
Europeans and Arab trade the Masai say the colorful beds and adopted it into their culture to
create a new Masai identity, which we celebrate and photography.
IN CONTEXT
Maasai man in Kenya
A culture is not one item divorced from the other items. You cannot pick out ritual scarification
and leave the ethical and sociological functions that comes with it. You cannot look at nudity in
some African cultures, such as the Reed Dance of South Africa, and transfer that to Penthouse.
Ear piercing of young males in New York has no relationship to ear piercing of young Masai boys.
One is fashion (New York), and one is a rite of passage with deep symbolic connections to
identity (Masai). Especially when nudity in the Reed dance (virginity ritual) is ideologically 100%
in the opposite direction of the ideology and function of Penthouse. With each item of culture is a
history, a purpose, a relationship, and a placement within the broader culture. It is impossible
ideological to take something as a discrete item from one culture and transplant it in an alien
culture, which has no history or structures to support it. Thus the hijab, the tattoo, the body
piercing, polygamy, ritual nudity, all are symbols of deeper ideological values, there are
expressions of spiritual values, or sociological necessities in geographical or social context.
Without this context, would have no meaning and hence no purpose.
CHALLENGES
The Continent looks to the Diaspora for their image and identity in modernity
African authentic culture is impacted negatively from many sides, and is a complex dilemma. The
first and primary agent, which imposes is the dominance of European culture, which first came
via slavery, then colonialism and apartheid. It always asserted itself by diminishing the value
(socially and institutionally) of African culture. It was in Europe’s interest to create cultural
orphans who worshiped all things European, thus making better subjects who had ambitions of
approaching whiteness. Taking European names, language and dress ascended things of African
origin, and thus secured the notion of African inferiority. Religion compounded this because now
the image of divinity was the European cultural ideal. On the Islamic side there was less of an
impact because, Islam mainly spread through African agents wielding African culture. Culture was
a serious factor because if Islam appeared too alien it would not have gained adherence (David
Robinson, Hudwick). This was not only true for Africa but also for Arabia where Islam met with
great resistance out of fears of loss of Arabic culture heritage. None the less, at every turn where
Arabs, or even Indians, got in a religious position over African people (parts of East Africa and
South Africa) they tried to demonize things African (like music and dance) and replace them with
notions of their culture. “Being Muslim” where Africans had no agency was the template for
becoming more Indian or Arab. Just like being Christian was the template for being more
European.
But African culture on the continent also has a unique burden, because what is rarely discussed is
the fact that they see the Diaspora as ideals—themselves – but in modernity. So not only is
whiteness impacting Africa but Diaspora is having a terrible impact on identity. When children in
Ethiopia now see Beyonce in her short skirt they relate to the wealth and status and see
themselves through her expressions. No longer do they want to wear their habesha qemis, they
do not want neTela (headscarf of very fine material). Modern means what Beyonce and Rihanna
are doing, African culture is something to escape with high velocity.
Popular culture and the mass media have a symbiotic relationship: each depends on the other in
an intimate collaboration–K. Turner
In South Africa the new middle class do not admire African culture, they might reject elements
of whiteness as they do not see self in copying the habits of European culture, but they are
100% chasing the gansta pimp dress seen on MTV, they are mimicking the hip hop African-
American mannerisms and even the accent. For them they are valid in reaffirming both youth
and “blackness.” Compounded not only by notions of “cool” but also notions of fiscal and
sexualsuccess.
A smaller impact is from cultural ignorance on the part of a Diaspora disconnected from the
continent but trying to absorb aspects of Africa for their own self-worth and cultural identity. In
doing so generalize and homogenize Africa in the same vein as the Western anthropologist. Using
the same Eurocentric tools and perceptions to cherry pick aspects of Africa incongruously. So we
see terms like “African spirituality” emerging as a new pseudo denomination. We see the loose
generalization of a “tribal Africa” with drums and Umbuntu and libation, divorced from the reality
of a diverse Africa. These over simplified echoes and fragments of authentic African spiritual
experiences inadvertently are New World skeletons of deeper African symbolism. These trend
have no reflective and seems halted in its own desires to promote a romantic image of Africa. But
the downside is a loss of the depth of African culture, and therefore a lost of its diversity and
intrinsic messages.
INSTITUTIONALIZATION
The term “institutionalization” is widely used in social theory to refer to the process of embedding
something (for example a concept, a social role, a particular value or mode of behavior) within an
organization, social system, or society as a whole
Today, native faiths are in direct competition with both Islam and Christianity for adherence. It is
a tug of war which is seeing a decline in native beliefs. The advantage both Islam and
Christianity has goes beyond mere economic, proselytizing personality, physical or political
strength. And due to “political correctness” many shy from discussing a discourse on highly
organized religions vs. less organized religions. The greater degree of institutionalize, the better
an ideology or culture has at retaining its shape in adverse conditions. It can be argued that this
factor of lack of sophistication, which is inherent in Islam and European Christianity, was the
reason these native faiths could not become successful in modernity. Islam by contrast has
systems of governance, system of hygiene, systems of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and a very
high degree of complexity which is sharply defined its cultural-religious identity. That structure is
a fundamental factor in not only its identity but its image which has an aesthetic which markets
and promotes its belief in a way which would be, in marketing terms, flawless. It has a script, a
dress sense, a book of law a book of general public life, notions of time, and a very visible way of
identifying its adherence.
Now to make the point of religion and degrees of institutionalization and success or survivability
we can look at Ethiopian identity and culture which is far more institutionalized that Zulu culture.
It is no wonder that Ethiopians have a cuisine culture and Zulu people do not. It is no surprise
that they have a stronger ancient music culture, a religion which has its own script. And all of this
is said outside of the issue of political correctness which has good intentions but sometimes
obscures objective analysis.
What is true for religion and institutionalization is identically true for culture in general. The more
sophisticated a culture is institutionalized, like Jewish culture or Indian culture the stronger its
chances on the high seas of globalization, the better it stands against exploitation, the more
resistant it is to appropriating foreign influences outside of its own agency.
SCRIPTS ARE CULTURE
A script is not only a technology for writing the spoken word, and hence a vital form of
communication. It is also a cultural symbol of a people and their identity. The mere sign of Arabic
language carries the power of Islam and the Arab/Muslim people. Every time we see Amharic
written we see the might of Ethiopian culture. A script is powerful political symbol used all over
the world to show national identity. It is not accidental that Hebrew was reinstated when Israel
was created in 1948.
Not only was Hebrew a fully functional part of unifying Jews, it was also a political symbol of their
claim of a connection to Ancient Israel. There is no doubt the every time we see Japanese’s we
see Japanese’s culture, every time we see Chinese we must think in terms of the culture, politics
and identity of the Chinese. And by this same logic every time we see Latin we can almost map
the history of conquered people and the politics of Western civilization on the world. There is a
direct relationship (while not exclusive) to the presence of Latin and the power of Western
imposition. (Turkey, most of Africa, all of Europe, etc).
Cultures which actively use their scripts

or have created their own native scripts also have a pattern of historical strength and identity.
LANGUAGE
Language is the conveyor belt of culture, yet 32% of the endangered languages
are African languages. To speak a language is to engage in a culture (Nehusi). The unique
relationship between language and thought and the paradigm positions which grow out of it this
thought processes are therefore endangered.
Language is not only a means of passing information it is also a culture, to speak a language is to
engage in a culture. To speak perfect Arabic is to expose yourself to the culture of Arabs, the
same with Amharic and Hebrew; you could never learn Amharic and divorce this from Ethiopian
culture.
One of the challenges with African languages is that with the arrival of both modernity and the
colonial languages, the natural inventory system within the languages died. New words came
from the colonial source, as opposed to the languages own ability to invent new words for this
new rapidly changing modern world. (Death of African languages)
Urbanization is the slaughter house of African languages. And it is not only a threat from outside
i.e. English. Amharic has, on its own, displaced more languages in Ethiopia than English.
Note | The reason English is rich is because everyone who speaks it (including us) adds to its
legacy. It is no longer a language of English people. As just writing English means we contribute
to its expansion and diversity. The problem is the more we use it the richer we make it.
DANGEROUS CULTURES
Cultures should cultivate, but not all aspects of culture do this. In these instances cultures, like
everything else, can be host to inhumanity and racism. Purveyor of intolerance, cruelty, and
stagnation.
There is a logical fallacy that crept into aspects of African consciousness. It is the belief that if
something is African it is by default better. Now ‘African’ just means ‘of Africa’ aka indigenous
(past, present or future). So how does that broad parameter equal better simple because of its
authorship and geography? So any and everything done in African we should do by default even
when most things clash with each other? This is romance and not serious reality, and it comes
from lack of knowledge of the continent and the world. Even Ancient Egypt and every great
civilization took what worked over native things. The cross bow in West Africa. The camel in the
Sahel. Actually it is this habit of taking and making yours that made Europe a super power.
Hip Hop does influence world culture. For an example of how powerful it is in shaping urban
youth culture just go to Japan. The problem is at the end of hip hop, as a generality, is nothing
productive for modern African civilizations; it does not even fully own the cultural products it
pushes all over the world: So it is a dead-end culture. It does more to arrest development than
grow Africans into productive contributors. So yes, it is an example of cultural agency, but a
largely negative cultural agency.
Some aspects of African culture are negative, and range from non-productive to lethal. Some
have no place in modernity. Some are hindrances to development and while they services those
people in specific historical periods are made useless or redundant in modernity. Political
correctness sometimes avoids a full disclosure on other people’s culture, while racist attitudes
assume that what is standard in the West should be standard for everyone.
In some parts of South Africa, families do not allow a marriage unless the woman first proves she
can give birth. Once she conceives the marriage is approved. Not everything in culture is good,
because what is now happening is men are using this excuse to have pre-maritial sex without
any intention of marrying the woman. It also creates a culture where a woman’s worth is
exclusively in her ability to give birth. Women are therefore under social pressure to have a child,
even without a husband or financial means. Coupled with the labolla (dowry) crisis, it hurts the
development of strong moral families. [3]
Force Feeding Children
Leblouh In Mauritania is a custom of “Gavage” (force feeding) to supplying a food. The practice
is used on female children so they gain a full figure; as fatness is seen as beauty, and a sign of
social status. Thin women have difficult getting married. It is correctly a form of child abuse in an
non-subjective way. We do not need Western notions of beauty to come to this analysis. Nigeria,
Morocco have less harsh ways of attain large size but the trend is the same. In Tanzania and
much of Africa having a large gut on a man means he is wealthy and hence desirable. The health
risk which Africans can gauge for themselves give us enough information to determine how we
should handle these cultural trends.
Types of FGM
The West perceives everything African through a narrow lens of misunderstanding and cultural
supremacy. FGM is a word constructed for pure shock value, to shop for funds for yet another
campaign into a continent still perceived as dark and backward. And while they pass judgment
over African people the plastic surgeries of California are advertising a new service called
“Designer Vagina.” So cutting is mutilation and barbaric in Africa; vogue and fashionable in
Hollywood. However Female cutting, goes back as far as Ancient Egypt (Pharaonic
circumcision) and as long as there is choice, and health safety in Female cutting then it is all
culturally relative. False dichotomy is limiting the options available to Africans and generalizing a
wide range of cutting practices which do not come near to mutilation.
In the age old tradition of African music it served a very critical social function. Unfortunately our
creative arts are today more a destructive distraction than cultural assets. (more coming soon)
CORRUPTION
Cultural corruption and superimposition is when elements of a culture are replaced with similar
customs which have completely different attachments. Traditionally in
some African communities alcohol served as a way in which certain ordained spirit people
communed with the other realms: Alcohol (palm wine) served as a purely “religious” function in
the society. A way of specifically related to another world in specific rituals by specific people.
With the coming of the European alcohol began to take on a new function as a social drink. The
trade in slaves for alcohol created a commercial grade brew which was shifted out of the
religious realm to exacerbate and encourage social drinking. This only increased with the
depression from the trauma of slavery and colonialism dug deeper into African communities.
Some would point to the libation rituals but the pouring of alcohol became a form of corrupted
culture. Which became so common place it actually gives the illusion of being part of
traditional African culture. However the social drinking was never a mainstay of African culture.
The consequences of this alteration to cultural purpose is a form of cultural corruption by
superimposing other cultural values in place of pre-existing similar cultures. i.e. usage of alcohol.
CULTURE & RELIGION COMPARED
Religion is a bottle with a label on it, spirituality is the thing inside. Religion is simply the culture
of spiritual belief– ‘Alik Shahadah
Vodon Dancing
Culture and religion share space and are deeply intertwined; sometimes dyadic, sometimes so
complex it becomes a single irreducible unit. The purpose of a comparison is only to better
facilitate how they interact with each other, but not to suggest a pure dichotomy between the
two. Where there is religion there will always be culture—It can be debated if the reverse is true.
Outside of the Abrahamic faiths, and perhaps Vodon, many African religions are inseparable from
the ethnic identity and culture. So the religion of the Serer historically part of Serer identity, the
religion of the Maasai is part of Maasai cultural and identity. To be Zulu culturally before
Christianity more or less meant to take on the spirituality of the Zulu religion. And because
religions rarely crossed ethnic or political lines there was no overt need to identify them as
distinct “religions” vs. “culture.” And still today part and parcel about being Somali, or Fulani is
integrated into “being Muslim.”
Culture has been defined as the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors and
artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that
are transmitted from generation to generation through learning. It is institutionalized in art,
clothing, taboos, rituals, architecture, linguistics, proverbs, films and stories. Culture in its
broadest definition is the entire social heritage of humanity.
Religion has been defined as a system of beliefs based on humanity’s attempt to explain the
universe and natural phenomena, often involving one or more deities or other supernatural
forces and also requiring or binding adherents to follow prescribed religious obligations. Two
identifying features of religions are they to some extent (a) require faith and (b) seek to organize
and influence the thoughts and actions of their adherents. (Webster)
Religion, like culture itself, consists of systematic patterns of beliefs, values, and behavior,
acquired by people as a member of their society. These patterns are systematic because their
manifestations are regular in occurrence and expression: they are shared by member of a group.
Both religion and culture (if treated as discrete phenomenon) have traditions which services the
group, whose meanings or relevance might be unknown to the user. Perhaps one difference is in
religion the source and rational is a divine instruction for a particular action, while in “pure”
culture it is informed by societal norms. So “do not eat pork” is an instruction from a divine origin
in religion. In culture “do not eat pork” maybe a tradition established by ancestors and a social
habit whose origin is long gone but still a factor shaping dietary habits. Religions will always
create cultures, and culture becomes religion by attaching divinity to the behavior, habits, and
attitudes.
SPIRITUALITY
See full article Linguistics
African spirituality cannot exist as an authentic African paradigm as a standalone construction; it

does not float in free space without roots in a specific African culture. The sense of a spiritual
connection does not (in Africa) stand outside of an organized religious belief. When people say
they are just “spiritual” they are saying they have a belief in divinity, but have no culture; no
rituals, no communal responsibility, no structure — how is that being African? It is African
elements without the discipline or loyalty to social or cultural structures. For example in Palo,
participation in a community of Paleros is critical to growing spiritually and within the religious
hierarchy. But some try to take piecemeal elements; ancestors, burning oils, and other cherry
picked aspects of African religions and amass them into a heap called African spirituality, as
distinct from the religions these elements come from. Despite the good intentions of many of
these neo-spritualist, this paradigm is an out crop of the trivializing and misunderstanding of
things African; part of the legacy of Eurocentrism. It is a de facto new religion, without a
name. spirituality in Africa always has a culture, and every time you have a culture you have a
religion. The rituals of Voodoo, Orisha, Serer, etc are all highly organized, and without exception,
function in communal setting. They all have degrees of a priest class, ceremony, immolation,
libation, religious holidays, creation stories, saints, divine systems of punishment and reward.
African spirituality is the essences of the divine connection African people (pan African) have as a
diverse group, it is just as varied from Ethiopia to South Africa, as it is varied from Sudan to
India. There is no essentialistic quality or genetic relationship that binds all African religion or
spiritual appreciation into one empirically definable block. The term “African” in the context here
is the theater of study, with no suggestion of a monolith or exclusivity, bound by some phantom
forces to the skin color of Africans or the geography of Africa. That religious or spiritual
experience is locked to culture, and culture is locked to identity, and where one varies so to
does the other.
APPLICATION
Greeks, Romans, Aksumites, and Egyptians: Four different cultures. When they went about the
business of getting a level of the surface from which to construct their empires they all used the
same technique. Now, maybe on the Greek spirit level was a painting of Zeus, maybe on the
Roman Spirit level was a painting of Caesar, while on the Egyptian one was a picture of Maat, on
the Aksumite Spirit level, on account of their Christian faith, was the Ethiopian Cross. All these
spirit levels functioned to measure the level of the surface. Maybe in Ancient Egypt they used the
sun, maybe in Switzerland they use A Tag Heuer with Swiss Movement™, the objective is the
same– Get to work on Time!
Culture serves to empower the ideology the essentialist quality of a people, its application in the
practical world shapes the aesthetic, but not always the function or the objectives of a society.
This is another factor that must be considered when understanding the role of culture and
technology. How do people integrate technologies and ways of doing things into the fabric of
their cultural identity.
CULTURE IS COMPLEX
Africa has 3000 distinct ethnic groups, 2000 languages. Home to the most genetically diverse
people on Earth. So diverse that two Africans are more genetically different from each other than
a Chinese and a European are from each other. Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-
most-populous continent. At about 30.2 million km², it covers six perce
nt of the Earth’s
total surface area and 20.4 percent of the total land area. With approximately 58 countries. It
occupies a wide dynamic latitude has; deserts, forest, snow, temperate climate, tropics, sub-
tropics, lakes, the longest river, lowest point on Earth, mountain ranges. Now we have to ponder
over these figures when we have these vulgar sweeping generalizations, which fit all of this
diversity into one and two monolithic boxes. There are generalizations, which do define Africa,
but none that are exclusive.
At any given instance a plethora of cultural forces are operating within one individual/community.
We can generalize and say their is a master culture which is usually informed by their ethnicity
and nationality.
But within say an African culture there could be a South African national culture which has
peculiarities. There might then be a Xhosa culture which is distinguished against the cultures of
the Fulani of West Africa. And then again their maybe a Location (township) culture produced via
oppressive apartheid which is unique to South Africa. Within Ethiopia the Oromo people have a
unique Oromo identity which sitting inside of Christianity and Islam, as well as elements of
Westernization (mislabeled as modernity).
There might then be a KwaMashu township culture which is unique to KwaMashu in South
Africa or Kalagi in Gambia. And then superimposed on this might be a Christian culture and then
a general globalized culture: This is why it is called a culture complex. How these various cultures
interact and conflict and resolve each other make up the unique culture of a specific group.
These are all factors in culture which are condensed in any study. But “Being Ethiopian” like
“Being Hawiye (Somali Clan)” switches priority at any given moment. Even with subtle
distinctions between being Habesha vs. being Ethiopian National. All of these aspects of identity
have unique cultural attachments.
Where does Muslim culture stop and Somali or Fulani culture begin? How can you
tear Ethiopian Christianity out of Ethiopia? Taking Islam out of West

Africa is like trying to take the green out of grass. In any instant someone could be more Muslim
than Somali and then 2 seconds later be more Somali than Muslim (if we tried to split it apart).
All of us live in a 21st century world which has a serious impact on globalized socialization. In
other words without even knowing it we behave as people in a global cultural village with
globalized interactions.
When you see the Masai culture, and the culture of say Afro-Brazilians, or African Caribbean
people, do not let the fact that Masai are in Africa mean it is older or more authentic. Some of
these “popular African cultures” are not ancient cultures and peoples. Some of them are just as
subjected to the same Western forces, displacement, and diffusion as those in the New World.
No Masai or Samburu wore beads before Europeans showed up. So culture is complex, not static
and under constant influence.
CULTURE’s PURPOSE & PROCESS

Our culture provides us with an ethos we must honor in both thought and practice. By ethos, we
mean a people’s self-understanding as well as its self-presentation in the world through its
thought and practice in the other six areas of culture. It is above all a cultural challenge. For
culture is here defined as the totality of thought and practice by which a people creates itself,
celebrates, sustains and develops itself and introduces itself to history and humanity– Maulana
Karenga
Every society develops a culture through a plurality of shared norms, customs, values, traditions,
social roles, symbols and languages. Socialization is thus ‘the means by which social and cultural
continuity are attained” ( Socialization and Society ). The agents of socialization are 1. Family 2.
Religion 3. Peer Group 4. Education 5. Economic 6. Legal systems 7. Penal systems 8. Mass
media and News media Organizations. Karenga identifies six areas of cultural activity: History,
Religion, Social organization, Economic organization, Political organization, and Creative
Production. [2]
Culture is therefore a complete process, that is not limited to “the people”, it is at a legal level, a
family level, an a political level. When you land in Is rael you see a
complete set of systems working in tandem which promote an Israeli national culture. When you
land in the USA you see American culture, it is not a coincidence those things which shout “This
is America”. As mentioned before, it might be called Western, but it is someone’s culture. French
culture, Italian culture, etc are promoted at a state level. So in Africa the political process has an
inescapable responsibility to African culture.
It is a global religious concept that humanity was designed to govern self. to make moral choices
in the face of challenges, to protect the weak, care for the old and the sick and balance all these
things against lust and greed and all the other challenges of life. To eat but not to deplete, to
enjoy life but not to exploit life. To pursue happiness but not by denying other joy.
To protect communal traditions while rooting out harmful practices and also to find ways to
create a viable future for the broadest possible human demographic.
Culture is the most pertinent response to these challenges. Culture instructs our lives with values
and habits which service our humanity. Many aspects of African culture have a role in our
continuation. When you see a huge taboo sign, that is because long time ago, African ancestors
realized, to walk down that road is to entertain failure. It became institutionalized in culture.
Cultures like religion uses “do’s” and “dont’s” to frame structures which maintain the societies
from which they come. Marriage, eating, death, all have no-no areas to in principle protect those
community characteristics which are passed down the generations.
What we must always considering in studying Africa is the multiplicity of identities and the
dynamic nature of human culture. Cultures smash through borders, languages, notions of
ethnicity, religion and political parties. So African identity is not one hard thing but a multitude
of self-imposed conditions which ideologically run fluidly across indigenous Africa; it is not a
scientific observation but a cultural-political one. Human cultures share a common theme. Family
is central; the collection of cultural features is politically and sociologically threaded together for
common interest where Africa is concerned.
So what is the real issue the West has with the Hijab? The Hijab is a cultural political symbol of
the face of the rise of Islam. Every year more the streets of Europe see more women wearing
this “alien” dress. The traditional imposition of White supremacy is being beaten back by an
pigmented culture. Now the Muslim is again in Europe, but not with weapons of war, but
weapons of culture. We can now see White skinned British girls walking down Oxford street in
hijab which spits in the face of “Europeanization.” And the new cuisine, language are all carried
on the wings multiculturalism, the same multiculturalism that keeps the West powerful via fresh
labor, skills, and money. So every attempt is being made to have the cake and eat it to, keep the
perks of diversity while attempt to Europeanize them as they did with the African-Caribbean
community. The irony is that the strength of “the other” in Europe is because of their cultural
identity. Once that is gone the social function that multiculturalism serves will vanish and become
social delinquency.
We are not Africans because we are born in Africa, we are Africans because Africa is born in us –
Chester Higgins, Jr.
RESISTANCE
Humans are all the same, if you cut us we bleed, if you oppress us we rebel. Makes no difference
if it is from the chains of slavery or the ovens of Nazi Germany. And all people in bad situation
have degrees of culpability and self-harm. The one factor that influences that degree is culture
and the identity that comes out of that culture. The more institutionalize that culture and identity
the harder it will be to enslave a people or maintain them in a state of unconscious oppression.
Post Nazi-Germany Jews actually create a stronger Jewish identity creating in the wake of their
Holocaust new cultural/religious structures which reinforced Jewishness. In the case of the
African-American the cultures which came across the Atlantic during the African Holocaust held
out for centuries but under the pressure and ferocity of the Maafa collapsed into a state where
the cultural structures failed as means of retaining identity. It can be argued that if the Jews
were also exposed to the peculiar conditions of the Maafa a similar pattern of destruction would
have been visited on them culturally. The only saving factor was as a group they had a highly
Institutionalize culture and the short duration of the Jewish Holocaust. Culturally Africans in
America were from far too diverse ethnic groups to retain an cultural identity–the solution or
response was they made a new one.
Critical mass theory applied to identity: if you do not have enough matter (identity) in oppression
your system collapses under pressure. If you have enough critical matter even oppression will
have the opposite desired effect by creating a super nova of locating revolution within the
structures of cultural identity. Testimony to this is the Western assault on Muslim peoples
globally. Since the crusades this assault has done nothing be reform different responses from
Muslim communities, it has never quelled Islam’s potency as a cultural-ideological contender for
world power.
CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
Cultural imperialism is the domination of one culture over another other by a deliberate policy or
by economic or technological superiority. Africa is undoubtedly the victim of cultural imperialism
and its mechanisms today are none other than globalization. The agents of this imperialism are
mass media and unfair trade. The consequences of this imperialism are under-development, lost
of identity and language and destruction of markets (e.g. where traditional African clothes are
replaced with Western ones).
Cultural imperialism can take the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude.
( Alexander, Victoria D. (2003). “The Cultural Diamond – The Production of Culture”. ) This form
of imperialism first entered Africa with colonialism, both Arab and European. It is also
perpetuated via religion, education, language, and socialization. It is not however exclusively a
Africa v non-African issue. Continental Africans see African-Americans as their mirror in
modernity. As the imposition of African-American identity in style, music and mannerisms is
imposed on Africancommunities. Nor is cultural imperialism in Africa confined to this era. The
history of Africa, as with everywhere else in the world, marked with degrees of cultural
imperialism. And in Ancient Ethiopia and Ancient Egypt we see examples of this.
You will notice with all the “integration” going around Jews and Muslims do not do much of it in
the West. Sure you might work next to Abdul in the office but when he goes home he is living on
a middle class Pakistani Barking (East London) address, he is eating Curry from his Uncle’s
restaurant, he will get married in Pakistan, on Friday he goes to the Mosque in his Kamiz. He
speak Urdu to his family, he is not integrated where he loses himself. The same is not true for
the new generation of African Caribbean people in the UK, who with the exception of one and
two words in patois, is a cultural orphan of English culture.
WHITE SUPREMACY & ANTHROPOLOGY
Mursi Lip Piercing
Contrary to what the left’s relativist ideology says, for us all civilizations are not of equal
value..We must protect our civilization–Claude Gueant (Racist French Politician)
When studying Africa from the eyes of Whiteness. Many assumptions are made. Europeans have
a tradition of treating African culture the same way Zoologist study animals in the wild. [4] For
example because the Arab trade favored women, it is said that some ethnic groups disfigured
their faces (Mursi lip adornment) in an attempt to dissuade enslavers who sought beautiful
women.
This is however a baseless Eurocentric anthropological fringe theory which is typical of ignorance
of African culture. Lip stretching, like neck stretching in Asia or foot binding are culturally
localized types of beauty, which are not rooted in European sensibilities and hence not subjected
to Eurocentric logic. In absence of slavery similar body ornaments are worn by both sexes of the
Suyá people, a Brazilian group. Europeans see what is perceived as “ugly” and assume their
perceptions are universal and hence seek reasons (from their own culture) why someone would
practice certain rituals. [4]
Since the 1960s, the predominant approach to social and cultural research among social
scientists has been that of isolationist, clearly defined society, population, sector, geographically
defined area. This approach has been championed as a progressive replacement to the former
tradition of Eurocentric broad sweeping generalizations at higher levels of social organization
such as the ethnic group, society, nation or geographical regions. [5]
CHANGING FACE OF CULTURE
If a fish jumps out of the sea and grows wings, feathers and a beak, at some point in that
change the fish ceases to be a fish – culture is no different. We must identify what we are
discussing when we saw cultures change. Cultural diffusion looks at how cultural changes spread
from a small source sample from one society to another. The process by which discrete culture
traits are transferred from one society to another, through migration, trade, war, or other contact
(Winthrop 1991:82).
This author suggest two types of change “off Axis change” and “on axis change”, where the axis
is the core value formation of a culture. Because we run the risk of making an error of confusion
cultural innovation with radical core changes. For example Franz Boas viewed culture as
consisting of countless loose threads, most of foreign origin, but which were woven together to
fit into their new cultural construction. Discrete elements which become more interrelated as time
passes–blurring their discreetness in the process. Now on axis change allows these elements as
Boas notes to be woven together under the authorship of the people receiving innovations. In
the off-axis setup this process is overwhelmed by imposition.
Christianity has radically “changed” the Gikuyu culture in Kenya. Yet the ancient Gikuyu would
still recognize Gikuyu of today as their relatives. The language the core customs and rituals, even
with the Christian faith are still recognizable. While subjective, the same cannot be said for the
forced African Diaspora who would be unrecognizable to say the Akan people in Ghana.
In marriage cultures all over Africa cows as a dowry gift (Mahr ‫ ) مهر‬has been replaced by
blankets (especially in Southern Africa) and money. This is the cultural response to practical
changes in world currency. However, that is not a core change since the spirit of
labolla/mahr/dowry remains. The principles of a wedding gift remain despite a change in
currency. the world has swung left and right but culture of marriage is over 7000 years old.
Technology has altered much of our landscape, people in Gambia now go to the Mosque by car
as oppose to by horse. People talk on mobile phones, but the greetings are still “Assalam
Alaikum.” Technology has shaped the culture but it has not made a significant change to the core
Islamic faith, despite the Adhan now being called out on a loud speaker and electricity being in
every Mosque. People now read Qur’an on Ipads is an evolution but not a change which suggest
Islam is becoming Scientology.
Between Monday and Friday every person undergoes “change” it however would be a
misrepresentation of the facts to suggest this “change” means people become radically different
individuals. The cliche express “cultures change they are not static“‘ is being abused to justify
radical alternation to African cultures. So the barriers which protect African identity are now
being torn down under the word “cultures are not static.” New markets and foreign destructive
habits can now nest in African societies under the banner of “cultures change.” But cultures even
if they change should always change under the process of agency.
There is no dispute that cultures adapt and evolve and reply to reality, but they ethics are pretty
much rooted in the original foundational paradigm which fostered them. Everything changes and
there is a degree of subjectivity but a change must be weighed in unless we confuse natural
variations and adaptations with some notion of Darwinian evolution. And at the end of the day it
is called “African” culture for a reason greater than it being a black step-child of European
culture.
EVERYONE HAS CULTURE
Because of the imposition of European culture, it has grown from being a visible culture to just
being just the norm for everyone including non-Europeans. Eating with a knife and fork or
wearing a tie is all part of a specific ethnic culture which via acculturation has become “normal”
for everyone else. So issues around culture being seen as backward are debunked because
European culture is wrapped in technological innovations and certainly not perceived as
“backward.” There is no part of the American dream that is not a cultural construction. The value
formations instruct the culture which is uniquely American. Nothing humans do is untouched by
culture and therefore there is no positions in a sanitized culturally-secular world. In other words a
culture-free society or a cultureless way of doing anything.
And in more subtle ways language affects perception. The term ethnic is used by Africans inside
of Africa to describe their nature features and cultures. How can an African be “ethnic” in a
continent where Africaness is the norm?
We also see people saying “cultural dress” ; the mental process is creating a “normal dress” and
then a “cultural dress” and while it is 100% accurate, we need to examine how European culture
is so normalized it forces everyone else’s culture to be “Culture.”
In the West it is customary to say “Lets go for a drink ” this is an aspect of socialization and
culture. It is the cultural way in which people engage with one another. It is however not the
standard. In the Sahel of Mali the custom every time people meet is to sit down and drink sweet
coffee.
Hakim Adi | Everybody has to, understand their history, their past and the role which culture
plays in the lives of human beings. You can’t exist as a human being outside of a culture. We all
speak a particular language; we all have a particular way of living, lifestyle, and so on and so
forth. So these are all, if you like, aspects of culture which are important but they have to be,
you know, they have to be fully recognized for us to really exist as human beings. And I think
that’s something which is very often being denied to people or being devalued in one way or
another as if the cultures of people of African origin – particularly those in the Diaspora, but also
on the continent – are not seen as being as important as the cultures of Europe, or the
institutions of Europe.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Muslim Hausa in Nigeria
It is easy to prove that most taboos are, indeed, relative. Incest, suicide, feticide, infanticide,
parricide, ethnocide, genocide, genital mutilation, social castes, and adultery are normative in
certain cultures – and strictly proscribed in others. Taboos are pragmatic moral principles. They
derive their validity from their efficacy. They are observed because they work, because they yield
solutions and provide results. They disappear or are transformed when no longer useful–Sam
Vaknin
Cultural relativism assumes that the practices within a specific culture have been created through
agency and therefore have a relevance and value that outsiders must be sensitive to when
hurling critique. The Western anthropologist has done a lot of misdiagnoses and created
paradigms of primitive and advanced based on cultural bias. That has intern washed into
academia where the very people from these cultures absorb this discourse and reapply the
misdiagnoses to their own communities; a kind of Heisenberg paradox. To assume pleasure in
the Somali world is equal to pleasure in the Western context is to assume a normality or
expectation across cultures. If all humans are equal then the direction in which sexual pleasure
take in the Somali community cannot be compared to those of the Western World, which places
the female orgasm as being central to the female sexual experience; which parallels the male
sexual experience.
A classic example of cultural relative is what was observed by psychologist Gregory Bateson, in
traditional Balinese families, mothers routinely stroke the penises of their young sons, and such
behavior is considered no more incestuous than breast-feeding. Incest is also not illegal in Israel,
perhaps a response to the low population issues. So we see as Sam Vaknin suggest taboos or in
this case lack of taboo, do ultimately respond to necessity.
In many African countries woman may gain their satisfaction from her husband’s orgasmic
intensity, knowing he has enjoyed intercourse with them. It is not that they cannot also have
orgasms, but the value attached to it is different; sex after all is a state of mind. In some parts of
Somalia women put special herbs in their vagina to cause tightness for their husbands. Some
feminist will rush to label this as a form of oppression, but not if cultures are valued as equals
and understood in context of plurality. How can a Western woman dictate to an African woman
how she should experience sexual pleasure? And even within Western culture we see complex
sexual roles of domination and bondage. And this is why the issue of so-called female genital
mutilation becomes an issue as outlined in the groundbreaking work of Fuambai Ahmadu and
Wairimu Njambi. The only stipulation is choice and access to a full discourse of information from
within that culture. But the minute the Somali woman leaves Somalia she is confronted with a
Western world screaming “oppression”, she is then forced to review her culture but against a
backdrop of Primitive v Progressive. All the while the Western woman is rushing to the Designer
Vagina clinic to get the very procedure done that the Somali woman has been doing for
centuries.
CULTURE’s ETHICAL ROOT
All human values are rooted somewhere, we cannot prove “right” and “wrong” by mere logic,
because all values at some stage must be anchored in some fundamental truths unique to the
user’s community. Why is life sacred, why is incest wrong? Why is there a taboo on public
nudity? Why is homosexuality seen as undesirable? Why is slavery unacceptable today despite
it being acceptable for most of known history? Why is suicide condemned? Who decides which
freedoms are restricted by law? It is easy for our modern society to agree on most of these
points, or at least agree on the logic used to secure these arguments. So people say “off course
slavery is wrong.” However, the large agreement is perhaps due to the legacy the global
Abrahamic faith notions of morality.
There is also a moral zeitgeist that continually evolves in society, generally progressing toward
liberalism in the West. This liberal trend always reverses when adverse social trauma impacts a
society, such as rise in crime, prostitution or teenage delinquency. In the case of homosexuality
and incest we can see practical biological reasons for why societies do not encourage it. Beyond
argument it goes against the principles of peoplehood—the natural drive to continue the species.
But this “practicality” is the foundation of African cultural ethics, what appeals for the best
interest of the group. “Thou shall not kill” members of your own tribe (in-group and out-group
morality) has practical overtones. ‘Bury the dead‘, has health overtones, ‘do not eat pork‘, again
another health observation. ‘Circumcise the boys‘, again practical, and now studies reveal the
hygiene and reduced chances of HIV transmission, but it also goes beyond practical when it
binds groups of people together and forms civilizations. “We belong to the group” is the
foundation of civilization and the cultural habits and rituals are the acts which pledge allegiance
to the group cohesion. And despite the plethora of ethics and people who populate the America’s
there is a core moral centrality which is enforced in legislation, which in theory is in the direction
of the largest demographics cultural sensitivity. At what age is a child an adult? In absence of
discrete rights of passage, Western societies depend on relativistic logic to formulate a fix
number—but still it is based on the local cultures.
The human brain has the hardware for empathy but the software comes from cultural
socialization
Protagoras, the Greek Sophist, observed that ethical codes are culture-dependent and vary in
different societies, economies, and geographies. The pragmatist believe that what is right is
merely what society thinks is right at any given moment. Good and evil are not immutable.
Morality can be said to be intra-cultural but not trans-cultural. But ethical or cultural relativism
and the various schools of pragmatism ignore the fact that certain ethical precepts – probably
grounded in human nature – do appear to be universal and ancient. Certain values such as
justice, honor, veracity, keeping promises, moral hierarchy – permeate all the cultures.
Morality is not completely a natural hardwired set of DNA codes, it is the process of
socialization in which cultures/religion is the largest factor.[2] The human brain has
the hardware for empathy but the software comes from cultural socialization. For example nature
laws in traditional African societies are ultimately rooted on practicality, which become
institutionalized in culture and ultimately into religious belief. These values are taught by the
society to the next generation, some take the shape of rituals to help enshrine and add value to
them.
The major virtues found in all cultures include wisdom / knowledge; courage; humanity; justice;
temperance; and transcendence. [3] Different cultural groups respond differently to moral
dilemmas as established in Fons Trompenaars “Did the Pedestrian Die?” And communal cultures
v. individualistic cultures display radical difference in priorities. The tattoo culture in the West is a
sign of “I do not belong to this majority group“, however no such concepts are found in Africa.
tattooing or scarification is an mark of “I belong to this group.” The motivation for body piercing
and adornment in Africa is more for inclusion, rather than exclusion.
The taboo of slavery in our modern societies has no bearing on what was moral in Ancient
Rome. Pederasty was normal in Ancient Greek cultures, but today is viewed with absolute
repulsion. Our morals have evolved, but evolution does not imply superiority. Moral superiority is
impossible to gauge as we live within the world we are creating and hence are studying and
judging self (a paradox for objectivity). Evolved ethics just means many processes have gone into
arriving at what most people agree is “rights” and “wrong.” Today, and only today, does the bulk
of the world take issue with slavery. The world however does not have the same issue
with incarceration with hard labor of criminals (a euphemism for slavery). In Ancient Africa
crimes against the state or a citizen were punishable by enslavement.[4] So incarceration in
some African societies is only separated by a word, “slavery.” And our society is morally
comfortable with the process as long as this word “prison” is used and not “slavery.” And
terminologies have always been used to shade communities from harsh realities they are
uncomfortable with. [5]
The attempt to separate what American law calls ethics from culture is like the space shuttle
discrediting the solid booster rockets that got it into space. So today we can look at ethics as
distinct from culture, but these ethics only exist because of cultural laws. Most of Africa roots
itself in some notion of a divinity and cultural traditions of those who have gone before. Honor in
Japan(Seppuku (切腹) is not necessarily honor in America. Respect in Islam is not respect
in Vodon. FGCin most of Somalia is no more taboo than ear piercing in the UK. The cultural or
moral root is not always universal. “Human rights” is therefore relative and dependent on the
culture of a society. Tomorrow human rights could say the death penalty is “inhumane” but this
is not an absolute truth located in a higher human realization, just because Amnesty says so.
Each society must go through its own intelligent processes to figure out what is best for their
interest. While cross-cultural influence has always been a factor in history, we can admit the
undue influence of Europeans has created much “off-axis” changes in Africa, which work in
Europe, but not necessarily in Africa. Europe has always been free to find its own path, and so to
must African culture–without undue influence. And success can never be measured by us all
meeting up at the same conclusions because that would be an assault on diversity and agency.
ETHICAL NIHILISM NOTES
This section is a sub note. Nihilism states that : Morality may simply be a kind of make-believe, a
complex set of rules and recommendations that represents nothing real and is seen as a human
creation. [1] However, a society which is in denial of God will come to these kind of conclusions.
Nature is evidence enough that “laws” govern the relationships between all life. Symbiosis is at
its core a set of laws between two species. There is nothing “made up” in nature and all life has
a destiny and purpose. But while the conclusion of Nihilism are atheistic, the process for the
argument can be considered as a form of ethical relativism. Outside of a God-based culture
humanity can fall into anarchy. Contrary to the likes of Richard Dawkins [2] It can be argued that
belief in God is ubiquitous across humanity and therefore hardwired. Humanity has that unique
ability to consider divinity and this consideration is what distinguishes us from the beast.
CONCLUSION
You can not measure an African success with a European ruler–Shahadah
People say “In African culture had/has a relationship with nature.” But is this static? It seems to
be switched around these days. Africans are traditionally communal —not individualistic. Africans
have a moral culture. But how long ago was that? These things are not promised by God to stay
that way if the root of culture are destroyed (by internal or by external forces). These days
people are “proud” of an identity that has no deep roots in anything environmental, ethical or
developmental. This pride is in the notion of a name for a culture that has long lost of of its
ethical parts—only the name remains. So understanding Ethiopian or Zulu, or Akan culture
beyond the name and the coverings is critical to preserving what makes it special.
The more we understand each other (African to African) the easier unity becomes. You cannot
respect what you do not understand. You cant understand anything through bigoted eyes. And
without African unity the relationship between Africa and the world will always marginalize
African development in every area of people activity. There can be no equitable exchange
between Africa and the world if Africans are looking for ideals in ‘the other’, or defined by ‘the
other.’ if Africa is not on an equal platform of self-determination and agency then that unique
contribution is moot.
African culture must retain it’s fundamental ethos while positively interacting with the
surrounding economic, social and political landscape each generation finds itself in. The traditions
must first be understood in order to be successfully modified to the prevailing challenges of each
generation. So as much as cultures are not static there is a moral or ethical thread that must
always be preserved. Cultures cannot change so much that they become useless in preserving
and reflecting a rich African heritage in which the sanctity of life is central. And within Pan-
Africanism the opportunities are plenty for the best applicable traditions to be practiced,
absorbed and continued. And who are better to govern that beautiful cultural journey, than
African people?
ABOUT AUTHOR
Alik Shahadah
'Alik Shahadah is a master of the Documentary format and progressive African scholar. Shahadah uses
film for social revolution. A multi-award winning recipient including the rare UNESCO award for his
critically acclaimed film on slavery 500 Years Later.. He is best known for authoring works, which deal
with African history, social justice, environmental issues, education and world peace. He states his
primary motivation for making these films was being frustrated with "Tarzan's voice" as the central
narrator in African stories. He noted that while scholarship challenges these issues, the common
knowledge of the majority is generally unaltered, writing alone is not enough, the ultimate tool for re-
education on a mass level is film
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CULTUREMay 11, 2003
 Intro
 Modernity
 Agency
 Power
 Superior
 Agency
 Prestige
 Conquest
 Fluid
 Tourism
 Modernity Degrades
 Culture not Static
 Context
 Challenges
 Institution
 Scripts
 Danger
 Culture v. religion
 Application
 Complex
 Complex
 Resistance
 Imperialism
 Anthropology
 Change
 Everyone
 Change
 Ethics
 Conclusion
 About author
ABOUT AHS
The African Holocaust Society is a progressive African organization made up of scholars

dedicated to an authentic study of African history, culture and contemporary politics.
CONTENT MAP
Politics15 Culture12
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People6 Language5
Business5 Advice5
Review5 Family4
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