Africans forced onto slave ships were drawn from a large range of societies and cultures. Though Europeans tended to describe them simply as “Africans” (a term which no African would have recognized), African individuals viewed themselves according to kinship groups, lineage, and ethnicity, defined by distinct traditions and languages. Today, Africa is considered to be the cradle of human ancestry, from which we may all trace our descent. Based on the evidence to date, most scientists concur that humankind evolved and modern humans emerged on the African continent. Recent discoveries of cultural artifacts dating back 70,000 years also suggest that the earliest forms of visual expression may be found in Africa.
Linguistic distribution of African ethnic groups.
Today, over 680 million people live in Africa. Although some regions remain sparsely inhabited, others are densely populated. The West African nation of Nigeria, for example, has one-fifth of the entire continent’s population. About a third of all Africans live in large cities such as Lagos (Nigeria), the continent’s most populous city with 13.5 million people. Other major urban centers in contemporary Africa include Cairo (Egypt), Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Dakar (Senegal), and Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Pretoria (South Africa).
Throughout the continent, there is found a diversity of societies, languages, and cultures. It is estimated that there are well over 1,000 distinct languages in Africa, making it the most linguistically varied of all the continents. In Nigeria alone, more than 250 different languages are spoken. Important regional languages, spoken over broad geographic areas by people of varied ethnicity, include Arabic in northern Africa, Swahili in eastern Africa, and Hausa and Mandinka in parts of western Africa.
Cultural Identity
Culturally, Africans define themselves in many different ways: by occupational caste, village, kinship group, regional origin, and nationality. “Peoples” or “cultures” are the preferred terms when referring to ethnic identities; “tribe”-a word sometimes applied to African peoples or societies-is an inappropriate, even inaccurate term, and should be avoided. Based on a concept developed by nineteenth-century Western social theorists, “tribe” was used to describe a group of people sharing a common language, history, geographic region, and sociopolitical organization. In reality, ethnicity and social identity are much more complex, as Africans may identify themselves in multiple ways. For example, an individual may be simultaneously Nigerian, a resident of the Delta State, Ijo (a broad ethnic designation), and Kalabari (an eastern subgroup of the Ijo).
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Exploring Africa's Most Fascinating Tribe: Ancient Traditions Unveiled!
African Cultural Traditions
Africa is home to a wide array of cultural traditions, and all are different from each other. Every single one has given the African people a way to express their feelings and emotions in an understated manner-a manner which is essential in a high context culture. African traditions are so diverse, are so rich in terms of their symbolic expressions, and are so complete in their logic, that one cannot help but feel that they are entering into an elaborate and aesthetically integrated world. It is this world that those who are part of the African Diaspora are seeking to rediscover.
African dance and music are integral parts of cultural expression.
Africans communicate in many different ways, and the manner in which they express feelings and emotions is extremely subtle. Often the communication is not direct and the person may not know what is being communicated to him until it happens for the second or third time, or sometimes even later. This is common in that the "meaning" is often implicit. This is because in many African societies, symbols are more important than the literal message. Symbols are used to express and understand the world around them. This connection between symbol and expression is evident in many artistic traditions such as music, dance, visual arts, and storytelling. This use of symbols is essential to an understanding of African communication, as it is at the heart of understanding both the self and the other.
Overview of African Cultural Traditions
The cultures of African societies have a rich and diverse history. Folklore plays an important role in African cultures. It is often used to explain natural phenomena and the origins of customs or proper human behavior. It also provides people with a sense of identity and community. In many African societies, music and dance are an important part of their culture. They are used to express political and social feelings. In some societies, music is used to tell stories, and in others, it is only used for entertainment. Music knows no boundaries; speaking its own language, it serves as a uniting factor in Africa. Nigerians remember vividly the music and the musician that helped them break free of British occupation, and South Africans remember the poignant times of Apartheid through music that expressed anger and resistance. Modern-day rock and roll has roots in African music; many American musicians are looking towards Africa, incorporating African styles into their music. This is a very basic overlook of the vast African culture, but it provides a good understanding of what is meant by African culture and cultural traditions.
Traditional Communication Methods
Communities in Africa have always had their own unique ways of communicating with each other. The forms of passing on information varied from sending messages, relaying information, and telling stories, all of which have woven the intricate web of history and tradition in Africa. The ancestors of contemporary Africans communicated through an oral tradition of storytelling, which has survived to this day. Before modern transport and telecommunications systems, Africans lived in family groups spread over a wide area. There were no newspapers and few could read and write. Yet information was important: about how to cultivate crops and about who was friendly and unfriendly towards them. People wanted to know news and share it with others.
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Tamberma people and their culture.
Both then and now, Africans also enjoy entertainment. Traditional ways of communicating satisfied all these needs. Today, oral traditions and verbal communications are varied but abundant. They are taken from any context by anyone with a message to relay. An example of modern-day verbal communications could be street theatre with a health or social message. Drums have been used for communicating messages for centuries throughout the African continent. From Ghana to the Congo, drums and the art of drumming have been used not only to communicate and send messages but music and stories. Drum messages were often used to relay news and information about war, an attack, or any crucial information the tribe needed to respond to. According to the region, tone, and rhythm of the drum, the messages would often be encrypted and misunderstood by enemies or those listening in.
Symbolism and Proverbs
Symbolism in Africa is a very complex and diverse art form. It has been used for centuries in various forms for communication. Only a small portion of the African symbols found are now used for external communication, and many have been forgotten or are no longer understood. These symbols were used to convey ideas that could not be expressed in words, the meaning of dreams and visions, and to record the experiences of everyday life. In traditional African belief, symbols were a way of gaining access to a higher reality, to a world transcending the mundane. Today, there are still artisans who make traditional African carvings and artwork, commissioned to create a piece with a hidden message only the commissioner would understand. These are not the external signs and symbols of old but still hold the same purpose.
Unique Tribal Traditions
From the San people of South Africa all the way up to the Berbers in Morocco, Africa is the origin of myriad tribes - in fact, there’s estimated to be about 3,000. With so many unique groups comes quite a few fascinating tribal traditions. Some we’ll never know about, but others we’ve been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of.
Wodaabe Tribe of Niger: Courtship Dance
In the Wodaabe tribe of Niger, the human mating ritual takes a page from nature’s book. The Guérewol is an annual ritual and competition that sees young men dress up in elaborate ornamentation and traditional face paint and gather in lines to dance and sing. The goal? To get the attention of one of the judges - a marriageable young woman.
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Wodaabe men perform the Guérewol dance in Niger.
Mursi Tribe of Ethiopia: Lip Plates
The Mursi tribe of Ethiopia is one of the last tribes in Africa where it’s the norm for women to wear large pottery or wooden plates in their lower lips. When a Mursi girl reaches the age of 15 or 16, her lower lip is cut by her mother or another older woman in the settlement. The cut is held open by a wooden plug for about three months while it heals. Mursi members are rather egalitarian - girls are never forced to have their lip pierced; it’s a totally personal choice.
Hamar Tribe of Ethiopia: Bull Jumping
Ethiopia’s Hamar tribe (also known as the Hamer tribe), made up mostly of pastoralists who respect and treasure their cattle, has a rather… athletic initiation ritual. Forget cow tipping - this tradition is all about the art of bull jumping. Bull jumping is a three-day rite of passage that all boys must partake in, and it’s extremely important for the dignity of both the initiate and his family. The initiate must walk over 15 castrated bulls that have been rubbed in dung to make their backs slippery (and the task that much tougher). If he fails, he’ll have to wait a whole year to try again. And if he succeeds?
Himba Tribe of Namibia: Otjize Paste
The women of this iconic Namibian tribe are known for their beautiful, red-tinged skin and hair. The reason for the rich colour? A homemade paste of butter, fat and red ochre known as otjize. Girls in the tribe start using otjize as soon as they’re old enough to care for their own hygiene. There has long been speculation around exact origins of the practice, with many people claiming it acts as sun protection or insect repellent.
Maasai People of Kenya and Northern Tanzania: Spitting as Blessing
The Maasai people of Kenya and Northern Tanzania view spitting as a form of blessing and a sign of respect. Tribespeople use spitting to greet or say goodbye to friends, clinch a bargain or to wish someone good luck. Two friends greeting each other will spit in their palms before shaking hands. When a baby is born, family members will spit on the child to wish him or her a long life and good luck.
San People of South Africa: Trance Dance
Of all the tribal traditions, this one is arguably the most magical. For the San people of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Angola, dance is considered a sacred power. One of their most integral tribal traditions is the trance dance (also known as the healing dance). The whole community comes together around a fire for several hours or even an entire night, led by healers and elders. The healers dance around the fire, chant and hyperventilate until they induce a powerful trance-like state. In this state, they are granted access to the spirit world (and are often able to walk over fire).
The San people's trance dance is a sacred ritual.
Ndebele Tribe: Wedding Ceremony
The Ndebele wedding ceremony is all about the bride - and her attire puts western white dresses to shame. This, in most part, is thanks to her future mother-in-law and the prettiest of all the tribal traditions. The groom’s mother creates a Jocolo for the bride - an apron made of goatskin and decorated with gorgeous, colourful beads. The Jocolo is worn by all married women at the wedding ceremony, and is representative of a mother surrounded by children. Every movement, every gesture during the ceremony is a reflection of not just the union of two people but the joining of families and traditions that will carry forward for generations.
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.
African Influence in the Americas
Africans brought to the Americas the greatly varied cultures of their homelands, including folklore, language, music, and foodways. Survivors of the Middle Passage gave new life to certain African themes, characters, and stories in their homes and neighborhoods in the New World, and much of the folklore of the African diaspora reflects a dynamic combination of African traditions and New World influences. A range of artifacts manufactured by enslaved craftsmen and women with local materials helped to transmit folklore through such objects as canoes, trays, combs, stools and ceramics shaped for daily use. Some of those crafts and skills, and the objects themselves, survive to this day.
Angu sellers in Brazil, reflecting African foodways in the Americas.
Phrases, words, and patterns of speech lived on from African vernacular. In time, however, descendants of African slaves came to speak the local variants of English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. Similarly, the folklore which evolved, normally in the adopted language of the Americas, was itself shaped by contact with other, non-African peoples of the Americas. South (with their links to Native American and African folklore), to the Anansi tales of Jamaica, and the bouki stories of Haiti-all used local imagery to make their point.
European slavers deprived African captives of material possessions during the Middle Passage, but survivors throughout the Americas re-created variants of familiar instruments, if possible. When resources were not available, they created new instruments. Materials found in diverse environments throughout the Americas varied from gourds, sea shells, wood, bones, and string. On their own time, enslaved people used available materials to construct musical instruments, such as drums, rattles, bells, banjars (an ancestor to the banjo), fiddles, and other instruments.
Throughout the Atlantic, Africans and their descendants created distinctive forms of musical expression, depending perhaps on the most dominant or influential African ethnic group in their communities. Other factors included European and Native American peoples’ culture and religion. Numerous factors influenced how African, European, Native American musical traditions synchronized into new forms of music throughout the Americas.
Christian holidays and festivals were another occasion for European and African cultures to merge and influence one another. Christmas traditions of John Canoe, or “Jonkanoo,” took different forms in African diaspora communities in the Caribbean, Bahamas, and southern United States.
In the Americas, foodstuffs from Africa such as rice, ackee, and yams, as well as imported foods from Europe and other parts of the Americas became a basic diet for enslaved communities in the African diaspora. Salt fish from Newfoundland fisheries was provided on Caribbean plantations. Slave owners rationed food to their slaves. Some enslaved people fished, hunted wild animals, and grew crops in gardens allotted to them by their owners. Some domestic slaves ate food similar to their owners. In large part, enslaved people’s diets depended on the culture and policies of their owners. When a slave owner fell on hard economic times, their food rations were diminished. Some owners allowed their enslaved people to roam, in order to scavenge for food, in times of drought or crop failures.
As with languages and religions, the foodways which enslaved people in the New World developed were blends of African, European, and Native American foodstuffs, spices, ingredients, and cooking methods. There emerged a distinct blend of Africa and the Americas. The use of particular ingredients, ways of cooking, and the melding of various African habits with the patterns and ingredients available in the Americas all created distinct patterns of slave diet and cuisine. For example, in Jamaica, Ackee and salt fish-today a national dish-derives from the fruit, ackee, native to West Africa, and salt fish, from the teeming fishing grounds of the Newfoundland banks, initially given to enslaved people by their masters. And all garnished with local spices. This national dish, a mix of ingredients from Africa and the Americas, was created by people who blended their foods-local and imported-as best they could from what was available.
Modern Communication in African Culture
The change to modernity has brought with it a number of opportunities and, conversely, difficulties for contemporary Africans. Perhaps most evident are the changes taking place in the sphere of communication. The advent of technologies has drastically changed the manner with which information is exchanged and the way knowledge travels from point A to B. This has had a huge impact in Africa, as communication has often been identified as a key area requiring improvement if the continent is to take its place in the global arena. Some of the technological changes have had more unexpected results. The rise of the mobile phone has revolutionized African communication and leapfrogged the need for development of a fixed-line network. It is estimated that nearly 70% of Africans now have a mobile phone. This has had a large number of social and economic effects. Farmers are now able to ascertain which market will offer the best price for their goods, traders are able to communicate with a wider network of people, and mobile phones have been used as a banking system in areas where there are few banks. SMS services are increasingly being used to disseminate health or market information to the wider community.
Communication in Africa has notably benefited from technological change. However, it has had negative consequences. The internet, despite being now widely available in Africa, is largely still a tool used by the educated upper classes. It is widely inaccessible in rural regions, and this has led to a 'knowledge gap' between the educated and uneducated. The ability of the internet to allow access to a wide array of information for a great number of people has not been fulfilled in Afric...
| Aspect | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Diverse linguistic landscape with over 1,000 distinct languages. | Swahili, Hausa, Arabic, Yoruba |
| Folklore | Plays a vital role in explaining natural phenomena and cultural customs. | Animal tales, flood myths, day-to-day tales |
| Music and Dance | Integral to cultural expression, used for storytelling and entertainment. | Drumming, ring shout, trance dance |
| Foodways | Blends of African, European, and Native American ingredients and techniques. | Ackee and saltfish, fufu, couscous |
| Tribal Traditions | Unique customs that vary widely among different tribes. | Lip plates, bull jumping, otjize paste |
| Communication | Emphasizes oral tradition, storytelling, and symbolism. | Drum communication, proverbs, praise singing |
