African cultures

AfricanCulture
http://www.ghanalive.tv/

African culture
• Historical overview
• People
• African arts and crafts
• Folklore and religion
• Clothing
• Cuisine
• African music
• Languages

Culture of Africa
The culture of Africa encompasses and includes all
cultures within the continent of Africa. There is a
political or racial split between North Africa and Sub-
Saharan Africa, which is in turn divided into a great
number of ethnic cultures. http://www.ghanalive.tv/

Historical overview
During colonialism in Africa, Europeans possessed attitudes of superiority and
a sense of mission. The French were able to accept an African as French if that
person gave up their African culture and adopted French ways. Knowledge of
the Portuguese language and culture and abandonment of traditional African
ways defined one as civilized.
Kenyan social commentator Mwiti Mugambi pragmatically argues that the
future of Africa can only be forged from accepting and mending the
sociocultural present. For Mugambi, colonial cultural hangovers, pervasive
Western cultural inundation, and aid-giving arm-twisting donors are, he
argues, here to stay and no amount of looking into Africa's past will make them
go away. However, Maulana Karenga states

People of Africa
Africa is home to innumerable tribes, ethnic and social groups, some
representing very large populations consisting of millions of people, others are
smaller groups of a few thousand. Some countries have over 20 different ethnic
groups, and also are greatly diverse in beliefs. From: http://www.ghanalive.tv/

African arts and crafts
Africa has a rich tradition of arts and crafts. African arts and crafts find expression in a
variety of woodcarvings, brass and leather art works. African arts and crafts also include
sculpture, paintings, pottery, ceremonial and religious headgear and dress. Maulana Karenga
states that in African art, the object was not as important as the soul force behind the
creation of the object. He also states that All art must be revolutionary and in being
revolutionary it must be collective, committing, and functional, this is echoed by Shahadah
who states "in Africa all art is socially functional from: http://www.ghanalive.tv/

Folklore and religion
Like all human cultures, African folklore and religion represents a variety of social facets of
African culture . Like almost all civilizations and cultures, flood myths have been circulating
in different parts of Africa. Culture and religion share space and are deeply intertwined in
African cultures. In Ethiopia, Christianity and Islam form the core aspects of Ethiopian
culture and inform dietary customs as well as rituals and rites. According to a Pygmy
myth, Chameleon, hearing a strange noise in a tree, cut open its trunk and water came out in
a great flood that spread all over the land.from:http://www.ghanalive.tv/

Clothing
• Traditional male clothing is usually light, consisting of a two-part apron to cover the
genitals and buttocks. The front piece is called the umutsha and is usually made of
springbok or other animal hide twisted into different bands which cover the genitals. The
rear piece, called the ibheshu is made of a single piece of springbok or cattle hide, and its
length is usually used as an indicator of age and social position; longer amabheshu are
worn by older men. Married men will usually also wear a headband, called the umqhele
which is usually also made of springbok hide, or leopard hide by men of higher social
status, such as chiefs. Zulu men will also wear cow tails as bracelets and anklets called
imishokobezi during ceremonies and rituals, such as weddings or dances.
• From http://www.ghanalive.tv/

Cuisine
Africa is a huge continent and the food and drink of Africa reflect local
influences, as also glimpses of colonial food traditions, including use of food
products like peppers, groundnuts and maize introduced by the colonizers. The
African cuisine is a combination of traditional fruits and vegetables, milk, and
meat products. The African village diet is often milk, curds and whey. Exotic
game and fish are gathered from Africa's vast
area.from:http://www.ghanalive.tv/

African music
Modern Sub-Saharan African music has been influence by music from the New
World (Jazz, Salsa, Rhythm and Blues etc.). Popular styles include Mbalax in
Senegal and Gambia, Highlife in Ghana, Zoblazo in Côte d'Ivoire, Makossa in
Cameroon, Soukous in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kizomba in
Angola, and Mbaqanga in South Africa. New World styles like
Salsa, R&B/Rap, Reggae, and Zouk also have widespread popularity. From

Languages
• The main ethno-linguistic divisions are Afro-Asiatic (North Africa, Horn of Africa), Niger–
Congo (including speakers from the Bantu branch) in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nilo-
Saharan in parts of the Sahara and the Sahel and parts of Eastern Africa, and Khoisan
(indigenous minorities of Southern Africa).The continent of Africa speaks hundreds of
languages, and if dialects spoken by various ethnic groups are also included, the number is
much higher. These languages and dialects do not have the same importance: some are
spoken by only few hundred persons, others are spoken by millions. Among the most
prominent languages spoken are Arabic, Swahili and Hausa. Very few countries of Africa
use any single language and for this reason several official languages coexist, African and
European. Some Africans speak various European languages such as
English, Spanish, French, and Dutch

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African cultures

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