1.
African Culture
Africa is a gigantic continent, with deserts,
rivers, mountains. Grasslands and jungles
separating peoples and ideas. There is no
one common culture in Africa.
Differences in religion and language often
Mean even a single nation may have
several cultures within it. This has often
lead to the use of a European language as
the language of the government. This also
has lead to rivalries and civil wars in
nations of Africa.

2.
Proverbs
• A good person earns more than just wages.
• What the parents discuss on an evening, the child will
reveal in the morning.
• Don't sweep another's house whilst your own is dirty.
• You can learn wisdom at your grandfathers feet, or at the
end of a stick.
• If your parents take care of you up to the time you cut
your teeth, you take care of them when they lose theirs.
• The family is like the forest. If you are outside, it is dense;
if you are inside, you see that each tree has its own
position.
• Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall
always glorify the hunters.
You can tell what values Africans hold important with their proverbs.
Africa’s history is rich with oral traditions and proverbs. These come
from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria

3.
Languages
• African language is
diverse and
separated into 6
main groups. Each
group has several
sub groups.
• Linguistic divisions
are hurdles to
national unity and
economic
development

4.
Food
• Food in Africa is varied with
Arabic cuisine in the north,
and a mix of traditional,
European, Asian and South
Asian in the Southern half of
the continent
• African slaves brought food
products like Yams and
Plantains
• Asians brought lentils, curries
and soups to Africans
• Ethiopia claims to have
invented coffee drinking.
They have a coffee ceremony
that’s similar to the Japanese
Tea Ceremony, in purpose
and preparation

5.
Family life
• Extended family is the norm
• Elders play important role in
families
• Mothers have large roles in
African families
• The good of community is more
important than the individual
• “It takes a village to raise a child”
• A child is born in Africa and the
family celebrates the occasion
with a feast. Kids are given
names based on the family history
or anticipated future.

6.
Family (traditional roles)
• Grandmother and father are
heads of families
• Dads provide for families and
arrange marriages for
daughters
• Moms rule the homes. Kids
help and support the family
• Uncles and aunts help provide
for kids, arrange marriages and
help settle disputes between
other family members. Uncles
are often called Junior Fathers.

7.
•
Marriage
No two cultures have the same customs
• In Ethiopia, some people tattoo the bride’s stomach for good luck
• With the Massai people of Kenya, The bride packs her belongings
and is dressed in jewelry. The father of the bride spits on her
head and breasts as a blessing and then she leaves to her new
home. She never looks back, fearing that she will turn to stone.
• The Himba people of Namibia kidnap a bride before the
ceremony and dress her in a marriage headdress. After the
ceremony she is brought into the house where the family tells her
what her responsibilities will be as the wife and then anoint her
with butterfat from cows. This shows that she has been accepted
into the family.
• The Wodabee of Niger court their cousins for marriage. The male
cousins wear powerful amulets which are supposed to heighten
their attractiveness to the girl. If there are two cousins who
desire the same girl the girl chooses the one she wishes and the
other man is welcomed into the home of the couple.
• The Neur people of southern Sudan -the groom must pay 20-40
cattle, the marriage is completed only after the wife has born 2
children. If the wife only bears one child and the husband asks for
a divorce he can also ask for either the return of the cattle or the
first child. Divorce therefore is very difficult. Another interesting
fact is that if a husband dies then the husbands family must
provide a brother to the widow and any children born to the
brother are considered the deceased's children

8.
Polygamy
• Polygamy is common in parts of
Africa
• The current president of S. Africa is
an ethnic Zulu and is allowed to
have more than one wife.
• Africans feel that polygamy helps
ensure the future of the family, gives
women help raising children and in
parts of Africa, if a man died, his
brother was expected to marry his
widow and care for his children
• Polygamy also gave women help in
gardening and other household
chores
• In parts of Africa that practices
Islam, there is a religious basis for
polygamy as well.

9.
• Death is not the end of life to
Africans, it’s only a transition to a
•
new world
Africans feel that their ancestors live
on in the village and surviving family
Death
members
• The goal of life is to become an
ancestor after death. This is why
every person who dies must be given
a "correct" funeral, supported by a
number of religious ceremonies. If
this is not done, the dead person
may become a wandering ghost,
unable to "live" properly after death
• Many African peoples have a custom
of removing a dead body through a
hole in the wall of a house, and not
through the door. The reason for
this seems to be that this will make
it difficult (or even impossible) for
the dead person to remember the
way back to the living, as the hole in
the wall is immediately closed.
• Death in African religions is one of
the last transitional stages of life
requiring passage rites, and this too
takes a long time to complete. The
deceased must be "detached" from
the living and make as smooth a
transition to the next life as possible

10.
Beauty and African standard?
Sexuality
• Many Africans see a large, well
rounded women to be a sign of
health and beauty.
• Men are not expected to be
monogamous
• Men also feel they have a “right
to sex.” This has helped to
spread HIV.
• Many see homosexuality as an
evil. Anti- homosexual laws are
found across the region Western Standard?
• Some Africans practice female
circumcision. An act that has no
reason to exist in the first place.