Chapter 11 Section 4

Each kingdom developed around four common elements: Family Government Religion Art

Family The family was the basic unit of society. The basic family unit was the nuclear family – parents, children, and several generations live together. Some families are Patrilineal - kinship ties such as inheritance are passed though the father’s side. Matrilineal - - kinship ties such as inheritance are passed though the mother’s side. This forged strong ties between brothers and sisters.

Family Each family belongs to a lineage – group of households who claim the same ancestors. An individual’s place is often determined by age grade – girls and boys born in the same year. Each age grade has certain responsibilities and privileges.

Government In African societies power was often shared among a number of people. Villages often made decisions based on consensus – general agreement. Once areas began to expand and were united as a kingdom, they had to follow the law of the king and pay taxes.

Religion Some believed forces of nature were controlled by divine spirits. Some believed in a single supreme being When Christianity and Islam spread to Africa, many continued their local practices.

Art and Literature Art strengthened the bonds of community. Created decorative items using gold, ivory, bronze, wood and cloth simply for their beauty. Art usually served a social and religious purposes. Griots – professional storytellers recited ancient stories.

African masks are usually shaped after a human face or some animal's muzzle, sometimes rendered in a highly abstract form. The inherent lack of realism in African masks (and African art in general) is justified by the fact that most African cultures clearly distinguish the essence of a subject from its looks, the former, rather than the latter, being the actual subject of artistic representation. Stylish elements in a mask's looks are codified by the tradition and may either identify a specific community or convey specific meanings. For example, both the Bwa and the Buna people of Burkina Faso have hawk masks, with the shape of the beak identifying a mask as either Bwa or Buna. In both cases, the hawk's wings are decorated with geometric patterns that have moral meanings; saw-shaped lines represent the hard path followed by ancestors, while chequered patterns represent the interaction of opposites (male-female, night-day, and so on)[6]

African Art and Oral history assignment Create an original piece of African art, an African mask, an African shield or an African tale. African art African mask African shield African tale