Chapter Twenty The People and Cultures of Africa Afropop: African World Music

Tribal Drumming Drums are made of local native materials (hollow tree trunks) and served as an early form of long distance communication. They are also used during ceremonial and religious functions.

Congotronics: Postmodern African Music

Religion and Society in Early Africa Common cultural inheritance –Basic languages –Animist beliefs Oral traditions –Reverence for elderly, ancestor worship Emphasis on family, community –Evolution of powerful kingdoms

Three Early African Kingdoms: Ghana, Benin, Zimbabwe Ghana –Caravan routes –Increased wealth from exported goods –Conquered by Berbers Benin (Nigeria) –New food crops, metalworking techniques –Ruled by an Oba –Decline after massive slave deportation

Bronze frieze of a Benin Oba (15 th century)

Altar to the Hand and Arm, Benin (17 th century)

Three Early African Kingdoms: Ghana, Benin, Zimbabwe Zimbabwe –Stone Age settlements (bushmen) –“Great Zimbabwe” complex –The Shona Ancestral spirits as birds, eagles

African Literature Somalian oral traditions –Raage Ugaas (18th century) –Qamaan Bulhan (mid-19th century) Swahili-Arabic script –Recording traditional, new songs –Saiyid Abdallah (c )

African Literature Negritude –Leopold Senghor ( ) –Compromise with Neo-Colonialism? African vs. Western language –Thomas Mofolo (1875?-1948) –Chinua Achebe (b. 1930)

Traditional African Art in the Modern Period Functional, traditional –Religious objects –Maternity figures –Masks Complexity of influences –Western tendencies

Maasai feather headdress