Discovering Africa’s Rich History & Culture The Uplifting Africa Program
3/9/2021
Dogon Dance of the people of West Africa Photo Credit: CulturesofWestAfrica.com
Windila Balbone The Uplifting Africa Program https://www.upliftingafrica.org
The Eurasia Center
Discovering Africa’s Rich History & Culture
How does most of Western media portray the African continent? I think the answer is pretty clear: hungry kids, savannah, safaris to see the elephants, giraffes, lions - nothing but nature, misery, and hunger. Yet does the image of Africa and Africans lie only in poverty, hunger, and the view of the Safari? Africa is a continent rich in history and culture, diversity of languages, ethnic groups, natural resources that the Western world fails to show and learn about. The African continent is considered to be the oldest inhabited continent on earth where the human species originated seven million years ago. The African continent is a continent with an extremely high linguistic diversity with an estimate of 1500-2000 African languages. The country of Nigeria alone has 250 languages, one of the greatest concentrations of linguistic diversity in the world (Greenberg, Joseph H. "The languages of Africa.").
In recent years, African countries have become increasingly aware of the value of their linguistic inheritance. Language policies that are being developed nowadays are mostly aimed at multilingualism. For example, all African languages are considered official languages of the African Union (AU). 2006 was declared by the African Union as the "Year of African Languages.'' African languages are divided into six different language groups: the Afroasiatic languages, the Nilo-Saharan languages, the Niger-Congo languages, the Khoisan languages, and finally, the Austronesian and Indo-European. This shows the richness of language diversity in the continent. Many Africans at a younger age already are bilingual or trilingual.
Ancient Nok Culture Sculpture - Nigeria
Another aspect of African richness is the culture that enriches the values and the identity of each country. Africa’s cultures and traditions are expressed mostly through music, art, dance, and sculpture. For example, music is a form of communication that plays a functional role in African society. Both traditional and modern afrobeat music relate to good spirits, the dead and ancestors (Marcel Griaule, Cultures of West Africa). In West Africa, a griot is a praise singer or poet who possesses an archive of oral tradition passed down from generation to generation. They must know the traditional songs and must also be able to improvise songs about current events, current leaders, and members of a royal family. For many Africans, the elders' griots are storytellers. Africans might not have had notebooks to write history down, but through singing, dancing, and their art, the history of the continent was able to survive and live today through the generations.
Dance is an essential part of the African culture, and it uses symbolic gestures, masks, costumes, body painting and props to communicate. The dance movements can be simple or complex with actions including fast rotation, ripples of the body and contraction and release. Dance is used to express emotion, whether joyful or sorrowful and it is not limited to just the dancers. Often spectators will be encouraged to join in (Marcel Griaule, Cultures of West Africa).
Dogon Dance of the people of West Africa Photo Credit: CulturesofWestAfrica.com This is an example of traditional masked dance called the Dama masked dance of the Dogon people in West Africa usually accompanied by drummers, and other instruments. This is a beautiful activity that the African continent can share with the world. These cultural and traditional aspects of African countries are also integrated in touristic sites, monuments and more.
The African Renaissance Monument in Senegal Photo Credit: NBC News
When visiting an African country like Senegal for example, the African Renaissance Monument is a beautiful place to visit which reflects the history of the continent - its bravery and the fight and sacrifices many Africans led for independence and freedom from the colonial powers. Every single African country has a lot more to discover than the safari. Next time you decide to travel to Africa, also discover the culture and traditions, learn to admire the happiness of the people even when they are said to have little base on Western standards, learn something new about a tradition and maybe try it. Do not limit yourself to what you see in the media.