Commentary

Canadian Journal of Family and Youth, 10(1), 2017, pp 481-495 ISSN 1718-9748 © University of Alberta http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index/php/cjfy

Africa: Surface Differences, Spiritual Unities, 21st Century Survival Strategies

Rev. Dr. Adenike Yesufu

Rev. Dr. Adenike Yesufu is an Instructor at the Sociology Department at MacEwan University. She teaches Sociology of Family. She is a Certified Canadian Counselor (CCC) in Family Counseling. Adenike’s other area of interest is Gender. She has taught Sociology of Gender. Her doctorate research had a focus on Gender issues with special attention to African women living in Africa, their organizations and their activities in holistic peace issues, political and economic development, human rights, and environmental issues. In addition to her doctorate degree in International and Intercultural Studies from the University of Alberta. She possesses a University Certificate in Women Counseling (UCWC) from Athabasca University. Another area of interest which Adenike describes as her passion is Religion. She has a combined degree in Counselling and Christian Religious Studies. She has taught Sociology of Religion, Religions of the World and African Traditional Religions. Adenike is also involved in Cultural issues. She is a Peace Activist who has pursued extensively Peace Studies and is involved in UNESCO’s initiative in Promoting a Culture of Peace and Social Justice in the Community. Adenike is an African who is committed to Africa’s issues. She has taught The Art and Culture of Africa, History of West Africa at the University of Alberta. She is also a Member and past Board Member of The Africa Society. She is also heavily involved in the National Black Coalition of Canada (NBCC) and The Black History Month Celebration. Adenike is a Christian, an Ordained Clergy, a Deacon of the Anglican Communion of Canada. Adenike has been awarded two Significant Community Awards for contribution to the society. Adenike is a social critic, a Feature Article writer who focuses on various topics of social interest. She has published articles in academic journals and books.

481

Commentary

Africa: Surface Differences

There are usually two distinct views about Africa. The first group sees Africa as a land of one

people. This set makes generalizations about everything African. It visualizes Africa, as a united

land. The second group views Africa as a land of diversity but never of unity. This group

emphasizes the diversity in social, political and even cultural contexts, but it never sees the unity.

Paradoxically, Africa's uniqueness lies in her diversity and yet underlying uniformity or unity if

you will, a complex combination which has been the source of her inner strength, which

hopefully will shoot her out of her present doldrums and slumber to propel her jet force in the

near future.

The diversity of Africa is plain enough on the surface. No other continent has human

diversity like Africa, yet there is a powerful unity that runs through all African societies, all

African cultures, and all African peoples. Africa has no common traditional culture, no common language, no common religion and does not belong to a common race. There is no typical or average African. Different races are found in Africa: the Bushmanoid, short in stature with light yellow skins found scattered in areas of eastern and southern Africa, the Caucasoid peoples, medium to tall in stature with light to medium and pink skins, found in the extreme southern, north-eastern and northern Africa. There are also the Negroid people, found in almost all part of the continent and their skin colour range from black to dark brown to brown. In stature, they range from medium height to very tall. However, there are recent arrivals on the scene, the

Mongoloid and the Pygmoid who are results of ethnic mixing both biologically and culturally.

The skin of these range from white to yellowish. The other shades in between are as a result of the white man who though oppressed by the heat, mosquitoes, drink and at times fever was still man enough to want the African woman!

482

Commentary

Africa, a multiracial continent with varying regions, with immense vastness and grandeur,

a land of climatic extremes, a land of fabulous wealth is also an area of an incredible bleakness.

No area in the world is more diversified politically than this region. What with her mélange of

feudal monarchies, revolutionary Arab states, humanist social societies, tribal groups, traditional

democracy, military overlords, "primitive systems", and yet in most ways, modern as conceived

by the west, with the presence of industries, schools, universities and modern buildings similar to those found in the West. After all, she graduated from "underdeveloped" to "developing" not too long ago by virtue of being the largest consumer of Western culture, if there is any such thing and

Western products as she continues to be penetrated by the multi and transnational corporations.

Africa, the second largest continent on the globe, with a population currently surmised at

1,246,504,865 million according to World meters is made up of diverse ethnic, tribal and

language groups speaking what has been described as a “Babel of 700 tongues.” There are

“different kinds of Africa.” Her visage is as varied as much as her terrain. There is East Africa,

which has been described as The Black Garden of Eden with scenery that is overpoweringly

spectacular. It is the traditional and unchanged areas of game parks, where animals in their

natural habitat have become almost peaceful co-tenants of the land with man, except for the occasional man-eating lions, tigers, and leopards which have been as described as the

"psychopaths of the animal world". East Africa, the home of the Kikuyu and the Masai tribes, the

veritable cattle raisers who have regard for their animals. They believe that no other tribe should

have access to the animals because they are gifts from God Almighty, which they chose when

offered the opportunity to choose. The white man, they claim, when confronted with the same

opportunity, chose guns. Temperate East Africa, with its more congenial climate for the colonial

overlords, is a major reason for their continued presence in Africa. Anthropologist have made dramatic discovery in this area which may lend credence to the fact that humanity might have

483

Commentary

dawned here. This nevertheless seems too much for some people to bear and has generated a lot

of controversy. No good can come from Africa they insist.

There is West Africa with lush, luxuriant, denser forests, grassland, rain forest, deadly mosquitoes, land of heat, the home of Ghana former Gold Coast whose large gold deposit made her the most attractive colony to the overlords. West Africa has Africa's third largest river, Niger whose delta has produced the oil that has plunged Nigeria into one of the world's top ten oil producers, and yet one with the largest percentage of poor people. There is Liberia the only

American colony in Africa, one of the oldest independent nations, that was luckily not included

in the Scramble. The people call themselves Americo-Liberians; after all they are the descendants

of the American Negro slaves. Today Liberia is far ahead in terms of experience but far behind in

terms of accomplishment.

There is the French speaking Africa. France had the largest chunk of Africa after the

Scramble. The French wanted their Africans to become black Frenchmen, to be absorbed into the

French culture. Africans in these areas therefore had the privilege of becoming French citizens

but “poor photocopies of the original” as Leopold Senghor called them. There is Central Africa

the heart of Africa, the Congos, which has the largest concentration of hippos in the world and

was the former enclave of the Belgium colonials. There is the Portuguese Africa, the initial

ground for slave trade, where there was veritable integration when Brazilians and Portuguese

came to live and work. The result is a truly multiracial community. Portuguese consider these

people "civilized" because they talk, think and act like Portuguese. Nonetheless, education was

handed down sparingly to these groups of Africans.

There is the horn of Africa dominated by Ethiopia the land of an incredibly good looking

people tracing their history to the Queen of Sheba who had a son for Solomon, a legend made

real and more powerful by Haile Selaise, who claimed to be a direct descendant. Ethiopia, home

484

Commentary

of the Organization of African Unity commissioned to bring together all of Africa but which has

become a toothless bulldog, in the face of neo-imperialism. There is the Arab Africa, in the north, the world of the brown people, separated by the sands of the Sahara from the rest of

Africa. These have different social customs and politics but Islam makes them one. North Africa is subtly a conglomerate of all cultures that had ever had its presence in this region. The influence of French, Italian, British and Russian culture has become diluted with Islam as the prevalent culture. North African Muslims since the time of Arab conquest have adopted Jesus Christ as the second Prophet after Mohammed, a notion totally unacceptable and even ridiculous to Christians.

There is Southern Africa which contains South Africa, the most advanced and powerful country in Africa, where in spite of the recently dismantled Apartheid, white is still might. It is phenomenal that this continent which is made up of multiplicity of individuals, interests and motivations have survived up till this present time as an entity.

Africa: Spiritual Unities

Today, Africa is beset with formidable economic and social problems. The basis for these problems according to Krause (1961) is the presence of various obstacles, which he identified; but the most captivating one is what he describes as "resistance to change from the mores, traditions and cultural patterns that prevail, which cause people to look back but not ahead".

This is an unfortunate view because these mores, traditions and cultural patterns which are actually associated with inner development are what have shaped the Africans in specific and distinct ways. These also account for their social and political organizations. These cultural beliefs and ideals practiced at national, local, community, house hold and individual levels dictate people’s behaviours and hold them together.

Africa's diversity is plain enough on the surface. It is this diversity that sets her apart from the other continents. It is natural to think of poverty, diseases, lack of basic amenities and short

485

Commentary life expectancy as the indicators for human development. The African seems to find more purpose in life than to live long in an excess of wealth and comfort. The African finds security in the natural world which includes other human beings rather than technology. `

Africa had been told time and again that her "primitive", "dark", "savage" "barbarous",

"heathen" and "uncivilized" culture would retard her from moving forward. It is however interesting that most of the cultural practices that had been condemned in the Africa context have become the cornerstone focus of the Western societies, which have lost a natural social order because of enormous technological advancement which is hitherto called progress. Values and practices which have expressions in communalism as opposed to individualism, respect for family unity and values, indigenous or traditional medicine which are being promoted in the

West today have basis in the African tradition.

Africa is not culturally homogeneous because of her Negro-African and Arab-Berber culture, yet she could be described as a single cultural family. African culture is linked to social life. It is democratic and popular. African culture has its roots in people and community. It is collective participation at every level. This is present even in the daily work. Through beliefs in deities and ancestors, Africans have moulded a whole network of social, economic and political relations. Communalism is observed. Everyone is taught to contribute to the social order and the produce shared out according to the needs and responsibilities of each individual. The family is conceived as consisting of a large number of people, many of whom are dead, few of whom are living and countless of others are yet unborn. The individual is brought up to think of himself always in relation to all these groups and to behave in a way that will bring honour and not disgrace to the members. The ideal set before him is that of mutual helpfulness and cooperation within the group of kinfolk. Each member would help the other in health or in sickness, in success, in failure, in poverty, or in plenty. Kinship relations govern the way in which societies

486

Commentary are organized and how resources of the environment are used. It is the cultural system which organizes and determines the kinds of goods produced. It determines the way in which work period is organized and how labour is apportioned between men and women in Africa's patrilineal and matrilineal societies.

Education is a life-long process. The child learns by imitation when in company of older children and adults. Apart from the "school" of day to day family and social life which enhances the individual experience, initiation constitutes a vital institution for teaching and training the citizen. It is by means of initiation that the citizen advances beyond ordinary knowledge of his society's values. The one who has been initiated becomes a fully rounded man who understands how values and institutions are produced and where origin lies. The attempt to explain origins is made within myths, which by the way are not false narratives but an explanation of order and counter order. Initiation which is a ceremony of limited duration does not disclose all knowledge.

This continues to unfold when seclusion is over. "Initiation is introduction to knowledge, knowledge of God and of the rules that He has established; knowledge of oneself and knowledge of all that is not God (Bah, 1961). In rites of passages the younger ones are given over to the tutelage of an elder for some special training. The trainees in seclusion become acquainted with the norms and values of the society of which they will soon be full members. The individual's schooling is continued by a life-style and an attitude which is a matter of learning to live well.

To live well and at peace with one's neighbour and with one's family requires time and effort, just as the more basic activities of food getting, building shelters and making the necessary material products. To live well requires that man should not only live with his neighbours but should know and understand them and share with them some basic views of life. If there is no time for socialization, if it is all taken up in the effort to amass a larger and larger surplus, then

487

Commentary man lives in ignorance of his neighbour and society, which becomes an agglomeration of individuals, each seeking his own good.

The African by maintaining economic need at a minimum is free to spend most of each day in socialization. This may take a form of visiting, usually without advance notice, discussing problems as they face individuals and groups, telling life stories, while giving the young opportunity to learn the moral code. There is time for community discussion and for everyone to participate. This way, daily activities are mapped out, disputes are avoided or settled peaceably and major disruptions averted. There is a focus on social personality rather than on individual identity.

There is security that comes to the African, living with nature rather than trying to control and dominate it. Africans see themselves as being part of nature rather than superior to it. Most hunters, gatherers and food producing people recognize little difference between human life and the life of any growing thing. They are all valuable. Africans value land not only economically but as something sacred because for them, it contains the remains of their dead ancestors.

The family serves as a model for wider social relationships. The family system is a way of ensuring the control and the satisfaction of the most fundamental human needs such as the need for secure and social companionship, for food, for sexual expression, for reproduction, for bringing up and regulating children. In Western society, the most important thing in marriage is an agreement between a man and a woman who want to marry. But in African context, marriage is a contract between two groups; it is the building of a relationship between two families, which is closely linked to kinship. This therefore makes divorce or separation difficult and at times impossible. Marriage is a complex affair with economic, social and religious aspects not an institution to be trifled with.

488

Commentary

At the heart of every culture there is an ideology. Religion seems to act as the ideology of

the African culture. Africans are deeply religious. Religion permeates into all the departments of

life so fully that it is not always easy to isolate it. It is religion more than anything else which

colours the African understanding of life. The religious domain in Africa is an exceedingly rich

one. It does not matter if they are Christians, Muslims, Jews or Traditional Religionist. Africans

are bound by a common regard and bond for what is sacred and religious. The feeling of kinship

is brought about by a sense of spiritual unity.

Africans no matter their religious inclination, share a common belief in a Supreme Being

(God) as an active Creative Spirit who is the origin, genesis and sustenance of all things. God is

all knowing. He sees both the "inside and outside of man". He is omniscient from whom nothing

is hidden, since nothing can escape His vision, hearing and knowledge. He is everywhere. He is

almighty and has power over everything, nature, man, animals, plants, all natural phenomenon,

and even other objects without biological life. God is conceived as self-sufficient, self- supporting, self-containing and self-originating (Mbiti 1980).

In various African tribes, God is seen to be merciful, showing kindness and taking pity on mankind, supplying rain providing fertility to people cattle and fields. In patriarchal societies versed in traditional religion, God is usually conceptualized as Father while in matriarchal societies; God is conceptualized as Mother but having the same attributes. The worship of God through songs, sacrifices, offerings, prayers, invocations, blessings and salutations and other miscellaneous acts and expressions of worship pervade throughout Africa. However, songs are not only used in prayers but also used to hush and pacify babies and at other ceremonies marking the birth, initiation, marriage or death of a person.

Religion permeates all departments of life. Africans regard religion as a problem solver.

Through prayer, sacrifice, and general ritual activities, people appeal to the supernatural world

489

Commentary

for aid. African religions are monotheistic, believing in the existence of one God, the creator of

mankind and the universe. African knowledge of God is expressed in proverbs, short prayers,

names, myths, stories and religious ceremonies. God is no stranger to the African people and in

traditional life there are no atheists. There is an Ashanti proverb which says no one shows a child

the Supreme Being, which means everybody knows of God's existence almost by instinct and

even children know Him.

Let it be known that the African concept of God was not shaped by the teachings or

doctrines of Christianity, Islam or Judaism. Africans have germinated their own original religious

perception. It is remarkable that in spite of the great distances separating peoples of one region

from those of another there are sufficient elements of beliefs and practices which make it

possible for one to talk of an African religious attitude and of an African concept of God.

Religion knits and bounds the citizens of Africa while at the same time it provides them with a

sense of security. For the African, religion is life-affirming. The paramount values of religious beliefs are harmony and unity within the family and clan. Religion is essentially communal and not individual. The emergence of Independent African Church movements and acculturized

Islam all over Africa, have given Africans the opportunity to adapt the "imported religions " to suit themselves as an avenue to express themselves in context of their culture and traditional beliefs.

The legendary cohesiveness of the African society is achieved through religion, which unites the people in a super-ethnic fellowship. So, also, is the '"African philosophy" which refers

to the understanding, attitude of mind, logic and perception behind the manner in which Africans

think, act or speak in different situations of life. Even though Africa has numerous cultural

systems there is always a uniform thought underlying the principle behind the African's

behaviour. These beliefs and practices are not formulated into any systematic set of dogmas

490

Commentary

which a person is expected to accept. People simply assimilate them from their families and

communities.

Africans accept death as part of natural rhythm of life but see it as the time to give

account of all that had been done on earth. "We shall all account for all we have done stating our

case while kneeling at the feet of God" says an African adage. The fear of what will happen on

the other side, where there is a good place to go and also a bad place to go, usually keeps the

African in line and everyone is urged to do good to oneself and towards one’s fellow human

beings so as to end up in the good place.

Africa: 21st Century Survival Strategies

The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era or the Common Era, in

accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 2001, and will end on December

31, 2100. It is still a long way to the end of the century. The question on everybody’s lips is

“Where will Africa be by the end of the Century?”

Africa has chosen her own route and has been embarking on her own journey into the

future. She therefore can no longer be described in terms of the self-serving colonial overlords.

Before the African slave trade came to its own, Europeans looked at Africans with a mixture of curiosity and awe. The conversion of an African royalty to the Faith was occasion for celebration.

The Slave Trade changed all that. By definition a master was the superior of his slave. Slaves were therefore inferior. Since the slaves being imported from Africa were black, reasoning dictated that black men were inferior to white men. Slavery ended, the myth continues, the reality remains. The truth is Africa's complex social organizations, group loyalties, African music, rhythms, art, craft, iron smelting, bronze casting, wood carving, creativity, capacity to learn just as quickly and easily as any other human being, was not given recognition. The African tools were rated inefficient and her technology backward.

491

Commentary

The answer to Africa's problem does not lie in the past. Africa does not need foreign models. Africa is rich both culturally and materially with 98% of the worlds diamond and 60% of the world's gold mined in Africa, though she is now threadbare poor. She is like the child of a cobbler who has no shoes. The saving grace of the average African is that though he has few material assets he has the will to work. He possesses a cheerful doggedness and a capacity for hardship and suffering which makes him resilient. This is his chief asset in the effort to reclaim his lost glory from the Garden of Eden.

Today Africa battles it out. Her destiny appears uncertain and her future precarious. She appears to be left out, but Africa has the potential to put herself back and in the centre of it all.

One wonders why Africa as an inheritor of great civilizations endowed with great economic potentialities and a large enough population of inhabitants appears not to enjoy any might in the contemporary world. The answer lies in the confusion, acculturation, and penetration that have taken place since she was "discovered".

Africa has seen Arab invasion, slave trade and colonialism, one after the other. Africa is now making an appraisal of herself and determining the basis for survival to endow herself with means to settle her problems and stand up as a power. Africa is the centre of the world, considering geographic location, and political importance. Unfortunately, she is now plagued by such widespread autocratically corrupt systems. Yet this is a land whose tradition centres on respect for life. Africa will be great! She will be an actor again in history as the world moves on.

Africa is taking sure steps into her true destiny.

The key is going back to those cultural values, which has been disparaged. The pattern of dependence should be shed. This return to African culture which is the unique creation of

African people will free her out of the spiritual and mental bondage that makes her despise her own culture. Africa has almost been pushed to the edge of cultural collapse and identity crisis.

492

Commentary

Africans have been forced too long to view their indigenous culture and societies through the

negative lens of others. Western influence which has resulted in lowered mortality rates, rural- urban movement, rapid urban growth, wage and salary employment, has at the same time caused social disintegration and loss of traditional values. Africa today combines indigenous and alien cultural forms, which is a result of global capitalism which has alienated the African from both the traditions of his society and from his roots. The traditional life has been brushed into the past and his embracing the "modern" change has created a tension which is neither harmonious nor creative for the majority of Africans. This interaction has resulted in changes at community, household and individual levels. This has not felt well for the continent.

A shallow form of culture is being implanted on African soil, a culture of individualism, of economic competition, of mass production, of an accelerating speed of life, of total disregard for family ties. Tribal structures, tribal ethics which have held the societies together and suited for tribal solidarity is being dismantled. Emphasis is shifting from "We" of corporate life to "I" of modern individualism. So then, when a man is sick, he finds that only one or two people know about it and come to see him. When he is hungry he finds that his neighbours are not the ones to share their food with him. When he has bad news from his relatives in the countryside, or when he is any form of distress, he finds that he has to cry alone even if he rubs shoulders with thousands of people on the bus or in his workplace. He is alone or and even lonely in the midst of large masses of people.

This paper recognizes the importance of science but deposes that technology should be appropriate not one that disrupts the society it is supposed to serve. Science and technology should serve the Africans in their cultural context rather than enslave them. Technology should be a response to African problems with consideration for African culture and tradition. Cultural identity had been used to achieve the self-fulfilment of individuals and the harmonious

493

Commentary development of societies. The assertion of cultural identity was the basis of many African colonial people as nation states. Africa should abandon the susceptibility to outside influence and settle for and begin to once more assert the authentic African values which would place the people's destiny in their hands once again. The African should cease to be a consumer and should once again become as in the past a creator and producer of values, of civilization for the benefit of all mankind. This does not imply keeping oneself to oneself, but cooperation and interaction with and among other nations on equal basis.

Cultural identity is not a problem for the general public in Africa but it is for the educated and the elite whose upbringing and exposure has included elements of cultural alienation. These ones must return to their culture to experience it as a living reality, to understand it and to find their roots in it. Various concepts: Negritude, Pan Africanism, African Personality, etc. usually more of rhetoric with no deep roots have been advanced to promote the African new identity.

Unfortunately, some of these have been elitist or foreign in origin, have lacked clear practical goals and have not satisfied the individual's need for personal identification, in this new world that he finds himself.

The option then is Religion which is so deeply entrenched in all forms of African lives.

Religions in Africa should singly or jointly exert a force in creating new standard of morals and ethics suitable for the changing societies. It is also religion’s responsibility to assist in preserving the dignity of the African in the face of foreign power, violence, potentials of devastation, scientific progress, search for peace, dehumanization of industrialization, and production of more goods for the capitalists. Only religion is fully sensitive to the dignity of man as an individual, a person and a creature who has both physical and spiritual dimensions. It is only religion that embraces and grants equal place for every member of humanity. All the religions in Africa have roles to play in cultivating reconciliation, harmony, peace, and security for the individual, for the

494

Commentary

community, for the nation and for the universe. "Man cannot live by the bread of science and

politics alone, he needs also the vitamins of faith, hope, love, security, comfort and attention in the face of death, or misfortune" (Mbiti 1980). These are the elements that religion tries to offer.

Africa should make efforts to preserve, conserve, improve and uphold her cultural heritage. To achieve this, she should employ a relevant mode of education which will reflect her cultural realities and will be effective for the transmission of her culture. Too long has she operated an educational system which has contributed to the prevailing confusion. In total, for the survival of her social, political, economic and cultural structures, Africa should retain one foot in the 12th century while placing the other in the 21st century rather than locating both in the 21st century.

References

Asante, Kete (1980). Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change. Washington: Fas Printing.

Balogun, O. et al (1979). Introduction to African Culture: General Aspects. France: UNESCO.

Busia, K.(1982). The Challenge of Africa. New York: Praeger.

Chinweizu, C. (1987). Decolonising the African Mind. Lagos: Pero Press.

Garlake, Peter (1990). The Kingdoms of Africa. Oxford: Equinox.

Griffiths, Ieuan (1995). The African Inheritance. London: Routeledge.

Kodjo, Edem (1987). Africa Tomorrow. New York: Continuum.

Martin, P & O’Meara A. (1995). AFRICA. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Mbiti, John, S. (1980). African Religions and Philosophy. Great Britain: Heinemann.

McCall, D (1981). Africa in Time Perspective. Boston: Boston University Press.

495

Commentary

Murray, Jocelyn (ed) (1981). Cultural Atlas of Africa. Oxford: Phaidon.

Robbins, E. & Littell, B. (1971). Africa: Images and Realities. NewYork: Praeger.

UNESCO (1975). Final Report on Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies in Africa. Paris: UNESCO

UNESCO (1985). Specificity and Dynamics of African Negro Cultures. Paris: UNESCO.

Willmer, John (1985). AFRICA: Teaching Perspectives and Approaches. Oregon: Geographic and Area Study Publications.

496