Sierra Leone UNIT 3

1. What is the cultural identity of Sierra Leone?

The people of Sierra Leone are culturally identified as Creole.

2. Define Pop and Folk culture and then give three examples of each in Sierra Leone?
Pop culture is changes from time to time and usually involves heterogeneous groups of people.
It changes quickly and is dispersed on a global scale. Folk culture changes from place to place.
It involves groups of homogenous people who like to be isolated and is slow to change. It is
clustered on a local scale. They usually have little interaction with others and live in rural areas.
An example of pop culture is that rap and reggae is making its way to Sierra Leone and is
becoming more popular. An example of folk culture in Sierra Leone are the rituals and
ceremonies that are performed by different groups at different times, including the ‘secret
societies.’ These ‘societies’ are hugely secretive and members (men and women have separate
societies) obey a strict code of conduct.

3. How has globalization of pop culture changed the cultural landscape of Sierra Leone?
(How is land used)
In Freetown, there is a wide variety of internal cuisine. You can find Lebanese, European,
Korean, Japanese and Chinese restaurants all over Freetown, as well as African restaurants,
including Senegalese and Ghanaian, which also offer a taste of the continent.

4. Make three maps of SIerra Leone. 1 representing language, 1 representing religion,

and 1 representing pop and folk culture.

*a language map for

Sierra Leone was
not available, so I
provided a pie chart
instead.
5. Analyze the maps above and tell how they change your perspective (view) of Sierra
Leone as a whole.
Language Map:
This map shows all the languages in Sierra Leone and where they are spoken.
Religion Map: A religion map for Sierra Leone was not found, but this pie chart displays the
same information. You can see that Islam is the biggest religion in Sierra Leone, and the second
biggest is indigenous. The last is Christianity.
Pop and Folk Culture Map:
This map shows where the pop culture is (the green) and it also shows how the pop culture
fades into the folk culture (the yellow).

6. Make a language tree for Sierra Leone’s standard language.

7. What is the official language used in Sierra Leone and define the term?
English is the official language in Sierra Leone. Official language is the language used by the
government.

8. What language is used for trade (lingua franca)?

Krio is spoken as a lingua franca in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone. Krio, an English-based
creole language, is the mother tongue of 10.5% of the population but is spoken by 90% of Sierra
Leoneans.

9. How did colonialism and imperialism affect Sierra Leone’s culture?

Sierra Leone was colonized by the British in 1787. The British settlers landed and named the
port city Freetown, which is still the capital of Sierra Leone today. By the 19th century, Sierra
Leone was completely under British control. The colonization of Sierra Leone can be compared
the colonization of America in respect to how the native people were treated. They were treated
as lower beings, they were taxed very highly, and they were denied previous freedoms.
Colonization and imperialism also brought English to Sierra Leone, which is now the country’s
official language.
10. What is more prevalent in Sierra Leone: Universalizing or Ethnic religions? What is
the major religion in Sierra Leone?
Universalizing religions are more prevalent in Sierra Leone. The two major religions in the
country are Islam and Christianity. Islam and Christianity are both universalizing religions.

11. Using a map of the world, you will need to map the top 4 universalizing and ethnic
religions in the world. What patterns of diffusion
do you see in the mp?
 Works Cited

Sierra Leone, www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/afrique/sierra_leone.htm.

Sierra Leone Maps - Perry-Castañeda Map Collection - UT Library Online,

legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/sierra_leone.html.

“Pin on Multilinguism.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/463589355363312209/.

“Regions and Cities.” Sierra Leone National Tourist Board,

sierraleonenationaltouristboard.com/regions-and-cities/.

“SIERRA LEONE.” Colonization - SIERRA LEONE,

hj2009per2sierraleone.weebly.com/colonization.html.

“Sources Section.” Sierra Leone - Sierra Leone, sierraleoneshania-

worldhistory2.weebly.com/sources-section.html.