OBJECTIVE & STANDARD

I can analyze the importance of community in African culture

and compare it to my own life.

7.16 Analyze the importance of family, labor specialization, and

regional commerce in the development of states and cities in
West Africa.
p. 140

most people in early Africa lived in these began as villages with protective walls

villages
homes were small, round dwellings
Centers of government and trade
made of packed mud

most people were farmers artisans worked in crafts such as

metalworking and pottery making

1000 different
languages +
1000 different
tribes

What some possible issues

with having so many
languages and so many
tribes?
Characteristics of a Tribe:

• Language
• Clothing
• Religion
• Behavior
• Tradition
Common Traits or Characteristics of
Traditional African Tribal Life
1. The good of the group comes ahead of the good
of the individual.
2. All land is owned by the group.
3. Strong feeling of loyalty to the group.
4. Ceremonies to celebrate each person’s life.
5. Deep respect for ancestors.
6. Religion is an important part of everyday life.
7. Government is in the hands of the chiefs/kings.
Tribal Villages
 African Society
• African towns and villages evolved over time becoming larger

communities that served as centers for trade and government.

• Many of these cultures did not have a written language. Most

knowledge of these cultures come from oral tradition that served

as centers for trade and government.

• Many of these cultures did not have a written language, and so,

most of our knowledge of these cultures comes from oral tradition.

 King and Subject

• In African cultures the kings had a much

closer relationship with the people than in
European and other cultures.

• The king still held a high position among

the people, but he took a much more
personal interest in the everyday people.
 Family and Lineage
 Family and extended family were very
important.
 These extended families evolved into lineage
groups.
 All the members could claim to be
descended from a common ancestor and it
gave a sense of identity.

 Why is it important to belong to a group?

 Family and lineage
• People who lived in villages generally lived with
extended family and/or lineage groups
– The extended family was made up of
parents/grandparents/children and other family
members
– Lineage groups were the extended family that may
live in separate homes in the same village, and were
all related
• Lineage groups were the basic building block of African
society
– Members of the same lineage group could claim relation to a
common ancestor
– Leading members of the group had power over the others
– The lineage group provided support for its members, taking care
of one another
Family Ties

• Families were the basic unit of

village society.
• Extended families included
grandparents, aunts, uncles,
cousins and their families.
• Village Chiefs were usually the
male leader of the extended
family.
• Council of Elders: It was a
council formed by the village
chiefs of different tribes.
• Women were usually subordinate to men in Africa, as
they were in most early societies around the world
– Women often worked in the fields while men hunted
or took care of the cattle
• One critical difference between African women and
women from other areas of the world was that lineage
was based on the mother; African society was
matrilineal, based on the mother. (Most other societies
were patrilineal – based on the father.
• Women were permitted to inherit property and often a
new husband would move into his wife’s house
 Community & Education
 Both boys and girls were raised by their mothers
until the age of six.
 After that boys and girls were educated in the
areas in which they would be involved.
 Girls learned to be wives and mothers while boys
learned how to hunt and farm.
 The African Mask
• African masks are part of a ceremonial
costume.
• They are used to represent the spirits of
ancestors or to control the good and evil forces
in the community.
• They come to life possessed by their spirit in
the performance of the dance with music.
 Oral Tradition
 In the absence of a written language music
and storytelling took on a large role in
African society.
 Storytellers kept the history of Africa alive.

What are possible issues that could

arise because of oral tradition?
 African Cultural Rituals

the peoples of the Omo have

nevertheless developed
Clay lip plates different art forms that allow
are the most them great artistic
well-known expression. Such practices,
feature of the including body painting, are
Mursi women among the most ornate and
extravagant in the world.
Ritual painting, Monrovia,
Liberia
Mask With Headcloth, Zaire (19c)

Tribal Mark --> scarification

Bantu Migrations
Stateless Societies
Bantu Societies did not
depend on elaborate
hierarchy of officials of a
bureaucracy
Governed through Kinship
groups – extended families
consisting of about 100
people.
Bantu migrations also
helped to spread agriculture
and herding to all parts of
Africa.