Traditional Africa Research Articles

Women and Masquerade Traditions in Africa: Insight from the Ikeji Masquerade Cult of the Post-Colonial Igbo Society, Nigeria

Women and Masquerade Traditions in Africa: Insight from the Ikeji Masquerade Cult of the Post-Colonial Igbo Society, Nigeria

Epistemological Implications of John Mbiti’s Conception of African Time

This paper makes an attempt to critically explore the concept of time in African understanding as developed by John Mbiti. Specifically, the paper will look at the epistemological implications of Mbiti’s claim that Africans do not have future dimension in their understanding of time. However, as we will highlight, a close examination of such position bears significant epistemological consequences. To that effect, the paper, first examines Mbiti’s categorization of time in African perspective, whereby we will explore dual-dimension of time in traditional Africa as suggested by Mbiti versus linear dimension understanding of time. That will be followed by a detailed discussion against Mbiti’s position and the epistemological ramification of his claim.

The Intersection of Traditional African Matriarchy, Neo-Colonialism, and Gender Equality: A Decolonizing Perspective and Collaborative Approach for Societal Transformation

This research explores the enduring influence of colonialism in the form of neo-colonialism, particularly its disproportionate impact on women, constituting a dual tragedy. Focusing on indigenous perspectives, the study emphasizes the decolonization of gender as a prerequisite for achieving true gender equality. Through a re-evaluation of matriarchy in traditional Africa, the roles of both genders are illuminated, drawing attention to enduring values that warrant deliberate integration into contemporary society. The mistreatment of widows, reminiscent of traditional practices, persists in present-day Africa, highlighting the urgent need for collaborative efforts to liberate women from societal oppression. The integration of matriarchal principles with contemporary democratic values is proposed as a solution to cultivate a society that upholds equality for both men and women. Keywords: Colonialism, Neo-colonialism, Gender Decolonization, Matriarchy, Indigenous Perspectives, Gender Equality, Traditional African Values, Widows' Rights and Societal Oppression.

The Role of Colonialism in the Transformation of the Indigenous Naming System of the Amuthambi of Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya, 1920-1963

Naming is a universal phenomenon and as old as human history. In traditional Africa, naming was complex and authentic. The cultural values, traditions, beliefs and norms were highly linked with the African naming. However, colonial policies, practices and activities such as taxation, cash crop farming, wage labour, modern health care, Christianity and Western education impacted heavily the traditional naming system of the Amuthambi. The current research focused on establishing the role of colonialism in the transformation of the indigenous naming system of the Amuthambi from 1920 to 1963. The research was conducted among the Amuthambi of Mitheru and Muthambi wards in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya. The study employed the structural functionalism theory and the acculturation theory. A descriptive research design based on a qualitative approach was used to describe the phenomena. A purposive sampling procedure and snowballing technique were employed to identify the respondents. The concept of data saturation was applied and the information was mainly gathered using primary sources including; oral sources and archival. Secondary sources including books, journals, dissertations, articles, thesis and electronics were also used to corroborate the primary data. An interview guide was used to aid in collecting the oral data. Data was analyzed thematically and later presented in narrative form. The findings of the study established that the introduction of taxation, forced labour, cash crop farming, wage economy, western education, modern healthcare and Christianity weakened the traditional naming principles, patterns and procedures and a new naming system emerged. At the end of the colonial period the society became more individualistic, and matters about the birth and naming of the child became more of a private affair contrary to the traditional setup. Consequently, a new version of the naming system that characterizes the hybridity of both traditional and modern naming systems became evident among the Amuthambi. The study documents the historical influence of colonialism on African cultural practices by investigating the influence of colonialism on the transformation of the indigenous naming system of the Amuthambi.

Value-Ethical System in Sub-Saharan Africa. From the Past to the Future

The article is devoted to the analysis of the value-ethical system in Sub-Saharan Africa in historical retrospect with the transition to modernity. The concept of “value-ethical system” reflects the specifics of the African worldview, in which all values have a moral meaning. The article analyzes the value foundation on which Africans want to build “the Africa they dream of” (as stated in the program document of the African Union “Agenda 2063”). The author examines African traditional values based on the research of modern African scientists, on her own African archives, on memories and personal impressions collected by the author during her stay in the countries of the African continent. In traditional Africa, there exist value-ethical complexes in which ancient folk wisdom is concentrated. This is, for example, Ubuntu of the Bantu peoples – humanity, equality of people, regardless of race, nationality, religion. It is also a community solidarity associated with the importance of family ties. The author proves that the culture of Sub-Saharan Africa belongs to the collectivist type. Collectivism in combination with Ubuntu serves as a barrier to the adoption by Africans of a Protestant work ethic that welcomes individual success, competition, and profit orientation (outside of the principle of fairness). “Western” values are the opposite of traditional African ethics and values. Currently, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa are looking for their own way of development within the framework of capitalism. African scientists want to develop a system of economic philosophy that includes traditional African values in order to make capitalism relevant to African countries and acceptable to the African mentality. Special attention is paid to the issues of dialogue, traditional democracy and African organizational and managerial principles.

The Traumatic Effect(s) of Childlessness in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru and One is Enough

This paper interrogates the traumatic effect(s) of childlessness in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru and One is Enough. It seeks to establish the idea that childlessness can lead to trauma as presented by Flora Nwapa in the two novels under. Nwapa captures the trauma that women who could not bear children in either their early years in marriages or in their entire married life go through in traditional Africa society. In patriarchal society, every marriage has a high hope of procreation or in order to sustain or continue the family linage. When this does not happen, it leads to psychological and emotional trauma in the life of the family especially the woman who is blamed to be the source of the childlessness. The study uses Laura S. Brown’s theory of trauma to explore and analyze the traumatic effects of childlessness in the two novels. One of the findings of this study is that women are always blamed for such situation. This leads to psychological and emotional pains and trauma. The women are psychologically and emotional destabilized, devastated and depressed. It makes the characters helpless and unfulfilled in their marriages and in the society as the joy of motherhood eludes them. This study has added to the corpus of knowledge on the relationship between childlessness and trauma. It would also help practioners in the field to know how to handle those that are in that state. Finally, the study posits that those that are childless should not be treated with disdain.

Representation of Women and Sexuality in Buchi Emecheta’s The Slave Girl and J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace: A Study

Women have typically had less legal privileges and career opportunities throughout history than men. The most important occupations for women historically have been those of wife and mother, and they have long been seen as being inherently weaker than men. Their existence and rights are assumed by patriarchal society. Women often view silence as a virtue, but with education, the silence is broken.Many cultural traditions in Africa discriminate women. Husbands frequently beat their wives and place the blame for infertility squarely on their shoulders. Even if it is not proven that they are to blame for the marital issues, they still endure those sufferings. Because culture encourages men to marry multiple women, married women are susceptible to being replaced at any time by their husbands.Female characters in African literature typically experience discrimination as an afterthought to male protagonists. Therefore, the purpose of this research paper is to examine how women were treated in the chosen text – Buchi Emecheta’s “The Slave Girl” and J.M. Coetzee’s “Disgrace”.

New radiocarbon dates for postglacial reoccupation of the Sudanese Nile

Radiocarbon dates from secure cultural contexts along the Sudanese Nile are crucial for understanding the potential role of the Nile as a corridor for postglacial human dispersal across northern Africa. Dates from this region show reoccupation of the Sudanese Nile south of the Second Nile Cataract was delayed by 0.4–0.7 ka compared with the Sahara, where a dramatic increase in the number of radiocarbon dates suggests a massive colonisation of the previously hyper-arid region as early as 10.9–10.6 ka. We present a series of 44 radiocarbon dates from the site of Sphinx at the Sixth Nile Cataract in central Sudan that moves the beginnings of postglacial reoccupation of the Sudanese Nile from 10.2 to 10.7 ka and synchronizes occupation here with the first wave of early Holocene human expansion across northern Africa. These new dates support the role of the Nile as a corridor for expansion from sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to radiocarbon dates, this study also presents evidence for expansion from material culture. Our data show that the early Holocene Early Khartoum culture, which includes one of the earliest pottery traditions in Africa, appears in central Sudan as a “package” and may have been brought into the region from unknown settlement enclaves located further to the south, possibly in the upper White Nile or Blue Nile. The four-millennia-long and nearly continuous sequence of dates from Sphinx attests to stability of hunter-gatherer settlement around the Sixth Nile Cataract. It also suggests adaptability and resilience of local hunter-gatherers in the face of climatic and environmental fluctuations that affected northern Africa during the early to middle Holocene.

Специфика развития франкоязычных литератур Тропической Африки как региональной типологической общности

The article is dedicated to basic methodological principles of studying Frenchlanguage literatures in Western and Central Africa. In 60s–70s of the 20th century, foreign Africanists-literature scholars, such as Jacques Chevrièr, and domestic ones, I.D. Nikiforova in particular, studied such literatures as a typological commonness with basic peculiar features or characteristics. The first one is the French language with the tendency for the indigenisation and creation of a “hybrid message.” The second one is the general idea-driven and artistic paradigm: the anticolonial orientation, traditional Africa presentation, protection of the authentic culture, folklore, spiritual values. As distinct from foreign Africanists, both Nikiforova and other Russian scientists emphasised the national specific character of regional literatures, having substantiated two more features that are essential: the accelerated development and parallelism or “compression of styles,” alignment of various art movements within a single temporal space. By the late 20th century, the vector of African studies moved towards the analysis of certain literatures in such typological commonness, thus enabling to determine their national distinctness to a deeper and more precise extent.

Experiences of Cultural Mysticism in War Psychotrauma in Traditional Africa

The article addresses the issue of experiences of cultural mysticism in war psychotrauma in an African cultural context. It starts from the clinical observations of a fear of the mysticism among certain soldiers engaged in the war against the separatist groups “Amba Boys” in North-West and South-West Cameroon. The objective of the study was to understand the experiential experience of Cameroonian soldiers psychotraumatized by war in their cultural signifiers. The study was conducted using a phenomenological approach. The data was collected at the RAPHA-Psy Psychology Foundation, from four psychotraumatized soldiers, through semi-structured interviews. The results reveal that these soldiers experienced the psychotrauma as resulting from a complex of mysterious conflicts. Also, the psychotraumatic symptomatology was for them a set of manifestations of supernatural attacks. According to them, there are two worlds in the battlefield, one visible and the other invisible.

Traditional Institutions and Conflict Resolution in Contemporary Africa

The failure of post-colonial African states in providing solutions to the incessant crises confronting them has been traced to their detachment from their institutional and cultural values. The argument is that modern techniques at resolving internecine conflicts in the continent have not yielded optimal results over the years. Whereas, in traditional African societies, the mechanism put in place to address conflicts prevented the atrophying of the communities and occasioned activities that promoted peace among members of the societies. Traditional Africa’s approaches to conflict resolution are believed to be largely guided by unique norms, values, as well as cultural and traditional settings of the community. These promoted their capacity to co-exist peacefully, to commune together, to respect one another, to forgive and to reconcile. In order to see how these can be replicated in contemporary Africa, research efforts have been dedicated to proffering alternative models that are contextually based, and more suitable for African societies. Therefore, in contribution to the volume of research in this area, this paper examines the indigenous institutions of conflict resolution in traditional African societies using the Yoruba societies as reference points. Specifically focussing on Ipetu-ljesa community in Oriade Local Government area of Osun State, Nigeria, the paper x-rays the role of the indigenous institutions of conflict resolution in Africa, the challenges they face in contemporary times as well as possible ways of engaging this model for conflict resolution in African societies.

THE The Virtuosity of Traditional Africa and the Plasticity of Its Affects: The Cross-Cultural Fertilization of “Yela” in the Western Sahel and Savanah

Throughout the poetic image and imaginative construction of the self, the Yela embodies a protrusive source of vindication within the intellective and creative process of understanding become an object of perception. From an ingenuous beget to a more compound whole of a convention of representation and the association of experience, the Yela inside the Puular language becomes a structural material. Thus, the constituent of conservative imagery and the colonialist dynamic influences frame an innovative eccentric variety that appraises the formation of reality, memory, and symbol. Therefore, the domain of Yela through its cultural and artistic body, and within its existing essentiality of Gaandal and Demngal overtakes the principles of basic linguistics and the colonialist conventional perception of productivity. In effect, the Yela art through the all-encompassing relation of the Puular language with the whole performance of time and space, emphasizes on a cosmopolitan wholesome recombination, settlement and re-appropriation of material imagination and objective reality of intellection. The foundation of intellectual and artistic image, and imaginative expression, the corresponding inventiveness of the Yela art, and the musical nationalism arrange move beyond comatose understanding. Therefore, the commitment of this article underlines the question of the effective temperature of the Yela indigenous value of imagination, and its transformative experience as regard language, sociolinguistic and ecological reflectivity, and then its emphasis on its contemporary stylistic compass of performance.

The Orisha religion in a transnational perspective

This International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR) keynote lecture offers a glimpse on 20 years of research on the transnationalization of Orisha religion in the ‘Black Atlantic’. By expanding Gilroy’s analyses to include the South Atlantic, and in particular, Brazil and Nigeria, I focus on the diffusion of these religious practices in a tricontinental space of circulation. The transnational ‘Yoruba’ community is constituted on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to the continuous exchanges between these two territories. If the Yoruba identity in Nigeria needs its American ‘mirror’ to exist, the so-called ‘globalization of the Orisha religion’ is the product of this incessant negotiation between different versions of the Yoruba tradition in Africa as well as in the diaspora. This also includes the persisting role of nation in transnational processes and the issue of religious (im)mobilities, showing that religious transnationalization is not necessarily linked to migration.

The Challenges of the Cultural Pluralism. Study on the Exotic Other in the New Bulgarian Cinema

The monographic, interdisciplinary study of Andronika Martonova ‘Between Migration and Sedentariness: the Exotic Otherness and the New Bulgarian Cinema (To-wards the Culturological Areas of Identity, Difference and the ‘Us’ / ‘Them’) Dis-course’, Institute of Art Studies – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2021, ISBN: 978-619-7619-08-9, 230 pp., comes as a result of a project supported by the National Science Fund, Bulgaria. It focuses on the image of the foreigner in the new Bulgarian cinema during the second decade of the 21st century. Problems of The Inconnu / The Other / The Newcomer are discussed in the context of the challenges of the cultural pluralism for the new Bulgarian filmmaking. For the first time in Bulgarian film studies the problem of the Other is so fully and widely considered. The main principles followed are the ones of the case studies (analyses of significant film productions) and key studies (tracking of important research in the field). Artistic styles, approaches, experiences, positions, achievements and mutual influences are thoroughly and con-textually analyzed. Special attention is put on the Newcomer and the reception of the imported cultural traditions of Africa, Middle East and Far East in recent Bulgarian feature and documentary films (short and full-length). The book is structured in four chapters with subchapters and a conclusion. The publication is illustrated and has an extensive bibliography of more than 200 sources. There is a filmography of 200 movie titles. An index of the names in Cyrillic and Latin has been prepared. It is intended for a wide range of readers.

Eldership in Traditional Africa as a Core Definer of Ubuntu Ecclesiology in Configuration to Pauls’ Conception of Eldership Institution

The growth of Christianity in Africa comes with a strong demand on biblical African ecclesiology that is keen on strong and trusted leadership. There have been multiple of accusations labelled against the African church that centre around her quality of leadership. In the formulation of an Ubuntu ecclesiology, we are keen to have an ecclesiology that is most friendly to the African conceptual framework and one that can indeed be of use in the articulation of theology in Africa. This is in the spirit and letter of contextualization that is bent on an incarnational theology. This is only achievable through an understanding of the eldership framework from an African mindset and the biblical concept of eldership as is captured in the Old and New Testament. The benefits that African Ubuntu ecclesiology can obtain with regard to quality leadership from the concept of eldership in traditional Africa is well articulated to combat the leadership ineptitude that has characterized African ecclesia. Lastly the study at the conclusion has presented a theological reflection on eldership as a core definer of accuracy of leadership within Ubuntu ecclesiology by the observation of church leaders as representatives of the church in the model and pattern of Christ who is the character par excellence in the institution of eldership

Ancestral Traditional Religions in the Black-African universe: incidence of religiosity in ethnicity

ABSTRACT This article aims to analyze the Ancestral Traditional Religions in black African context, emphasizing the relationship between religion and ethnicity in the community life. That analysis has allowed to highlight the essential components of the black African universe. Black African ethnicity as a way of functional expression of different ethnic groups brings to light the cultural practices and perspectives that distinguish these groups from one another. With a method of reviewing and analyzing the literature, it is shown that the significant traits of cultural identity in traditional black Africa are regulated by the location of the subject or group that identifies itself ethnically.

Once were Stories

Each culture appears to have the phenomenon of storytelling. In some cultures, storytelling has taken the form of writing. While writing is an amiable enterprise, freely spoken stories have an import that cannot be capture in words on a piece of paper with ink. In most traditional Africa, we are faced with a clash of cultures, evidently resulting from the continent's colonisation. We sit with the push for literary advancement. Academic advancement has added permanence to some of our folklore. What we lose in such progress is the plasticity of artful storytelling. While Africa is as such striding towards physical archiving of stories in books partly due to rapid urbanisation and social changes, most of the continental culture continue to gather around a fire for tales that answer mystical questions of origin why we are here. The purpose of this paper is to honour those stories and story holders. Apart from situating myth and story, this paper is a pure celebration of my heritage. I am celebrating the interrelation of music and musical tales. My early initiation into musical legends influences how I encounter music therapy as folklore. If music therapy were folklorist in Africa and similar cultures, participants would benefit from more than the medicalisation of music, but the imaginal's swell provides sound grounding for all being.

Awer Honey-Hunting Culture With Greater Honeyguides in Coastal Kenya

The remarkable mutualism between humans and greater honeyguides (Indicator indicator) is known still to thrive in only a few places in Africa. Here, we report on the honey-hunting culture of the marginalised Awer people in Kenya, historically a hunter-gatherer culture who today practise a mixed economy including significant amounts of foraging for wild foods. As part of a larger effort to document cross-cultural honey-hunting traditions in Africa, we interviewed six Awer honey-hunters to document their cultural practices. The interviewees reported that they depend on wild honey as a source of income, and that they readily seek the cooperation of honeyguides. Honey-hunting skills and the calls/whistles used to communicate with honeyguides are learnt from their fathers and other elders in village. The best time to honey-hunt is in the months following the big rains (August–December), when interviewees go out honey-hunting once a week on average. Honeyguides are not actively rewarded with wax, as it is believed that once a bird is fed it will not cooperate again for some time, and therefore after the honey harvest is complete, all remaining wax comb is buried. Honey-hunting practices are declining in this region, which interviewees attributed to drought and a lack of interest by the youth. These findings expand our understanding of how human-honeyguide mutualism persists across a range of human cultural variation.

Creativity and Beaded Aesthetics: Thematic Analysis of the Beadworks of David Herbert Dale

In traditional Africa, beads function as adornments, as designation of royalty, and in many activities that have to do with commerce, religion, and healing among others. The use of beads has however found it ways into modern artistic expression. Literature abounds on the traditional use of beads, whereas there is a dearth of literature on creative usage of beads in contemporary Nigerian art. This study therefore examines creativity in the beadworks of David Herbert Dale. Data were collected through oral interviews with David Herbert Dale and relevant key informants such as art connoiseurs and gallery owners. This study relies on the theory of aesthetic response and functional theories of art; it also adopts the visual analysis approach to evince the aesthetics and deconstruct the contents of the beadworks. The paper argues that the beadworks of Dale are visual chronicles of historical, religious, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of Nigeria in particular, and Africa as a whole.
 
 Received: 7 September 2021 / Accepted: 24 October 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021

An evaluation of the dramatic aesthetics of Ikenge and Ifejioku festivals of Ossissa people of Delta State

This paper evaluates the dramatic aesthetics of the Ikenge and Ifejioku festivals of Ossissa people of Ndokwa-East Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. The study, which is a survey of the performance tradition, critically analyses the controversy surrounding the views of African dramatic scholars (the evolutionists and the relativists) on the question of what constitutes drama in the context of Nigerian traditional performances. This controversy arose as a result of Aristotle’s concept of drama with its emphasis on imitation, plot, dialogue, conflict, etc. Based on this concept, Ruth Finnegan describes the indigenous festival traditions in Africa as “quasi-dramatic phenomena” that lack the Western dramatic structures. While the evolutionist school of thought argues that the traditional festivals are not drama but rituals, the relativist school claims that the traditional festivals in Africa can be considered as dramatic performances since most of the features of drama such as music and dance, audience participation, costumes, stage, etc., are present in the festival traditions. The study employs a field work-oriented methodology, involving participatory observation of the festivals, interviews, documentary analysis, audio records, and photographs of scenes and events. The findings of the study confirm that traditional African festivals are indeed dramatic performances. The study concludes that the African traditional performance mode is indigenous to African people and must not necessarily mirror the Western model. The paper, therefore, submits that the Ikenge and Ifejioku festivals of Ossissa can be seen as complete drama just like any other Western dramatic forms.