Gold on Hold

They arrived in pickup trucks, in school buses and on foot: thousands of highland Mayans, each wearing their community’s distinctive traje, covered the Zaculeu pyramid in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. They came to witness a visit from James Anaya, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, and they held placards with slogans like “No to mining; yes to life” and “San Juan Atitán says no to the multinational corporations.” 

“There are some who believe the Mayans are gone, and all that remains are these ruins,” a man dressed in white with a cowboy hat was speaking from the stage. “We are here to tell them, ‘We are alive, and we are here to bring these monuments back to life.’” The crowd roared its assent.

Wodhaabhe Pastoral Fulani

The diverse Fulani people are scattered all around the West African Savannnah belt. This area sits between Senegambia and the French Equatorial Africa. It has been roughly estimated that there are over six million people who consider themselves Fulani, and or that speak the Fulani language. The area most densely populated by Fulani is the British Cameroons and Nigeria, with a total population of 3,630,000. This culture is sub-categorized by different use of the Fulani Language, and also by their means of economic gain. Some Fulani use vocabulary others don’t which results in a language that is both diverse and constantly changing.

The differences in the Fulani mode of life are very noticeable. Some Fulani are part of stable farming communities, others are part of urban areas, while others, such as the Pastoral Fulani are cattle herders. . The Origin of the Fulani culture is a controversial issue. The question of when they migrated to Western Sudan, and how long ago remains a mystery. Some experts say they have a Jewish origin, and some counter with and Ethiopian argument. Others seek a compromise in between, and some say they were Hindu people. The Fulani culture has their own story, with a couple of variations. One involves the son of two Muslims who could understand a new (Fulani) language who was the foretold founder of the culture. Another version of that story includes the child teaching the language to his brothers who formed the four great branches of the Fulani people. The Pastoral Fulani culture myth is about a herder who is expelled from the settlement because of his harsh way of life. His wealth came from a water spirit who sent him cattle.

This History Of "Chewa"

Location: The actual dictionary meaning of the word Chewa is 'a member of the Bantu-speaking people of Malawi.' The Chewa, also known as the Cewa or Chichewa is an African culture that has existed since the beginning of the first millennium, A.D. They are primarily located in Zambia, Zimbabwe, with the bulk of the population in Malawi. Their climate can be classified as sub-tropical that varies with elevation. In the lowlands, the average temperature ranges from 21C (69F) to 29C (84F). The rainy season exists from November to April with an annual rainfall of 90 inches in the highlands to about 30 inches in the lowlands.

Information on Twins in West Africa.

As I mentioned before, being a Manyi opened my eyes to the significance of twins in West African culture. Through my research so far I have discovered that most ethnic groups in Cameroon and Nigeria have had some kind of reaction to the birth of twins. From what I've read and the people I've spoken to, it seems that most of them heralds twins as gifts from God. Twins are also often seen as a double edged sword. They are indeed gifts from God but also posses divine powers with the ability to harm those who cause them displeasure. The parents especially must be careful in how they treat their twins for the twins can either die or cause illness to befall those who cross them wrongly. I've been told that many twins are spoiled as everyone lets them do as they wish.

African History

African history and African heritage are topics that are crucial in the study of the human civilization. Not only is the study of African history important as it relates to the rest of the world, but furthermore, it is also one of the most extensive and complex to undertake. The African history and African heritage can trace back their roots to what is arguably the single most important piece of human history. It has been concluded that man originated somewhere in the eastern regions of the African continent.

Africa, in fact, can be considered to be the birthplace of the human race. This simple yet important fact are not only crucial in African history, but also in the history of man and of the Earth. Though there has been much to study in terms of artifacts and other important pieces of history left behind, much of African history is still very much an elusive, complex, and difficult concept to explain. Much of this is due to the fact that there is not very much of African history that was committed to writing. For the very few exceptions left behind by the Ancient Egyptians of other early civilizations, it seems that most of African history and heritage has relied on its people to provide for an extensive and complex oral history.

African Art

African art is a vast collection and study of artworks that have originated in the continent of Africa. In recent years, this has also been used to describe the artwork of the African Diasporas, as to include areas of the world where African culture, though not native to the land, is an important part of the people’s culture such as found in Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States. The study of African art is one that encompasses a wide range of different styles, often varying according to particular regions of Africa, tribes, cultures, and civilizations. Though the body of artwork is vast and unique to certain people and locations in Africa, African art as whole is found to have general and unifying themes or characteristics. One that is most common is the emphasis and concentration on the human figure.

For the most part, the human figure has been at the center of all African art. The human figure has been used to depict a wide range of topics, whether living or dead. Often, representations of gods and deities were given the human form so as to give them a certain quality that would not render them completely ethereal and more realistic. In other instances, they simply would represent the people of a particular culture or tribe, depicting various social occupations or trades, such as hunters, warriors, shamans, or chiefs. Another key feature to African art is an overall emphasis on sculpture and three-dimensional artworks. This is evident in the many sculptures and busts used to represent various kings and other important figure-heads of African societies and cultures.

Africa

In more recent times, Africa has been in the news in a different light. Unfortunately, any news regarding Africa tends to concentrate on the negative aspects that the government, people, and culture have suffered throughout past decades because of extreme poverty levels and diseases running rampant throughout the continent. It is no surprise that because of its lack of resources, Africa is constantly being reported in the news as a horrible place to live. However, in a change of tone, recent news having to do with Africa seems to be in a more positive light. South Africa will play host to one of the most widely-viewed sports in all the world and its most prestigious championship event, the World Cup. Soccer–or Football, depending on where you are geographically–is the sport that has the most popularity in nations throughout the world. Save the United States, Soccer is the most participated-in sport, so much so that it is infused with the inherent culture, specifically in Latin America and Europe. Every four years, the World Cup becomes a worldwide event where nations rally behind their home team in a display of patriotism and nationalistic pride. In June of 2010, the World Cup will come to South Africa, hopefully bringing a much needed economic stimulus to the nation, and possibly even the continent itself.

Art: African Masks

African masks play an important role in the various cultures and tribes found throughout the African continent. Generally speaking, African masks are used in intricate religious ceremonies as a way to conjure or communicate with spirits or ancestors. Visually and aesthetically speaking, masks will differ not only from culture to culture, but also in the intended purpose of each mask. Furthermore, African masks will also vary in the types of materials used to construct each individual mask. In many African cultures and tribes, they have an appointed member attributed with the purpose of designing and fabricating the masks. This person is usually referred to as an African tribal artists.

Each tribal artist is expected to perfect specific carving techniques associated with its various social and religious connotations and apply them to each individual mask, depending on the intended purpose of that mask. Typically, a tribal artists learns his skill by becoming an apprentice of the master tribal artists. More often than not, it takes many years for tribal artists to master his art through rigorous training. In many African cultures and societies, the task is passed down from father to son, through generation after generation.

African Rituals

African rituals are complex and many number, which makes studying and understanding them a difficult task. African rituals can all vary depending on a particular tribe or culture, and they all have a specific purpose. Generally speaking, African rituals tend to be religious in their nature. However, religion itself is a concept to apply to African culture simply because that there is no set or determined religious ideology or belief; certain African tribes will have a specific religious ideology or practice that is unique to only them.

Though there is much of a varying degree to religions in African culture, they all will often share common features or ideas. The main commonality has to deal with the fact that they do not differ in their basic idea from other religions found in the rest of the world. Often, there will be one central God-like figure, with other lesser deities and spirits. These deities will often be worshipped through various types of rituals, which may include sacrificial offerings, libation, magic, dancing, drumming, chanting and other rituals that may be indigenous or unique to that particular tribe or religious belief.

Voices from the Edge

A Contested Land

It was the middle of May, just days into the rainy season when we made the trip to Lote 8, one of the dozens of Maya-Q’eqchi’ villages scattered within, and against, the steep and perennially green Sierra de Santa Cruz in far eastern Guatemala. Clouds built and dissipated over the Western Highlands, reaching the lowlands around Lake Izabal and the Polochic River basin in the falling dusk. Then the stagnant heat broke, in storm. In the weeks to come, the rains would increase, scouring the mountains of their red earth, forcing it to the valley below, and eventually out to sea.

Tears from a Grandmother's Story

On a hot spring afternoon, my mother brought my sister and me to visit our grandmother. The three of us were sitting at the kitchen table with our only living grandparent. Such a beautiful afternoon it was, with the sun shining through the windows and onto the clean floor, the Rocky Mountains in the distance, and the hills close by. Surely I couldn’t have asked the Creator for a better day to hear my grandma’s story.

She had been making berry soup from Saskatoon berries that she had frozen from the past summer. We all had already been telling stories of the past. As my sister and I were talking about living in the city, laughing and having fun with the time we were sharing with our grandma, I asked her, “Mom, what was it like when you were a child?” I call my grandma “Mom” because of how much she is like my own mother.

“Well, my son. It was a difficult time,” she said. Immediately I knew she was talking about when she had to leave home to attend boarding school. “What kind of difficult time, Grandma?” asked my sister, who had no idea of the troubling time of colonization and boarding school. “When I and my brothers and sisters had to move away from our family to attend residential school,” Grandma replied. Looking a bit uneasy, she got up from her chair to tend to her soup. “But I won’t bore you with my old depressing past,” Grandma said.

Preservation of Culture In Africa and Media

The colonial expansion of European states in Africa was usually accompanied by missionary efforts to proliferate Christianity and European civilization. A kind of benevolent tutelage of the `inferior native' populations occurred that was particularly well-illustrated in Rudyard Kipling's The White Man's Burden. The direct consequences of the colonial expansion ranged from genocide that wiped out of large segments of a population, to the subtle destruction of African cultures.

Every culture has a dual tendency, a tendency towards stability and a tendency toward change. What is the contribution of culture to the development process? Surprisingly, on numerous occasions even normally intelligent and knowledgeable Africans erroneously and inadvertently conceptualize culture as `drumming and dancing' and therefore fail to see any contribution culture makes or made to the struggle for socio-economic development.

Introduction To The Continent "Africa"

Introduction

Given Africa's size and diversity, historically, there has been relatively few books published about Africa. Most of what has been printed was done with small runs, so it is not widely available. Typically, a comparison between any two libraries will show a totally different selection in their Africa book collection. Finding specific titles can be very frustrating.

Though the continent is rich in oral history, epic legends, parables and other arts of word, very little of this has made it to the printed word. When transcribed, in their traditional structure, the material does not conform to the style sought by Western publishers so is most likely to be rejected.

In recent years the formation of African publishing houses has brought a lot more into print about Africa. This has significantly increased the diversity of view and subject in print. Unfortunately most of this material is extremely hard to find outside of Africa. While traveling in Africa it is worth making an effort to visit a local book shop to see what is on the shelf from the local publisher.