The cultural regions of Africa can be divided into West Africa, East Africa, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sahel, Southern Africa, Madagascar, and Central Africa. Each of these regions has certain cultural characteristics; traditions, customs and languages.
Languages and their dialects are crucial elements in determining identity. The boundaries between languages and dialects should not be drawn too rigidly: each one blurs within a local area, and probably most Africans can speak both their neighbors' dialect and their own.
However, linguistic limits are recognized and have meanings for those who live within them. They are essential among social and cultural groups that have been conventionally called "tribes," a word that today is often considered derogatory.
Therefore, the existence of 'tribes' is often denied, and the concept is sometimes claimed to have been 'invented' by Europeans. The problem is not whether tribes exist or not, because in fact they do.
Tribes have names, and Africans use those names, and they have great meaning for their members, to whom they give a firm identity. The problem concerns exactly how they can be defined and how they arose. A tribe is often referred to by a term such as "ethnic group," "society," or "culture."
The first two terms are almost meaningless in this context, and the third does not refer to a group of living people, but to their conventional patterns of behavior.
The history and development of Africa have been shaped by its political geography. Political geography is the internal and external relationship between various governments, citizens and territories.
Main cultural regions of Africa
In Africa there are many cultural distinctions and these are given by geographical delimitation, language, traditions, religion and a set of different "measures" that encapsulate an individual in one group or another.
Contemporary Africa is incredibly diverse, incorporating hundreds of native languages and indigenous groups. Most of these groups mix traditional customs and beliefs with the modern practices and conveniences of society. Three groups that demonstrate this are the Maasai, Tuareg and Bambuti.
Dough
The Maasai people are the original settlers of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The Maasai are nomadic pastoralists. Nomadic herders are people who continually move to find fresh pasture or pasture for their livestock.
The Maasai migrate through East Africa and survive on the meat, blood and milk of their cattle.
The Maasai are famous for their striking red costumes and rich traditional culture. Maasai youths between 15 and 30 years old are known as moran, or "warriors." Moran live in isolation in unpopulated areas, called "shrubs."
During their time as they dwell, the young Maasai learn tribal customs and develop strength, courage and endurance.
Although some remain nomadic, many Maasai have begun to integrate into Kenyan and Tanzanian societies.
Modern livestock farming and wheat cultivation are becoming common. The Maasai also support more tribal control of water resources.
Women are lobbying the tribe for greater civil rights, as the Maasai is one of the most male-dominated societies in the world.
Tuareg
The Tuareg are a pastoral society in North and West Africa. The harsh climate of the Sahara and the Sahel has influenced the Tuareg culture for centuries.
Traditional Tuareg clothing serves historical and environmental purposes. Head wraps called cheches protect Tuareg from the Saharan sun and help conserve body fluids by limiting sweat.
Tuareg men also cover their faces with cheche as a formality when meeting someone for the first time. The conversation can only be informal when the most powerful man uncovers his mouth and chin.
Lightweight and robust dresses called buboes allow a flow of cool air while deflecting heat and sand.
The Tuaregs are often called the "blue men of the Sahara" because of the blue-colored bubo they wear in the presence of women, strangers, and relatives.
The Tuareg have updated these traditional garments, bringing modern color combinations and pairing them with custom sandals and handmade silver jewelry.
These updated styles are perhaps most seen during the Annual Festival in the desert. This three-day event, held in the middle of the Sahara, includes singing contests, concerts, camel races, and beauty pageants.
The festival has rapidly expanded from a local event to an international destination supported by tourism.
Bambuti
Bambuti is a collective name for four native populations of Central Africa: the Sua, Aka, Efe, and Mbuti. The Bambuti live mainly in the Congo Basin and the Ituri Forest.
Sometimes these groups are called "pygmies", although the term is often considered offensive. Pygmy is a term used to describe various ethnic groups whose average height is unusually low, below 1.5 meters (5 feet).
The Bambuti are believed to have one of the oldest existing bloodlines in the world. Ancient Egyptian records show that the Bambuti have been living in the same area for 4,500 years.
Geneticists are interested in Bambuti for this reason. Many researchers conclude that their ancestors were probably one of the first modern humans to migrate out of Africa.
Bambuti groups are leading human rights campaigns aimed at increasing their participation in local and international politics.
The Mbuti, for example, are pressuring the government to include them in the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Mbuti leaders argue that their people were killed, forced into slavery and even eaten during the Congolese Civil War, which officially ended in 2003.
Mbuti leaders have appeared at the United Nations to collect and present testimony on human rights abuses during and after the war.
Their efforts led to the presence of United Nations peacekeeping forces in the Ituri Forest.
References
- Melissa McDaniel Erin Sprout Diane Boudreau Andrew Turgeon. (Jan. 4, 2012). Africa: Human Geography Culture and Politics. July 01, 2017, from National Geographic Society Website: nationalgeographic.org.
- Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
- O. Collins & JM Burns (2007): A History of Sub-Saharan Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-86746-7.
- VVAA; The Cambridge History of Africa: From c. 1790 to c. 1870. University of Cambridge (1986) ISBN 978-0521207010.
- John D. Kesby. (Jan 1, 1977). The Cultural Regions of East Africa. Google Books: Academic Press.
- Social Studies School Service. (2003). Sub-Saharan Africa: Regions of the World. Google Books: Social Studies.
- Stephanie Newell, Onookome Okome. (Nov. 12, 2013). Popular Culture in Africa: The Episteme of the Everyday. Google Books: Routledge.
- Basil Davidson. (Jul 10, 2014). Modern Africa: A Social and Political History. Google Books: Routledge.