What is Heritage Studies?
• heritage studies looks at the relationships between people (heritage is a way of life that is handed down from generation to generation).
• heritage is history passed down through mythology, theology, naturalism, local pride.
• heritage studies looks at the objects, practices, traditional / social / cultural movements that form or influence the lives of a people.
Why study Heritage?
• to understand language and preserve the ways of the past.
• to get an in-depth understanding of geography, psychology, linguistics, political science, sociology; all being aspects that affect our daily lives.
• to achieve a sense of identity and belong to society, knowing one’s role in it.
• to mould responsible citizens.
• to help and individual exploit available natural resources and play a role in the development of society.
• to help an individual develop Ubuntu /unhu.
Socialization
• Socialization is the process of acquisition of knowledge, skills and character traits that empower an individual to participate in society effectively.
• To socialize is to learn to behave in a manner that is acceptable to society at large.
• Socializing is mixing and mingling with others to build relationships.
• We acquire socialization skills mostly during our childhood years and apply those skills to build fruitful relationships.
• socialization is a combination of self imposed rules and the expectations of others.
• as we socialize, we learn language and rules of the cultures we are born into and the roles both will play in our lives.
• norms are the conceptions of appropriate and ecpected behaviour that are held by members of society. We acquire norms as we grow up socializing with others in our community.
• human personality is developed boththorugh inherited genes and the way we are moulded in by beliefs, attitudes and experiences. This explains the different personalities that we observe in a close community.
How children are socialized
• socialization is a learning process that begins at birth.
• early childhood is the period with the most rigorous socialization intensity, as we learn languages and cultural ways.
• personalities are shaped during this period and evolve as we age, learning new and acquiring new roles in our community.
• personal experiences throughout life alter our expectations of society and life goals as well as shaping our personalities.
• if for example as woman is raped, she may develop distrust of others.
Agents of socialization
• these are the groups of people and tangible/intangible objects that influence how we socialize within our communities.
Socialization Agents
• peer groups
• family
• school
• religious beliefs
• culture and tradition
• media
• community
Family as a socialization agent
• a family is a social unit of two or more people usually related by blood, marriage, adoption, or a mutually built relationship.
• the family is the most influential social unit in an individual’s life. The immediate family provides foundations of social interactions for a child.
• if a family in nurturing and stable, a child tends t adopt emotional security, learn cultural and social values and norms as well as develop an identity for the child.
• on a practical level, families provide economic and emotional support in the form of housing, food and protection as well as maintaining a population through reproduction.
• historically, families adopt well to changes in economic conditions as always find a way to prevail through hardships together. For example, when women started to acquire jobs outside of the home it shifted child-care responsibility between spouses. Alternate care-givers were also introduced and they brought in their own societal norms and cultures that they moulded into their wards.
• transitions in families can influence how some children develop. Children growing up in a home with divorced parent are likely to be more adjusted to problematic conditions as they have less dependency on guardians and display disrupted views of relationships, some to the point of disobedience, aggression and fear of abandonment.
• children from a home with a single parent may display increased responsibility.
• introducing a new parent through remarriage may bring a host of new challenges for the child.
• macro-systems such as socio-economic status, religious and cultural orientation have an influence on how a child develops the same and also play a major role in what opportunities a child is exposed to.
• lower class families tend to focus on core survival not future goals due to their limited resources as they struggle to meet their needs in life.
• culture helps to develop morals and socially acceptable behavior in a child.
• religious influence can be motivational, inspirational as well as provide rules and conformity among the groups of believerschildren grow in. Morals that are specific to a religion are instilled in children and these tend to overlap with cultural morals.
• as infants we are completely dependent on others to survive and grow.
• our guardians have the responsibility of teaching us to function and care for ourselves.
• we learn about our close relatives and are taught how to share and accommodate others in our lives.
• our guardians hand down to us the way of life they were taught and the environment they grew up in.
The Family’s Influence on Identity
• a strong united family builds a child’s confidence.
• affirming children as a guardian helps them build self-confidence and empowers them to make their own choices while discovering their personal identity.
• attacking a child’s physical appearance, academic performance or calling them names within the family negatively affects their self-confidence and social skills.
The school as a socialization agent
• the primary purpose of school is to imbue us with knowledge and life skills that we can use to earn a living as we grow older.
• school also teaches social skills as we interact with our peers, adult teachers and people in important roles like school heads.
• students also learn to follow rules, punctuality, respect, observe authority, hygiene and much more.
• education plays a major role in children’s social development with the school providing an intellectual social environment helping children develop skills, knowledge, acquire interests and build an identity that shape them into adulthood.
• society views a school as the main agent of sharing and developing cultural heritage.
• educational policy, school choice, diversity of students and social status are macro-systems that influence the learning environment.
• economic social status decides how much is spent on a child’s education and this in turn influences the opportunities a child gets in life as well as the conceptual knowledge and skills they acquire and use in adulthood.
• basic cultural values are taught in the classroom and the system avoids endorsing a certain religion.
• the choice of school a guardian selects for a child exposes them to a range of diversity in educational policy, gender association and extra-curricular activities at no extra cost to the parent.
• in this technological era, computers and electronic gadgets are used by educators to provide an in-depth and more engaging learning experience developing self directedlearning and access to infinite information, skills, cultures and societal norms.
• junior school teaches personal health and safety and also shuns substance abuse, violence and anti-social behaviors but it is key for the community to also have anassisstive role to provide a more grounded up-bringing and nurturing of these values helping children resist drugs and violence. The school establishes a disciplinary system with penalties for what is viewed as rule breaking with regards to drugs and violence.
• the type of teacher a child gets influences whether the child invests in acquiring the knowledge a teacher is trying to impart. A good teacher must provide equal opportunities for all children, communicate well, impart high expectations not just academically and ensure success of students as they progress though a curriculum. As a class manager, a teacher should be prepared to deal with various child personalities, prompt response to incidents as well as be able to multi-task and handle several activities simultaneously.
• teacher to learner interactions are influenced by gender, cultural background, socio-economic status and gender of both the educator and learner.
• socio-economic status of a family determines whether child is exposed to more opportunities in life (higher earning families) as well as whether their guardians also invests time to assist the children in educational activities at home.
Peers as agents of socialization
• peer groups give us a chance to build relationships with our age-mates on more laxterms and leanr from experience without adult guidance.
• guardians often worry about the type of relations we build with out peers as peers have a major influence on us.
• as peers, we may develop behavioral norms that, when seen by our parents, our parents do not approve of.
• often, with our peers, the power to choose to accept or reject a way of life rests solely with us.
Peers and socialization
• peers are our equals in gender, age or social status and displaying similar interests to us. Experiences with peers enable children to acquire a wide range of skills, attitudes and roles that influence how they lice their lives.
• peers influence cognitive and psychological development of children far more than any other socialization factor.
• peer groups serve as a source of information, teach gender roles and allow us to prepare for adulthood, enabling us to reach unity and collective behavior.
• friendships made through peers help children develop emotionally and socially providing a healthy psychological development curve.
• there are six types of playing for children:
1. unoccupied play where a child simply observes.
2. independent play where a child plays alone unaware of what other children may be doing.
3. onlooker play where a child observes other children playing but is nor engaging in the activities taking place.
4. adjacent play where children mimic other playing activities that are happening.
5. associative play where a child interested displays more interest in the children they are with more than the activities taking place.
6. co-operative play where children where a child is interested in both the activities occurring as well as the children participating in those activities.
• in early childhood, children are limited in terms of peer access and parents help organize peer play activities for them. In middle childhood, up to 30% of play time is spent with peers in unsupervised activities. In early adolescence activities tend to be undertaken with same sex peers and later begin to show interest in the opposite sex.
• there are five stages of friendship:
1. momentary playmate-ship from ECD at ages one to four. Children only think of what they want from a friendship and friends are defined by where they live or the toys they have.
2. one way assistance at early middle childhood up to nine years of age. Here, friendship is based on whether someone wants to do the same activity as us.
3. two way fair weather cooperation from middle childhood at six to twelve years. Here children give and take, serving each other’s interests.
4. intimate mutual share friendships from middle childhood to early adolescence. Here friendships are used to achieve each person’s interest but in a truly co-operative manner.
5. autonomous interdependent friendships from adolescence to adulthood. Here, children start to view friendships as an entity in itself that needs attention, nurturing and building. Friendships are treasured and guarded jealously.
• a peer group decides who is accepted into a friendship and neglect, acceptance or rejection significantly influence the development of a child.
• accepted children develop positive characteristics like joy, are dependable, considerate, self confident, selfless, cooperative and work well with others. Children who tend to be physically attractive and intelligent are usually accepted more than others.
• children who get rejected from peer groups tend to become shy, withdrawn, dishonest, unsupportive of others, self-centred, bossy and aggressive. They also lack essential communication skills and build a negative social reputation.
• peer groups develop through informal social norms, statuses, alliances and feelings of self-care.
• peers groups may include or exclude an individual. Inclusionary techniques encompass inviting a peer into the group and have them on informal probation until all members of the group grow to include the individual in their activities. Exclusionary techniques are teasing, picking on, being mean to and bullying peers who are not a part of the group.
Media as an agent of socialization
• media (singular medium) is a collection of communication outlets and tools used to store and transmit information to a wide demographic. Media has two forms, personal and print.
• television, movies, radio, websites, social media & print media influence our political views in popular culture including how we deal with groups of people such as different races from us, different gender, different ethnicity.
• television influences children as it is often addictive from a young age.
• mass media employs technology to reach people in a wide geographic area and examples include print media, television, radio and the internet.
Positive influence of media
• helps spread information about our community.
• provides knowledge of the global village.
• provides role models in the form of musicians, athletes etc.
• media teaches us more of the world around us including taxes, pressing social issues like abortion and child abuse, exposes a lot of occupations we may not get to know from school alone.
Negative influence of media
• leads to cultural dilution as we embrace other cultures through language, dressing and we lose our old way of life.
• younger minds are easily influenced and may acquire bad traits from role models such as musicians who curse a lot.
• advertising pressures us to spend money on items we may not need.
• it is easy for children to get influenced into sex, violence, drugs and alcohol abuse through the content they consume in media.
Responsible Media usage
• irresponsible use of media includes:
1. spreading derogatory comments about individuals or groups of people
2. exposing confidential and private information about groups or individuals
3. sharing sexually explicit, racist, homophobic content as well as trolling and provoking arguments with others.
• responsible use of media includes:
1. proper time management of media usage to avoid addiction
2. media literacy with the ability to filter fake news from truthful accounts
Community
• a community is a closely knit group of people having common interests like religion.
• communities are built from our geographical neighbors, political groups, economic circumstances.
• the role of a community is to provide a sense of belonging and friendship.
• children gain varying life-perspectives from community through groups formed at school, from religion, youth clubs, recreational centres, communal gatherings, libraries.
• the size and mobility of a community influences the patterns of human behavourin community members.
• smaller communities have a higher level of interaction and are more closely knit. Larger communities offer a wider range of activities but have limited interaction and bonds between members are weaker.
• levels of income also affects interaction as people of similar earning brackets tend to stick together more than those outside of their relative groups.
• in communities, adults are usually identified as role models.
• a community also offers social support systems, like a People living with HIV group.
Types of Heritage
1. Natural Heritage: these are components of the natural environment with scientific, or social significance. Examples include land, natural parks, reserves, rivers and lakes.
2. Historical Heritage: it relates to the occupation and use of land by human beings; thus historical heritage is the physical remains left behind by a community. Examples are rock art and ruins.
3. Cultural Heritage: it is an expression of the way of life by a community and how the same developed and evolved and handed down though generations. Cultural heritage can be observed from a community’s buildings, natural environment, agriculture, books, artifacts.
Religion in Socialization
Religion can be defined as a compendium of cultural belief systems and world-views with regards to human spirituality and moral values. Religions evolve around narratives of events and past icons, traditional symbols and sacred histories which groups of people use to give their lives a meaning and purpose as well as explain the origin of the universe.
• major world religions include Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and African Tradition among others.
• religion promotes well being, self-sacrifice, provides recreational channels, builds self confidence, helps achieve mental peace within an individual and also encourages civilization and co-existence with others.
Zimbabwean Culture: A brief overview
Identification
• Zimbabwe is named after Great Zimbabwe.
• The name is thought to come from dzimbadza mabwe ("great stone houses") or dzimbawaye ("esteemed houses").
• The most common Cultural and religious traditions are from the Shona, Ndebele, Sotho, Tonga, Shangaan and Venda, all having similarities tradition and culture. All these groups called on the support of the spiritual ancestors in the struggle for independence.
• European culture and values indelibly shaped the urban and rural landscapes, particularly in terms of the use of space, and the structure and practice of government. • Black Zimbabweans have assimilated more white Zimbabwean culture than vice versa. In these distinct cultures, which generally are referred to as African and European, the most obvious differences are economic.
Demography
• At the beginning of the twentieth century, the population is estimated to have been about six hundred thousand. The 1992 national census estimated it at over ten million, and in 2019 it was estimated at 16 million.
• About 70 percent of the Zimbabwean population lives in rural areas, and Harare and Bulawayo account for most of the approximately 30 percent in urban areas.
• The largest ethnic group is collectively known as the Shona and consists of theManyika, Zezuru, Karanga, Korekore, Rozvi, and Ndau groups, which make up about seventy-six percent of the population.
• The second largest ethnic group is the Ndebele, consisting of the Ndebele and Kalanga groups, which constitute about 18 percent.
• Mashonaland, where most of the Shona live, is a collective term for the eastern two-thirds of the country, and most Ndebele live in the western third of Matabeleland. Other ethnic groups, each constituting 1 percent of the population, are the Batonga in the Zambezi Valley, the Shangaan or Hlengwe in the low veld, and the Venda on the border with South Africa. About 2 percent of the population is of non-African ethnic origin, mainly European and Asian.
Linguistic Affiliation
• All the national languages, with the exception of the official language, English, are Bantu, a branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Shona and Ndebele are the most widely spoken, and students are required to take at least one of those languages as part of their education.
Symbolism
• The national flag and the Zimbabwe bird (the African fish eagle) are the most important symbolis of the nation.
• The Zimbabwe bird is superimposed on the flag, and while the flag symbolizes independence, the Zimbabwe bird represents continuity with the precolonial past.
History and Ethnic Relations
Emergence of the Nation
• San (Bushmen) hunters are believed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the area that is now Zimbabwe. When Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from the north at the end of the second century, the San moved on or were absorbed rapidly into the farming and cattle-herding culture of the Bantu groups. Little is known about those early Bantu groups.
• From the eleventh century, after commercial relations were established with Swahili traders on the Mozambique coast, until the fifteenth century, the Shona kingdom was one of southern Africa's wealthiest and most powerful societies. Its political and religious center was probably Great Zimbabwe, a city of ten thousand to twenty thousand people built between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries by the Rozvidynasty. The city was constructed from granite, using highly developed stone-cutting and construction techniques.
• Historians are unsure about the causes of its decline in the fifteenth century, but the human and livestock population might have outstripped available resources.
• Today Great Zimbabwe is one of the most potent symbols of the nations, and the Zimbabwe bird on the flag depicts one of the excavated soapstone sculptures of the fish eagle found at the site.
• In 1888 Cecil John Rhodes tricked the Ndebele King Lobengula into signing an agreement that opened the country to mining prospectors and other speculators. Rhodes then formed the British South Africa Company and organized the "Pioneer Column" and subsequently the first group of white settlers, who moved up from South Africa in search of gold and arable land.
• After defeating the Ndebele in an uprising by the natives and appropriating land in Mashonaland, the colonists foundedRhodesia in 1895.
• The first Chimurenga (war of liberation) occurred in 1896, when the Ndebele united with the Shona. The war was led by two spirit mediums, Nehanda and Kaguvi, who were caught and executed and subsequently became powerful symbols in the secondChimurenga, which started in the mid-1960s.
• After the establishment of a white legislative council 1899, white immigration increased, and in 1922 the white minority decided that the country would be self-governing (run by the British South Africa Company as a commercial enterprise) and independent of the government in South Africa. In 1923, the British South Africa Company handed the country over to the British Crown, and in 1930, the white minority passed the Land Apportionment Act, which barred blacks from legal access to the best land, simultaneously assuring a source of cheap labor. Between 1946 and 1960, the white population increased from 82,000 to 223,000, and this period witnessed economic expansion, including the construction of the Kariba Dam.
• Organized resistance to white supremacy began in the 1920s, and in the absence of meaningful reform, radical active resistance started in the 1940s. By the early 1960s the two groups that were to lead the country to independence, the Zimbabwe African People's Union and the Zimbabwe African National Union, had been established.
• When Great Britain demanded that Rhodesia guarantee racial equality and put in place a plan for majority rule or face economic sanctions, the government declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.
• A guerrilla war followed that was characterized by political differences between resistance groups and among the white minority. It also was characterized by a close relationship between the guerrillas and spirit mediums. Embodying the ancestors, the spirit mediums represented a common past, untainted by colonialism, that could be drawn on to shape and legitimize a new national identity.
• After the negotiation of a settlement at the Lancaster House Conference in 1979, the first multiparty general elections were held with complete adult suffrage in 1980. The Zimbabwe African National Unity party led by Robert Mugabe won the majority of seats and took over the government in April 1980. Seven years later, that party and the Zimbabwe Africa People's Union merged.
National Identity
• The adoption of the name "Zimbabwe" and citizens' identity as Zimbabweans, functioned as a symbol of continuity with the past. The common struggle of all groups was instrumental in forming a sense of national identity. Political tensions between the Ndebele and the Shona, which culminated when the army suppressed dissidence in 1983 and 1984 in the Matabeleland Massacres, have been contained by the state.
• Urbanism, Architecture, and the Use of Space
Urban centers are divided into areas of low and high housing density (formerly referred to as townships) for low-income families. The use of space therefore is closely correlated with socioeconomic status. High-density areas have been planned with water and power supplies. Little artistic emphasis has been placed on architecture, and with the exception of some well-maintained colonial buildings, especially in Harare and Bulawayo, buildings tend to be functional.
• Mud and wattle or sun-dried bricks are used in house building in rural areas; well-off families may use concrete blocks. Traditionally, houses were round with thatch roofing, but an increasing number are square or rectangular with zinc sheet roofing, although kitchens are still built as round thatched mud huts. The most marked use of space is in the kitchen, where a bench runs around the right side for men to sit on, while women sit on the floor on the left.
Food and Economy
Food in Daily Life
• The major grain for consumption is maize, although in parts of the Zambezi Valley millet and sorghum are the principle grains. After grinding, the flour is cooked into a thick porridge that is eaten with green vegetables or meat.
• A wide range of green vegetables are grown in kitchen gardens and collected wild. They generally are prepared with onion and tomato and sometimes with groundnut (peanut) sauce.
• Bread is a staple in the urban diet but not as important in rural areas.
• Foods that are eaten seasonally include milk, boiled or roasted groundnuts, boiled or roasted maize, fruits, termites, and caterpillars.
• Dry land rice is grown in some parts of the country, but generally rice is not an everyday food.
• A few food taboos with serious health consequences are still widely practiced. Traditionally eggs, were believed to cause infertility in women and therefore were avoided, but they are now widely consumed. The meat of one's clan totem was traditionally avoided; even today animals representing totems are rarely eaten.
Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions
• Roasted and stewed meat is the food of celebrations; an ox, cow, or goat may be slaughtered in the rural areas, depending on the significance of the event, and may be accompanied by rice.
• Beer made from millet usually is prepared by women, and roasted groundnuts are served on special occasions.
Commercial Activities
• During the period of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, the country developed a strong manufacturing base, and it continues to manufacture products ranging from household items to steel and engineering products for the construction industry and commercial agricultural products such as textiles and foodstuffs. The diversified economy provides a solid basis for sustained economic growth, but in recent years it has been underperforming.
Major Industries
• Manufacturing is the largest single sector of the economy (23 percent of GDP), followed by agriculture and forestry (14 percent), distribution, hotels and restaurants (11 percent), and public administration (10 percent).
Trade
• Major exports include tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, nickel, and asbestos. The main export destinations are Great Britain, South Africa, and Germany. South Africa is by the far the largest source of imports and machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, chemicals, petroleum products, and electricity are the largest imports.
Division of Labor
• In the formal economy, jobs are assigned on the basis of education, skills, and experience; advertising and interviewing precede hiring. In the informal economy, most people work for themselves and pay workers on a cash basis.
Political Life
Government
Zimbabwe is a parliamentary democracy headed by a president. Representative structures consist of a House of Assembly and a cabinet appointed by the president; at rural district level, there are elected councils. Each district is made of a number of wards, and wards are subdivided into villages. Each ward and village has a development committee that is responsible for promoting and supporting local development initiatives. Chiefs, traditional representatives elected by their peers, sit in the House of Assembly. Alongside the representative structure is the civil service (the administrative structure), the police, the military, permanent secretaries and other ministry staff, and provincial and district administration staff.
Social Welfare and Change Programs
• Social welfare programs provide assistance to the destitute and drought relief in the communal areas when there are poor harvests. Zimbabwe provided more relief in the drought of 1991 and 1992 than did international donors. Nongovernmental organizations and churches provide many services that the government cannot, such as rehabilitation of disabled persons and care in the community for the sick.
Gender Roles and Statuses
Marriage, Family, and Kinship
Marriage
• Through marriage a family ensures its survival and continuation into the next generation. Shona, Ndebele, Shangaan, and Venda are patrilineal societies in which descent is through the male line and after marriage a woman moves into her husband's home. The Tonga people are matrilineal, and the husband moves to the home area of his wife.
• Patrilocal or virilocal residence rarely applies in urban areas, but most urban families have a smallholding that is the rural home of the husband and wife.
• Two types of marriage are recognized under the law. Customary marriages are potentially polygynous and legal for black Zimbabweans only and usually are dissolved only by death (divorce is rare). Civil marriages are monogamous and can be dissolved by death or divorce. Customary marriages are the more common form. Arranged marriages are rare, although families on both sides are heavily involved in marriage negotiations, which include deciding on the brideprice to be paid by the husband to the woman's family; thus, a wife and her children belong to the husband and are affiliated with his kin. Marriage gives women status and access to land, and unmarried men and women are rare. Polygyny is still widespread, although it is declining as land constraints and lower incomes are encouraging smaller households. Divorce is not common and carries a stigma, especially for women.
Domestic Unit
• In rural areas the family unit is composed of the husband, the wife or wives, children, and members of the extended family. In urban areas, households are smaller, with a tendency toward a nuclear family of the husband, the wife, and children. In polygynous families, each wife has her own house and a share of a field. Households usually are defined in terms of a domestic unit of the wife, the children, and other dependents; therefore, a polygynous family and a wider extended family living together may consist of two or more households. The average household has 4.76 persons.
• Authority is vested in men, and wisdom is vested in age. After marrying, a man assumes domestic authority as the household head, but in wider family affairs the elders are more influential. A woman also gains authority and respect with age, and newly married daughters-in-law take over much of the housework and help in the fields. Assistance continues after a daughter-in-law has established her own house nearby.
Inheritance
• In customary marriages, all property rights during marriage or after divorce or death belong to the man. Disposition of the estate and guardianship of children are determined by male relatives of the husband. Women may retain property that is traditionally associated with their domestic role, such as kitchen utensils, and one of the implications of patrilocal residence that has carried into contemporary urban life is that immovable property is regarded as the man's property.
• Although changes in the law recognize a woman's contribution, it is difficult for a woman to claim rights to property in the face of family opposition. Wills are rare, although they override customary law. In civil marriages ended by divorce or death, wives and widows have the right to a share of the husband's estate, although the same difficulties apply.
Kin Groups
• Relationships with maternal kin (or, in the case of the Tonga, paternal kin) are important; although contact may be infrequent, the relationship is normally a close one. Therefore, the wider kin group of an extended family can be very extensive.
Socialization
Infant Care
• The nurturing and socialization of infants are the responsibility of mothers and, in their temporary absence (for example, when they are working), a female relative. In customary practice orphans are the responsibility of the husband's relatives. A great deal of an infant's time is spent in the company of the mother, being carried on her back in the kitchen and sleeping with her at night.
• Socialization takes place mostly in the household through the mother and the extended family, and other children nearly always are around to play with an infant. Therefore, in addition to the strong caring bond between mother and child, other adults and older children develop bonds and assume responsibility in the absence of the mother.
Religion
Religious Beliefs
• In traditional religion, the spirit of a deceased person returns to the community and the deceased heads of extended families (the ancestors), have a powerful influence on family life. The spirit ancestors are usually only two or three generations back from the living generation and are the people who passed on the custom of honoring their ancestors and the traditions of the community. They are honored in ceremonies to celebrate a good harvest and in appeals to deal with misfortune. When a spirit becomes angry, it communicates through a medium, or a diviner diagnoses the anger and cause, and appeasement follows. Families seeking to avenge a death or enforce debt payment may consult diviner-healers ( n'anga ). Witches are thought to have the power to raise angry spirits, and the anger of a spirit may or may not be justified in the view of the affected family.
• Many Christians continue to believe in spirits and the power of witchcraft and seek spiritual guidance from both belief systems. The largest churches are the Roman Catholic and the Anglican, and the Apostolic Church is the largest independent church. Independent churches tend to interpret the Bible more in accordance with traditional values, and faith healing and savings organizations (for example, burial societies) feature strongly in their activities.
Death and the Afterlife
• Customarily, the dead are buried close to home, and people in urban areas may bring the deceased back to rural areas for burial. Graves are prepared close to the family homestead and are both sacred and feared for their association with death and spirits. A diviner may be consulted to determine the cause of death and prescribe a ritual action; this is followed by ceremonies to settle the spirit and mark the end of mourning. After one year a final ceremony is held at which the spirit becomes a spirit guardian of the family. These ceremonies generally combine traditional and Christian practices.
The Colonization of Africa
• between the 1870s and 1900, Africa faced European imperialist aggression, diplomatic pressures, military invasions, and eventual conquest and colonization. African societies put up various forms of resistance against the attempt to colonize their countries and impose foreign domination. By the early twentieth century much of Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia, had been colonized by European powers.
Causes of colonisation
• The reasons for African colonisation were mainly economic, political and religious.
• During this time of colonisation, an economic depression was occurring in Europe, and powerful countries such as Germany, France, and Great Britain, were losing money. Africa seemed to be out of harm’s way and had an abundance of raw materials from which Europe could make money from.
• Due to cheap labour of Africans, Europeans easily acquired products like oil, ivory, rubber, palm oil, wood, cotton and gum. These products became of greater significance during the Industrial Revolution.
• Africa’s colonisation was also as a result of European rivalries, where Britain and France had been in a dispute since the Hundred Year’s War. These countries became involved in a race to acquire more territory on the African continent, but this race was open to all European countries. Britain had had some success in halting the slave trade around the shores of Africa. But inland Muslim traders from north of the Sahara and on the East Coast still traded inland, and many local chiefs were reluctant to give up the use of slaves.
• During the nineteenth century barely a year went by without a European expedition into Africa. The boom in exploration was triggered to a great extent by the creation of the African Association by wealthy Englishmen in 1788, and as they travelled, they started to record details of markets, goods, and resources for the wealthy philanthropists who financed their trips.
• With the beginning of colonisation in Africa, morality became an increasing issue. The Europeans could not comprehend the existence of the Muslim Swahili trade which made them want to implement the Three C’s: Christianity, Commerce, and Civilisation.
• First, Europe experienced a Christian revival in the 19th century. Missionaries began to focus on the large working class with the goal of bringing spiritual salvation to the workers and their families. The bible was made available to workers. Due to their large successes, missionaries began to look beyond Europe. Missions were established all over Africa. Missionaries did not serve as direct agents of European imperialism, yet they drew European governments deeper into Africa. In their efforts to preach Christianity, to bring western-style education to Africa and to ingrain monogamy in African societies, missionaries often felt threatened by warfare within Africa. Hence, missionaries called on European governments for protection and intervention.
• Second, for centuries, European explorers have travelled throughout the African continent in their attempts to discover new things and to chart the African continent.
• Trade would be well instantiated; the work of the Suez Canal Company at the north-eastern tip of Africa had been completed in 1869.
• Lastly, Livingstone believed that civilisation could be achieved through good government and education. The combination of these three elements, Livingstone believed, would end human suffering in Africa, and the ultimate level of civilisation would be achieved within the continent. Christianity would therefore provide the moral principles that would guide Africans, while education and commerce would encourage Africans to produce their own goods to trade with Europeans. For this to work a functioning and legitimate governing system was needed to ensure the civil rights of the people.
The Scramble for Africa
• To prevent wars and conflict that could have come from competition of African Territories, the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck convened a diplomatic summit of European powers in the late nineteenth century.
• This was the famous Berlin West African conference (more generally known as the Berlin Conference), held from November 1884 to February 1885. The conference produced a treaty known as the Berlin Act, with provisions to guide the conduct of the European inter-imperialist competition in Africa.
• Some of its major articles were as follows:
1.The Principle of Notification (Notifying) other powers of a territorial annexation
2.The Principle of Effective Occupation to validate the annexations
3.Freedom of Trade in the Congo Basin
4.Freedom of Navigation on the Niger and Congo Rivers
5.Freedom of Trade to all nations
6.Suppression of the Slave Trade by land and sea
This treaty, drawn up without African participation, provided the basis for the subsequent partition, invasion, and colonization of Africa by various European powers.
Why Africa was easy to colonize
• The European countries were able to colonise African countries rapidly because there were rivalries among African leaders. These kings and chiefs were competing with each other to be the richest and most powerful within their tribes.
• European leaders would take advantage of the situation and persuaded some leaders to be on their side to fight against other leaders.
• Natural disasters also played a big role in the rapid and easy colonisation of Africa. In 1895, a serious drought reached many regions in Africa which was caused by a sudden decline in rainfall. Hardly any crops were produced, and the food shortage which followed caused the death of many people and animals. The little crops that were produced were destroyed by a plague of locusts.
• Cattle plague broke out during the 1890’s which killed cattle, sheep and goats leading to even more deaths of animals and people, and due to their physical and mental weakness, they were unable to fight against European powers.
• European powers could easily take control of any source of land by using force and violence. They accomplished this by using more powerful weapons, and had the advantage of the newly invented Maxim gun which was invented in the 1880’s. This gun could fire eleven bullets per second, and outdid the weapons that the African forces had.
• African armies did not manage to get hold of European weapons because it they were not sold to them. Thus Africans were at a military disadvantage.
• An outbreak of new diseases made an appearance during the late 1890’sand the first one was a range of smallpox epidemics. The Europeans who were already in Africa had developed immunity to these diseases due to past experiences of these outbreaks in Europe. The indigenous African population had no immunity or resistance to these diseases and thus weakened the African population. A large number of the African population thus died out, or became too weak to fight back.
Results of colonization
• The impact that colonisation had on Africa can be described as both good and bad. In terms of European political practice in Africa, all colonising countries share similar attributes.
• Colonial political systems were un-democratic; Law and Order, as well as Peace, was a primary objective of colonial governments; Colonial governments lacked capacity and Colonial governments practiced "divide and rule."
• Firstly, colonial governments did not allow popular participation, and all political decisions were made by the small political elite with no or little input from the African population.
• Secondly, the African population was not satisfied with the way that Europeans imposed on their governing system without any proper representation, thus the maintenance of peace under the African population was made an important priority for the colonial government.
• Thirdly, seeing as most colonial governments were not rich, they did not fund the governing of their colonies fully. Although they were responsible for raising the money for their own colonies, they still lacked the income to properly develop and maintain a successful governing system. This meant that colonial governments were not able to provide basic infrastructure, such as roads and communication networks, nor were they able to provide basic social services such as education, health care, and housing.
• Lastly, the principle of “divide and rule” meant that policies that intentionally weakened indigenous power networks and institutions were implemented.
• Due to the lack of revenue within the colonies, little attention was given to promoting social change or development. Although all the colonies did not experience the same extent of social change, these colonies share the same characteristics in terms of social change.
• Firstly, colonial and political practices caused a large scale movement of people. In some areas, migrations were primarily from one rural area to another. In other places, the migration was from rural areas to urban areas. These movements resulted in dislocation of peoples that impacted society and culture. Social and cultural beliefs and practices were challenged by these migrations. Long-held practices had to be adapted, and at times were completed abandoned, to fit the new colonial circumstances.
• Secondly, and partly due to the first consequence, the dislocation of families also occurred. Men mainly left the household to work in mines and on plantations, leaving their wives and children behind. As a result, women and adolescents were forced to take on new roles and to cope in absence of their husbands and fathers. Due to colonialism, the African family structure had been severely changed.
• Prior to colonialism, the extended family structure (family that extends beyond the immediate family) was the norm in most African societies, but by the end of colonial era, the nuclear family (family consisting of a pair of adults/ parents and their children) was becoming the norm in many African countries.
• Thirdly, urbanization emerged as colonization was imposed. During colonialism, urbanization occurred fairly rapidly in many African colonies. A number of pre-colonial African societies had towns and small cities. However, even in these societies, most people were engaged in agriculture in rural villages or homesteads. Urban living resulted in changes in economic activities and occupation, and in changes in the way people lived. These changes often challenged existing values, beliefs, and social practices.
• Fourthly, the religious beliefs of Africans were adapted or changed. A small percentage of the African population regarded themselves as Christians, and today more than half of the African population is Christians. Colonial rule provided an environment in which Christianity, in many forms, spread in many parts of Africa. While Islam was widespread in Africa prior to the coming of colonialism, it also benefited from colonialism. British and French colonial officials actively discouraged Christian mission work in Muslim areas.
• Lastly, the public education system of African was also changed. The majority of colonial governments did little to support schools. Most formal schooling African colonies were a result of the work of missionaries. Missionaries felt that education and schools were essential to their mission. Their primary concern was the conversion of people to Christianity. Missionaries believed that the ability of African peoples to read the Bible in their own language was important to the conversion process. However, most mission societies were not wealthy, and they could not support the number of schools that they really wanted. Consequently, with limited government support, most African children did not go to school during the colonial era. In fact at the end of colonial rule, no colony could state that more than half of their children finished elementary school, and far fewer attended secondary school.
