Blog#2

Mazrui talks about how native languages and religions came to be in Africa. He mainly discussed the Triple Heritage which was the joining together of Traditional Africal, West Africa and Islam. Once Europeans began to penetrate certain parts of Arica they bought with them the Islamic culture and language and tried to force it on a Christian based Swahili speaking native culture. Some converted, some did not. He also touches on Africa being a continent onto itself and natives being satisfied with not explorng what is beyond the horizon. He also touches on how women were major players as it related to developing the community and that her role was not just in the kitchen. During the 7th century once the Arabs came, they began to spread the islamic influence. The west adopted the religion but kept its native tongue.

Three major influences of environment and culture dealt with: Farming societies, Partoralist societies, and Hunting and Gathering societies. Since most of Africa has vast dry lands, only certain parts has soil rich enough for vegetation to thrive according to the text. Food surpluses were favorable in the Nile Valley where the climate was tropical and didn not have decaying matter. There is no cold season  so vegetation does decay faster.  However, heavy down pours in the tropical areas wash away much of the nutrients from fruits and vegetation.  Natives who have to still hunt and gather their food are subjected to less developed parts of the country and have to move with the food supply. Farming societies generally stay put and, pastoralist move and take their food supply with them.  During the Bantu expansion, Central, Eastern, and southrn Africans spread out in search of new lands to settle and mingled peacefully or through battle. They began to intermingle and marry therby producing new cultures, kingdoms, and civilations.

Mazruis approach is very insightful being a native of Africa, he is able to discuss matters on a first hand basis. Most of what is written in history books not by indingenous Africans is not true or half truths. Given from his perspective as someone who has lived and ancestors who have lived through all of this is very intriguing and interesting. The majority of this informatio is brand new to me. I feel his feedback and insight is necessary when teaching about these ancient civilizations. It also opens up ones eyes to the issues that are ongoing in Africa today.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 discusses how distorted the earlier generations views on Africa as a whole are according to the new generation of scholars. People of African descent living on the content were not even considered sub par as it relates to everyday life. According to the text, they were living savagely and were not able to handle decision making when it came to making laws, etc. The new generation's methods take a much deeper look into the possibility of what Africa could become outside of being just an extension of Europe. These points are derived from many different point of views. Too much rides on the survey method (Kayongo-Male, Onyango. 14) which is biased mostly in part of the language barrier. Another major reason is that it is given by people are not partial to the culture and inner workings of the people.  They urge that scholars, "place higher reliability on family studies coming from indigenous researchers." (Kayongo-Male, Onyango. 14)

It is very important in understanding and gaining knowledge about a culture that if left up to the early scholars would more than likely still be a secret. Who better to tell you about yourself than yourself. Without exploring Africa from an African point of view, we would be left to make assumptions about them. The early scholars were said to have looked at Africa a just an extension of Europe with  primitive, unruly people. The later scholars begged to differ once they began to understand the culture.

The first article I found is: "Gender politics drives high HIV rates for African women". Both Hamilton and Johnson discuss how women are the inferior gender when it relates to African Disapora. Im Hamilton's article, women still remain the poorest, and most illiterate. In Johnson's article, not only are the same things true but also, women are thee leading carriers of HIV.
"Factors that have contributed to HIV increase are cultural taboos and gender inequality," says Johnson. According to the article, women dont get to choose their sexual partners, or how often they have sex. Reading this article has opened my eyes to so much that I otherwise would not know was taking place today. Women are basically treated like chattel because of their gender and ignorance.

The Second article is: "African nations unite against Ugandan rebel group." Not only do native Africans have to fight against the rest of the world, they also have to fight against a particular group of their own called Rebels. They have a overthrow the government so of mentality and will take out anyone that stands in their way. You are either with them or against them. From the point of view of someone who is not a rebel, this increases the struggle. Lack of resources, lack of education, and having to fight against your own people is very taxing on a county and its people.