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What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? - Culture (11) - Nairaland

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Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by JiggamanGh: 8:30am On Dec 30, 2014
CAMNEWTON4PRES:


my mission? why would i do that, here is a thread talking about African renaissance and your huys are posting comments that don't make sense, tht guy first with WA being better and that chukwu about white orders blah blah....i was only setting the record straight .

this is not whether you heard or not:

many Ivorians know that burkina faso through blaise compaore played a role in their civil war and the ousting of their president
ghana vs Nigeria whether it is a joke or not the fact is the hostility exists, in fact i have never heard a Nigerian saying anything good about ghanaian(in real life)

as for senegal Gambia...we are not talking about ethnicity here the fact are there...Gambia president is arming rebelion in senegal(casamnce0 and Wade tired to oust him too through several rebllion..i hope you know we are talking about states and Govt

i think i showed everything ..you can make your own conclusions...btw you can take chad, it even makes Central Africa more stable

Civil wars in Africa:

Sierra Leone(WA)
Nigeria(WA)
Liberia(WA)
Ivory COAST(WA)
Chad(WA))
RDCONGO(CA)
GUINEA bISAU(CA)
coup d'etat
Mali(WA)
Guinea C (WA)
Burkina(WA)
Nigeria(WA, multiple)
chad(WA)
CAR(CA)
Congo(CA)
IVORY COAST(WA)
GUINEA BISAU(WA)
GAMBIA(WA)
Ghana(WA)

as we can see WA is far from being better than CA...no matter how one tries to put it..next time tell your dawgs to make sense, i really don't get how in this information age someone can say WA is more stable than CA..does he live on mars? grin

So u based your argument the number of civil wars that occurred in west Africa. Many countries around the world have gone through revolution or civil war and they are better for it.

I don't think west Africa is better than central Africa but I do believe in west Africa exceptionalism. We put Africa on the map.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by reedonne: 2:17pm On Dec 30, 2014
CAMNEWTON4PRES:


your post doesn't make sense...what hostility exists between central African govts?


weak as in ?


hostility in WA:

Gambia vs Senegal
Burkina Vs Ivory coast
Sierra leone Vs Liberia
Ghana vs Nigeria

weak Govt

Gambia
Guinea bisau
Mali
Niger

confused people
Mauritani
.........
all countries have defined borders, so i really don't understand what you meant by that either way here are the central African countries:

Cameroon
Gabon
Angola
Congo
RDCONGO
CHAD
Equatorial Guinea
CAR

what hostility exits between those countries? except for CAR each country are stable while west Africa is the home of coup d'etat and civil wars grin..my nigga i think you were drunk when you typed that comment and your explanation doesn't hold water



I am not saying WA is better than CA or EA but I still stand with the fact that eastern country have hostillity toward each others.
Nigerian and Ghanians may have differences but the Nigerian and ghanian goverment are friend and are always ready to help each other.
Have you read about the arm race in east africa?. Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda even the under-developed ethiopia is more prepared for war more than richest west african countries like Nigeria, ghana and ivory coast.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by romania5: 11:40pm On Dec 30, 2014
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by ChukwuCantDie: 3:38pm On Jan 03, 2015
CAMNEWTON4PRES:
where was Cameroon? lmao it shows you that we are the armed arm of france in Africa, Nigeria is just like chad, you both are french proxies. the same way chad is being used on nigeria and cameroon with boko harma,,,,one can say Nigeria is reaping what they sow or am missing something?
Mugu..you dont even know what you are saying and neither do i..go back to your french slave masters farm and make yourself useful.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by CAMNEWTON4PRES: 8:42pm On Jan 03, 2015
ChukwuCantDie:
Mugu..you dont even know what you are saying and neither do i..go back to your french slave masters farm and make yourself useful.
unfortunately you are the clueless one here, you boast about your country-army fighting on behalf or with/of french troops yet you say you don't take orders from white people..are you mad? why did nigeria oust Gbagbo if she was not taking orders from france? i think you are the slaves here, at least there is an occupation past between cameroon and France yet our army or foreign policy has never us being footsoldiers for france. Go and ponder on that as you righlty put where was the Cameroon army ? def not doing france biding all ver Africa thats for sure

Goodluck new found lover

2 Likes

Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by CAMNEWTON4PRES: 8:53pm On Jan 03, 2015
ChukwuCantDie:
Mugu..you dont even know what you are saying and neither do i..go back to your french slave masters farm and make yourself useful.
furthermore your master just excluded us from the committe against Boko haram ah ah we now know boko haram target(cameroon) ,the 3 devils(Nigeria,chad and france, who are all members of the committe) are def up to nothing good ...we are watching you ooo come here and talk rubbish again


http://en.newhub.shafaqna.com/CM/118279-La-France-exclu-le-Cameroun-d-une-cellule-de-coordination-sur-Boko-Haram
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by CAMNEWTON4PRES: 8:57pm On Jan 03, 2015
reedonne:





I am not saying WA is better than CA or EA but I still stand with the fact that eastern country have hostillity toward each others.
Nigerian and Ghanians may have differences but the Nigerian and ghanian goverment are friend and are always ready to help each other.
Have you read about the arm race in east africa?. Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda even the under-developed ethiopia is more prepared for war more than richest west african countries like Nigeria, ghana and ivory coast.
there is an arm race because of a terrorists infested country like Somalia , furthermore every country should arm itself esp African countries..there is no prosperity without security and stability, beware of a crumbling ship(western world) we will see more and more acts of piracy like what they did in libya. we need to b able to protect our resources or at least put a good fight...still there is better regional integration in East Africa than anywhere in Africa,,they have already adopted a single language and are now moving to a single currency (aka more economic integration) the final goal being a confederation ....as for ethiopia she is at war with the egyptian camel fckers
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by CAMNEWTON4PRES: 9:04pm On Jan 03, 2015
JiggamanGh:


So u based your argument the number of civil wars that occurred in west Africa. Many countries around the world have gone through revolution or civil war and they are better for it.

I don't think west Africa is better than central Africa but I do believe in west Africa exceptionalism. We put Africa on the map.

and how is west Africa better after her so called revolution? don't get me wrong im for revolution and even wars if they must bring good changes,however most of WA coup d'etats and civil wars were not revolution but simple western imperialists lookkiing for the own interests ...i sincerely don't see how liberia, gambia, burkina, sieraa etc are better than Gabon or Angola

now sometimes i don't know if you have problem with reading despite jumping on comments, we were talking about stability so i belive civil wars ,coup d'etats are good ways to measure stability in a country, maybe you have another criteria i will b glad to hear from you still there is no way west africa is more stbale than Central Africa

as for the so called exceptionalism quit with the american jargon or arrogance , there is nothing exceptional about west africa that's first of voice and when indeed you put Africa on the map its to talk about diseases, wars, and coup d'etats that's like somalia or ethiopia saying they put us on the map..of course they do but in what way //btw we are all in the USA so don't bring that nonsense
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by JiggamanGh: 10:07pm On Jan 03, 2015
CAMNEWTON4PRES:


and how is west Africa better after her so called revolution? don't get me wrong im for revolution and even wars if they must bring good changes,however most of WA coup d'etats and civil wars were not revolution but simple western imperialists lookkiing for the own interests ...i sincerely don't see how liberia, gambia, burkina, sieraa etc are better than Gabon or Angola

now sometimes i don't know if you have problem with reading despite jumping on comments, we were talking about stability so i belive civil wars ,coup d'etats are good ways to measure stability in a country, maybe you have another criteria i will b glad to hear from you still there is no way west africa is more stbale than Central Africa

as for the so called exceptionalism quit with the american jargon or arrogance , there is nothing exceptional about west africa that's first of voice and when indeed you put Africa on the map its to talk about diseases, wars, and coup d'etats that's like somalia or ethiopia saying they put us on the map..of course they do but in what way //btw we are all in the USA so don't bring that nonsense

Well first of all, it takes time to build a country and Liberia, Sierra leone just ended the war, so give them time. Gambia and burkjna might not be as rich as Gabon and Angola but it's more peaceful. There are many countries in west Africa doing well Senegal, Ghana, benin and these countries are very peaceful.

There are many unstable Central African countries. Central African republic, chad, Congo are all unstable.

I never said civil war and coup d'etats are not a good way to measure stability. I however said sometimes war and Revolution are necessary. I repeat west Africa is more stable than central Africa.

Regarding west African exceptionalism, I believe west Africa is exceptional and do put Africa on the map, from sports, education, innovators and entertainers no other part of Africa can compete. What do you mean about disease apart from the recent Ebola outbreak name a disease that west africans are known for.

Sorry when it comes to west Africa and central Africa there is no competition, now South African countries will be more challenging.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by Maakhir(m): 2:07am On Jan 06, 2015
Omarbah:
More than a half century later after the independence movement and more than century after serious contact with European civilization, our beloved continent lags when it comes to technological progress. Superstitions still remain in force even among the African elite. Passion rather than reason is still the norm. Cultural alienation is on the rise. Most Africans living in cities cannot speak their native language without borrowing words from the English or French language.

I've always wondered why were the Arabs after the advent of Islam able to build so much in the 300 years that ensued. Or why was the European renaissance such a success that they rule the world to this day despite being far behind China at the time. Why did the Koreans that had the same level of economic development as Cote d'Ivoire in the 50s and beginning of 60s were able to surpass them. In short why other cultures are able to assimilate science and technology at such pace and why are we failing to do the same on our continent. Even if we are doing it, one has to agree that the pace is really slow and at this rate we will never catch up with the rest of world.

Despite the cultural differences of the Arabs, Europeans and Asians, there is one similarity to the renaissance they witnessed. All of these groups made progress while maintaining their language. The Arabs translated books from Greek to Arabic to spread knowledge as much as they can. It is in Baghdad that Muslims founded their school of translation, every Greek book they could lay their hands on was translated to their language.

The Europeans will do the same. They will build up from the knowledge left by the Arabs and translated thousands of books in Latin. Constantine of Carthage of the Toledo School of Translators translated multiple texts on medicine including the Canons of Medecine of Avicenna. He went ahead and founded a School of Medicine to spread the knowledge. Frederick II of Palermo had in his court intellectuals that translated the work of Arab astronomer Al-Farghini and Ptolemy's Almagest. Some of the books translated to Latin originally came from Greek intellectuals but was lost in Europe and they had to translated them back to Latin from Arab to have access to the knowledge. This is to name of few. For those interested in the influence of Islam of the European renaissance, a simple google research will answer your questions.
And more recently, the Japanese, Koreans translated European books in their native languages. This has contributed greatly to the amazing technological progress they have witnessed.

All of these groups did the same thing, absorb science and technology but retain their culture. They translated works from other languages to theirs not only to ease the learning on their people but also to enrich their culture and language. That in my opinion among others, is something we, as Africans, need to do.
Could you imagine how much we can fight ignorance if learning science in Hausa, Lingala, Swahili, Fulfulde is encouraged?

What is your opinion? Why do you think we still lag behind others in science and technology?

In answer to your question:

You are the source of Africa's troubles cheesy
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by Omarbah: 5:11am On Jan 06, 2015
Maakhir:


In answer to your question:

You are the source of Africa's troubles cheesy
Who is?
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by Maakhir(m): 7:17am On Jan 06, 2015
Im joking around, cheesy

dont take it seriously
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by ChukwuCantDie: 10:52am On Jan 07, 2015
CAMNEWTON4PRES:
unfortunately you are the clueless one here, you boast about your country-army fighting on behalf or with/of french troops yet you say you don't take orders from white people..are you mad? why did nigeria oust Gbagbo if she was not taking orders from france? i think you are the slaves here, at least there is an occupation past between cameroon and France yet our army or foreign policy has never us being footsoldiers for france. Go and ponder on that as you righlty put where was the Cameroon army ? def not doing france biding all ver Africa thats for sure

Goodluck new found lover
shut your fuckk1ng mouth youre full of sh1t

2 Likes

Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by Babacele: 11:40am On Feb 16, 2015
bushdoc9919:
All I can do here is quote Field Ruwe's article



The problem is....we prefer to share money rather than to use it. We would rather fight wars over how the oil money should be shared...instead of using that oil money to build things.
I am humbled and sobered. it speaks to the very foundation of my being. I am the man in the mirror ,I am an african, and I do not like what I see. I ll strife to employ positive change n who knows if it is heaven's will, a pleasant reflection may smile at me from the mirror .pp
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by tpiar: 12:47am On Feb 26, 2015
gift01:
Most Africans are always perverse

na only Africans you see abi?

1 Like

Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by pazienza(m): 2:55am On Feb 28, 2015
Only Pleep, Ezeagu, Macof and the Cameroon guy really know the problem of Africa.


Africa's problem started with Berlin conference of 1884, The Europeans knew how important the creation of artificial and unsustainable borders would be to their plans of exploitation of the African people, so that event was the foundation upon which their colonization of Africa was built.


To start the emancipation of African from the beasts, we must first of all, destroy their very foundation, the colonial borders.


We must redraw the map of Africa and build stable countries built on cultural homogeneity, where patriotism reigns, we must learn to exist as neighbors first, before we start thinking of co existing as one entity, common goals can always be pursued under AU.

Only the blind, the naive or the greedy would not see how crucial the redrawing of colonial borders is to African renaissance.

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by macof(m): 12:51pm On Feb 28, 2015
pazienza:
Only Pleep, Ezeagu, Macof and the Cameroon guy really know the problem of Africa.


Africa's problem started with Berlin conference of 1884, The Europeans knew how important the creation of artificial and unsustainable borders would be to their plans of exploitation of the African people, so that event was the foundation upon which their colonization of Africa was built.


To start the emancipation of African from the beasts, we must first of all, destroy their very foundation, the colonial borders.


We must redraw the map of Africa and build stable countries built on cultural homogeneity, where patriotism reigns, we must learn to exist as neighbors first, before we start thinking of co existing as one entity, common goals can always be pursued under AU.

Only the blind, the naive or the greedy would not see how crucial the redrawing of colonial borders is to African renaissance.

exactly
I wish Africans can open their eyes to see that these colonial boarders are killing us

3 Likes

Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by ArtanK(m): 2:39pm On Feb 28, 2015
CAMNEWTON4PRES:
there is an arm race because of a terrorists infested country like Somalia , furthermore every country should arm itself esp African countries..there is no prosperity without security and stability, beware of a crumbling ship(western world) we will see more and more acts of piracy like what they did in libya. we need to b able to protect our resources or at least put a good fight...still there is better regional integration in East Africa than anywhere in Africa,,they have already adopted a single language and are now moving to a single currency (aka more economic integration) the final goal being a confederation ....as for ethiopia she is at war with the egyptian camel fckers

East African countries have armed themselves to the teeth because of Alshabab? lol do you know how ridiculous that sounds?

Ethiopia is probably one of the most repressive states in the world. One party have been ruling the country for almost 40 years and anyone who lifts a finger gets annihilated instantaneously.
Tell me why Alshabab hasn't even attempted to attack Ethiopia but at the same time launched numerous attacks in Kenya and Djibouti.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by AmunRaOlodumare: 2:48pm On Feb 28, 2015
pazienza:
.

We must redraw the map of Africa and build stable countries built on cultural homogeneity
If you knew anything about Africa you would know no such thing exist. For Yoruba for example, past Kingdoms either subdivided Yoruba into smaller units or comprises people who were not Yoruba while leaving some Yoruba out of the Kingdom. You have an European/Abrahamic mindset. Leave the cultural homogeneity to Hitler.

There's no way you can subdivide African countries into smaller units where there won't exist any ethnic minority in it. No matter how you cut African countries there's always ethnic minority within the smaller units generated.

Don't ever follow tribalist politicians. They do it for their own personal gain. Always favor politicians which preach unity in diversity and protection and promotion of the cultural richness of the country.

For example:

National Politician A) Want to protect Yoruba languages and culture=tribalist
National Politician B) Want everybody to be similar=cultural homogeneity=tribalist
National Politician C) Want to protect the languages and cultures of every ethnic/sub-ethnic groups in Nigeria. =non tribalist

Of course, it's ok to fight to promote the Yoruba cultures and language (which are diverse by itself), but it is always with the understanding that other cultural groups also have the right and responsibility to promote their own culture and languages (as long as it is one based on the respect of others: live and let live, this exclude Jihadist culture and other crazy fascist stuff like that). Unity in diversity.

This is true for Africa, but it is also true for the whole world in general. You can be part of the European Union and still maintain your own languages and culture. If Hitler tries to take over the European Union, all the diverse ethnic groups and culture in Europe must fight him. So good national politicians fight to protect the ethnic diversity and cultural diversity of all parts of the country.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by pazienza(m): 3:15pm On Feb 28, 2015
AmunRaOlodumare:

If you knew anything about Africa you would know no such thing exist. For Yoruba for example, past Kingdoms either subdivided Yoruba into smaller units or comprises people who were not Yoruba while leaving some Yoruba out of the Kingdom. You have an European/Abrahamic mindset. Leave the cultural homogeneity to Hitler.

There's no way you can subdivide African countries into smaller units were there won't exist any ethnic minority in it. No matter how you cut African countries there's always ethnic minority within the smaller units generated.

Don't ever follow tribalist politicians. They do it for their own personal gain. Always favor politicians which preach unity in diversity and protection and promotion of the cultural richness of the country.

For example:

National Politician A) Want to protect Yoruba languages and culture=tribalist
National Politician B) Want everybody to be similar=cultural homogeneity=tribalist
National Politician C) Want to protect the languages and cultures of every ethnic/sub-ethnic groups in Nigeria. =non tribalist

Of course, it's ok to fight to promote the Yoruba cultures and language (which are diverse by itself), but it is always with the understanding that other cultural groups also have the right and responsibility to promote their own culture and languages (as long as it is one based on the respect of others: live and let live, this exclude Jihadist culture and other crazy fascist stuff like that). Unity in diversity.

This is true for Africa, but it is also true for the whole world in general. You can be part of the European Union and still maintain your own languages and culture. If Hitler tries to takes over the European Union, all the diverse ethnic groups and culture in Europe must fight him. So good national politicians fight to protect the ethnic diversity and cultural diversity of all parts of the country.



Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by macof(m): 4:43pm On Feb 28, 2015
AmunRaOlodumare:

If you knew anything about Africa you would know no such thing exist. For Yoruba for example, past Kingdoms either subdivided Yoruba into smaller units or comprises people who were not Yoruba while leaving some Yoruba out of the Kingdom. You have an European/Abrahamic mindset. Leave the cultural homogeneity to Hitler.

There's no way you can subdivide African countries into smaller units where there won't exist any ethnic minority in it. No matter how you cut African countries there's always ethnic minority within the smaller units generated.

Don't ever follow tribalist politicians. They do it for their own personal gain. Always favor politicians which preach unity in diversity and protection and promotion of the cultural richness of the country.

For example:

National Politician A) Want to protect Yoruba languages and culture=tribalist
National Politician B) Want everybody to be similar=cultural homogeneity=tribalist
National Politician C) Want to protect the languages and cultures of every ethnic/sub-ethnic groups in Nigeria. =non tribalist

Of course, it's ok to fight to promote the Yoruba cultures and language (which are diverse by itself), but it is always with the understanding that other cultural groups also have the right and responsibility to promote their own culture and languages (as long as it is one based on the respect of others: live and let live, this exclude Jihadist culture and other crazy fascist stuff like that). Unity in diversity.

This is true for Africa, but it is also true for the whole world in general. You can be part of the European Union and still maintain your own languages and culture. If Hitler tries to take over the European Union, all the diverse ethnic groups and culture in Europe must fight him. So good national politicians fight to protect the ethnic diversity and cultural diversity of all parts of the country.




Wat rubbish are u saying? What Yoruba kingdom comprised non-Yoruba and pushed other Yorubas out?
Every pre-Nigerian Yoruba nation was built with the bond of brotherhood within the constituent states and even other Yoruba nations
I believe you know the legend of oduduwa

You speak like all of Greece was always one nation. Or Germany or England doesn't consist old Kingdoms and tribes that came together as they recognised their cultural homogeneity

Your loyalty is suppose to be to ur nation, yet this nation is supposed to be composed intelligently, rooted on cultural assimilation and not by merging different cultures and languages, even farmers don't treat their crop that way

Wat pazienza posted is exactly what the reality is

2 Likes

Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by pazienza(m): 5:50pm On Feb 28, 2015
The colonial abominations called countries, were constructed to aid the easy exploitation of African people, the same still holds true till today, the colonial borders would never serve the African interest, it can only serve those of the creators.

No ethnic group is too small to be an independent nation of it's own, San Marino is a European nation with a population of 32,000 people, my LGA has a population of more than 170,000. The smaller nations ( ethnic groups) can always negotiate a loose union with the larger nations.

Dissolution of the colonial abominations and the creation of stable nations built on mutual consent, clear cut unified ideologies and homogeneity of culture is the way to go, if we hope to make it out of this mess.

The New stable creations won't see all the New nations progress, but those with will, desire and. determination, would build successful nations, which would lead the way for the rest to follow.

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by kingston277(m): 9:04pm On Mar 05, 2015
AmunRaOlodumare:

If you knew anything about Africa you would know no such thing exist. For Yoruba for example, past Kingdoms either subdivided Yoruba into smaller units or comprises people who were not Yoruba while leaving some Yoruba out of the Kingdom. You have an European/Abrahamic mindset. Leave the cultural homogeneity to Hitler.
Please note that. Those non-Yoruba who lived in Yoruba kingdoms were of conquered groups whom had no say in joining such kingdom. Following this, it would take several wars(and a ruling ethnicity with a dominant language) to achieve "one Nigeria".
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by macof(m): 12:21am On Mar 06, 2015
kingston277:

Please note that. Those non-Yoruba who lived in Yoruba kingdoms were of contoured extract whom had no say in joining such kingdom. Following this, it might take several wars(and a ruling ethnicity with a dominant language) to achieve "one Nigeria".

And this is very unlikely, I don't see any one ethnicity being dominant in Nigeria

But if it does happen it could only be through wars
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by AmunRaOlodumare: 6:14am On Mar 06, 2015
kingston277:

Please note that. Those non-Yoruba who lived in Yoruba kingdoms were of contoured extract whom had no say in joining such kingdom.
In reality the situation is more nuanced than this. The main reason why Yoruba Kingdoms sought to expand their territory was the increase the size of the Kingdom, so the fact that unity makes us stronger was a fact known (obviously) by past African peoples and Kingdoms. The goal was combining kingdoms (Yoruba subgroups and sometimes non-Yorubas) together under the same leadership, to create a stronger kingdom. The same idea existed in many African Kingdoms and also among those who wanted to incorporate Yorubas into their kingdom. We're talking about sending tributes to the King (of all kings), making available for him soldiers in time of wars, probably also access to mines and other natural resources sites, control of trade routes, etc. The incorporated Kingdoms/Chiefdoms also (iirc) received protection from the metropolis.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by macof(m): 10:18am On Mar 06, 2015
AmunRaOlodumare:

In reality the situation is more nuanced than this. The main reason why Yoruba Kingdoms sought to expand their territory was the increase the size of the Kingdom, so the fact that unity makes us stronger was a fact known (obviously) by past African peoples and Kingdoms. The goal was combining kingdoms (Yoruba subgroups and sometimes non-Yorubas) together under the same leadership, to create a stronger kingdom. The same idea existed in many African Kingdoms and also among those who wanted to incorporate Yorubas into their kingdom. We're talking about sending tributes to the King (of all kings), making available for him soldiers in time of wars, probably also access to mines and other natural resources sites, control of trade routes, etc. The incorporated Kingdoms/Chiefdoms also (iirc) received protection from the metropolis.

Why does this guy keep saying Yorubas incorporated non-Yorubas? before I say more
which of the ancient Yoruba Kingdoms are u talking about? Ijebu? Oyo? Or another?
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by Horus(m): 1:20pm On Mar 06, 2015
For those who are still living in the image of the Caucasian, stop and find out whom you are, know your kind, your culture, your way of life. Return to your own. Unless we start producing our own, we will always have to depend on someone else.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by Meja: 2:52pm On Mar 09, 2015
Can't remember who said this but Swahili isn't an amalgam of Bantu and Arabic, it has a Bantu core, the only thing Arabic about it is it used to be written in the Arabic script and it has quite a number of bantunized Arabic loan words of technical terms and other concepts not found within Africa at the time of the interaction (e.g talak-divorce becomes talaka, qisas-revenge becomes kisasi, qariib-near becomes karibu, muhandis-engineer becomes mhandisi). In fact English is more Latin than Swahili is Arabic, so the grammar, sentence structure, proverbs, etc are Bantu. There are several tribes in coastal Kenya known as the Mijikenda whose languages are mutually intelligible with Swahili. Africans need to educate themselves about this, this Arabic-Bantu mixture propaganda was started by European scholars who thought that black people couldn't be as advanced as the Swahili were at the time.

Yes the Bantus interacted with the Arabs but the population was and still remains predominantly African Bantu. When the first Arabs landed in East Africa (circa 300-700 AD) they met the Bantu Wangozi people (from Southern Somalia and coastal Kenya) who spoke Kingozi, those were the first Swahili people. So when they landed on one of the islands, they sought to know who inhabited those lands and the Wangozi people told them: Sisi ni wa siwa hili which means, we are of this island, so wa-siwa-hili (of-island-this) became the name that the Arabs called these people. Western scholars say that swahili derives from the Arab word sahil or sahel which means island, but the Bantu argument is much more satisfactory. The Arabs couldn't advance inland because of hostile trbes like the Kalenjin, Maasai and the Kikuyu. Due to the success of the language in trading with the Arabs, the language spread south throughout the East African coast and since many tribes spoke similar languages, they decided to adopt it, leading to the death of many languages at the coast, most of those tribes have now completely assimilated into that culture. So the Omani Arabs who had already assimilated with the Swahili (they barely looked like Arabs) controlled the city states (Lamu, Malindi, Mombasa, Kilwa, Dar-es-Salaam, etc) along the large coastal strip from Zanzibar due to its strategic location, you won't find this in many western scholarly journals/publications cause many African scholars from East Africa are choosing to write authentic Swahili history in the Swahili language.



For the Zanzibar-Tanganyika union, it was possible because the people in the mainland already spoke Swahili and shared similar cultures (the coastline from Somali's Kismayu to Northern Mozambique, parts of North western Madagascar and the Comoros islands harbours the Swahili people) and due to the politics of power, the smaller island which is quite close to the mainland had to be absorbed into the union after independence. The leaders in the mainland didn't want to have to deal with the aristocrats who were more pro-Arab in Zanzibar so they had to possess the island by force.

In East Africa we have the East African Community which aims to be like the EU, but Tanzania is stalling on this issue because she also belongs to SADC. The community is looking to do away with visas and to cross the borders you only have to have your ID. Currently we are composed of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and possibly South Sudan and Somalia. Also the governments of these countries are looking to make Swahili Education compulsory, a state enjoyed by only Kenya and Tanzania. The EAC has a government, a court, a president, ministers and judges and even an anthem. Tanzania are also looking to do away with teaching in English and teaching it as a second language, however Swahili doesn't have as large a vocabulary, so it may take decades to achieve that.

As for the Somalis, currently the whole Somalia territory is composed of Somaliland, Jubaland, Puntland and the Mogadishu controlled territory, so it isn't even a united republic as we speak. Further the Somalis are found in Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti/Eritrea, so IMO I think that the Al-Shabaab and their warring clan counterparts still lay claim over these foreign-owned territories, they are large territories although they are semi-arid regions, so while tribalism escapes them, they suffer from religious extremism and a somewhat "racial superiority complex". A significant number of Somalis, Ethiopians, Djiboutians, Eritreans and Northern Sudanese or people from the horn suffer from this complex, whereby they believe that they are better than their neighbouring Bantus and Nilotes, or any other group with similar customs, due to issues like religion, culture, slavery and even beauty. This is East Africa in a nutshell, but we are still soldiering on in the spirit of pan-africanism.

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Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by kingston277(m): 10:40pm On Mar 09, 2015
Meja:
Can't remember who said this but Swahili isn't an amalgam of Bantu and Arabic, it has a Bantu core, the only thing Arabic about it is it used to be written in the Arabic script and it has quite a number of bantunized Arabic loan words of technical terms and other concepts not found within Africa at the time of the interaction (e.g talak-divorce becomes talaka, qisas-revenge becomes kisasi, qariib-near becomes karibu, muhandis-engineer becomes mhandisi).
Lol, and English is an amalgamation of African, Arab and European because there are like 20 WA/Bantu/Arabic loan words in the English vocabulary(English might even be a Chinese language all together because of the sheer number of loan words from there).
These people are a complete joke, Kiswhili has nill to do with Arab or any other group but Bantu. Why this notion would gain such traction in a world where the most widely spoken languages have far more foreign loan words than Swahili is beyond my comprehension.
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by Omarbah: 6:42pm On Mar 10, 2015
@kingston277 @ Fulaman @ AmunRaOlodumare @ macof
Here we go man. The EU commission has proposed forming an EU army. The idea is out there now.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/08/us-eu-defence-juncker-idUSKBN0M40KL20150308
Re: What Is Preventing Africa From Experiencing A Cultural Renaissance? by AmunRaOlodumare: 12:36am On Mar 11, 2015
Omarbah:
@kingston277 @ Fulaman @ AmunRaOlodumare @ macof
Here we go man. The EU commission has proposed forming an EU army. The idea is out there now.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/08/us-eu-defence-juncker-idUSKBN0M40KL20150308

I thought they already had that and it was called Nato...

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