Okai M. Aryee, Ph.

African Studies

Department of Informatics

January 2010

African Studies Lecture Notes

The course content of African Studies involves the study of Africa from various
perspectives. It deals with a geographic view that deals with theories of Africa’s
formation, continental drift, human migration and natural resources. These are
considered natural constructions. It will also involve the social construction of
cosmogonies, myths and legends. Africa today, having traditional, Christian and
Islamic cultural sources are compared especially with references to the notion of
God. Much of the study will deal with Sub-Saharan Africa. The study will also include
Africans ‘ Pre-Historic past era, before human migration and mutation, Africa
Ancient era, like the Ancient Egyptians (Kemet), Africa’s Old era like in colonial
times and lastly the New Africa era, as in visionary times. Issues will be discussed
like who is an Africans, and who is not, like those in the African Diaspora.
Fundamentals will be discussed, like where did the name ‘Africa’ originate. The
second part will deal with more contemporary issues like African poverty, social
constructions of modernity, the illusion of modernity, nation building, Pan-Africanism
and its problems.

First Meeting

African Fundamentals

The name ‘Africa’ did not originate in Africa. It is believed to have two sources. One
group state that this term came from the Greeks and the other say its from the
Romans. Which ever the source outsiders name their continent of Africa.

The study of Africa in this course may be placed in two major categories: (1) that
which is naturally constructed and (2) that which is socially constructed.
That natural construction of Africa may be defined as those aspects of nature that
‘created’ before the arrival of humans. The air, the water, the land and life are
natural constructions. Social constructions of Africa may be defined as those ideas,
innovations, organizations that were ‘created’ by humans. The chair, language,
myths and institutions are examples of social constructions.
The study of the continent of Africa is the study of its natural construction. Its initial
focus will be from its ecological features: the atmosphere,(air) which usually means
the climate, the hydrosphere (water) which usually means the water sources, the
lithosphere (land) which usually means the earth and the biosphere (life) which
usually means different life forms. The theory of continental drift explains why Africa
is shaped in the manner that it is. Africa, the second largest continent after Asia, is
located in the tropics which explain the various climate aspects, the various water
features, the various soil examples and the various forms of life. The drawing of the
nine box climate chart illustrates this diversity:

The Nine Box Climate Chart

Dry Wet/Dry
Wet

_______________________________________________________

9 dry 8 wet/dry 7
wet

Glacier tundra
coniferous tree

66 ½*-90* no soil soil brown/gray soil

brown
Polar Zone cold cold
cold

Cold _______________________________________________________

6 dry 5 wet/dry 4
wet

Desert prairie
deciduous

23 1/2"*-66 ½* soil sandy soil dark brown soil

brown

Temperate Zone hot/cold hot/cold

hot/cold

Hot/Cold ________________________________________________________

3 dry 2 wet/dry 1
wet

Desert savannah
rain forest AFRICA

0*-23 ½* soil sandy soil baige

soil red

Torrid Zone hot hot

hot

Hot ____________________________________________________________

Boxes #1, #2 and #3 are those areas that come from Africa. This is a simplified
version a complex ecosystem that exist around the world. From this natural
construction of the planet people convert this to social construction for human use.
We refer to these uses as natural resources. The use of the sun, the air, the water,
the minerals, the forest, fertile soil and wild life are seven categories of the use of

natural resources.

The Seven Categories of Natural

Resources
 F2 forest,
fertile soil

S A W2 Saw Fam Sun air

water, wildlife

M
minerals

Human Genes as a Natural Construction

African may be defined as, that person whose ancestors originated in Africa .
He/she has physical features of dark skin, dark colored eye and short curly hair.
These features were believed to have developed because Africans inherit melanin to
protect their bodies from the sun’s ultra violet rays. There are less obvious physical
traits, like bone structure, that distinguish them from other racial groups. Genetics
believe that humans migrated from East Africa, and migrated to the various place in
the world. As they migrated and settled into a new climate, their physical features
changed to adjust to the new environment. There was no need for melanin as
humans went to colder climates and thus, the body adjusted to those changes. They
also believe that every 20, 000 years mutations take place in the human body that
caused the differences in the physical features we see today. There was a major
change in Asia that caused the Asian slanted eyes, color of skin, bone structure, etc.
They are considered mutants, just as in Europe that was a major change Europe are
also mutants of the original African group.

It has been shown that most Africans define being an African using culture as the
main factor. That is, when one is asked to define or explain who/what is an African,
they generally will say that an Africa is a person who speaks an African language
and does things that Africans do. Some go further and say that an African is
someone who lives on the continent of Africa. With these responses being in the
norm it is felt that African identity needed to be explain.

With regards to identity, there are two major factors that need to be understood. (1)
That part of us that we inherit and is acquired through our DNA. This part of us we
acquire before birth and is manifested in various points in our lives automatically.
Being a male or female is a genetic identity, that is, we acquire this part of
ourselves through our genes. Our sexual parts are with us before birth, for no one
gets their parts after we are born. It is universal. This is our first identity and it is
often called our primary identity.

(2) The second part of who we are develops after we are born. We refer to this
identity as our secondary identity. We learn this part from our social environment.
Being a boy or a girl is our learned identity and we acquire this part through
socialization. Each society may teach boys or girls to act differently, depending on
the culture of that society. In some society boys were skirts. Being a man or a
woman is also a secondary identity, for men and women learn this role.

Being an Asian, European, African or a combination of these identities are primary

identities. This means that they are acquired through the genes. No one has a
choice on the color of their skin, eyes or hair. When these terms are used with a
secondary identity, the primary identity serves as the noun and the secondary
identity serves as the adjective. This people should be referred to as Ghanaian
African rather than African Ghanaians, Japanese Asians rather than Asian Japanese
or French Europeans rather than European French. One can usually detect the racial
background of another by merely looking at his physical features. However, in order
to determine one’s secondary identity one must listen to that person talk, or
observe his clothing or other distinguish aspects of one’s cultural identity.
Citizenship is a secondary identity. One cannot tell if a person is a Nigerian or a
Ghanaian by physical features. Being a

citizen of a nation is learned.

Africans can be born anywhere in the universe and still be identified as Africans.
That is, location of one’s birth has not affect on the primary identity. A male is a
male, or a female is a female no matter where or she is born. The same is true of
racial groups. A person who has Asian parents and lives in Ghana is a Ghanaian
Asian. A person who has European parents and lives in Nigeria is a Nigerian
European. A person who has African parents and lives in America is an American
African. The African people who live in Haiti are Haitian Africans.

Second Meeting

The African Experience as a Social Construction

History has shown that Africans live almost every where on this planet. It has been
revealed that Ghanaians, as compared to the French Africans, generally have not
learned much about the African contribution to the world. They have not learned
much about the world contribution of the Ancient Egyptians, their contributions in
Ancient China, or the contribution of those Africans born in America.

Not much is known about those Africans who were forced to leave the environment
which we called Ghana. Little is known about the experiences of those American
Africans and their need to relocate to Africa and in Ghana. Consequently, many of
these Africans have been treated with apathy and indifference.

Those Africans who were forced to leave their homes in Africa were taken as slaves.
Slave dungeons on the coast are evidence of that experience. Those who survived
the inhumane treatment of the middle passage, where millions were murdered,
ended in the Americas. They experienced treatment which was called ‘seasoning’.
Seasoning is that process where Africans were forced to lose their perception of
being Africans. A good slave is that person who has low self-esteem and accepts his
role as a slave. The goal of seasoning was to create a low self-esteem in Africans as
they were been trained for the enslavement. Seasoning first step was to give the
African a new name, a new identity. If his name was Kwame, the master would force
him to accept a new Christian name like John, Peter or Joseph. The African was then
forced to learn the master language while forgetting his own language. If a person
would not respond to his new name or heard speaking his own language he would
be brutally beaten. He could not learn to read or write. He could not practice his
own religion, or even, in many cases, play the drums. The seasoning process was
designed for the first generation of enslaved Africans.

When an African family was developed, their offspring were taught by their parents
and others in the enslaved community not to express any aspect African culture.
That is, it was no longer necessary for the slave master watch Africans in the
seasoning process. Africans had the values, the beliefs and the customs of a slave
culture to pass on for generations. This process is known as perpetual seasoning.

Perpetual seasoning is those enslaved Africans, after the first generation, displaying
the culture that would best serve the master, that is, the master’s culture. Today,
fifteen, twenty generations have passed and most of the Africans born in America
show their aspects of their forefathers slave culture. They do not have an African
language, no African religion, no African name or belief systems. They have
experience a culture of perpetual seasoning.
Those Africans who were not taken as slaves still have the culture of their ancestors.
They have their names, their language, and their history. These Africans are ‘in
aligned’ with their African heritage. However, those Africans who were stolen from
Africa, are ‘out of alignment’ with their African heritage. They do not have the
cultural components of their African ancestors. They generally know nothing about
Africa or themselves. Today, both African groups have been taught by the world
view of their same oppressors. Thus, Africans in Africa often do not recognize that
Africans in America are Africans. Thus, they are often treated as the oppressor.
Africans in America generally do not recognize that they are Africans and thus, do
not want to even visit Africa. The African family, those in alignment and those out of
alignment, is fragmented. This is a problem for Africa now and in the future. There
are American Africans who have learned that they are Africans and desire to make a
contribution to Africa’s development. However, because they are culturally out of
alignment, many do not encourage their assistance in the development of Africa.
They are not seen as Africans. In some cases these Africans are rejected and
mistreated because of the lack of knowledge of who they really are.

Third Meeting

I. The Pre-Historic African era, before human migration and mutation and
where there are only Africans (humans) on the planet. Scientists have
indicated that it takes about 20,000 years for “racial” mutation to occur.
This may be considered the first category of the evolution of African
history, which focuses on those humans who remained in Africa when
others have migrated and mutated in other parts of the world.

Title: The Real Eve

Video/power point presentation: Objectives: To give documentation and

scientific explanations on human genetics. Genetic tracking and those scientists
who performed that tracking will give information and data regarding this process.
The video will show that humans all share some of the same genetic features. It will
also show that humans who are African have all the genetic qualities of all the racial
groups. However, those other racial groups do not all have the genetic qualities as
Africa. That is to say that as people migrated from Africa, they developed recessive
genes that would compliment the new change in the environment. These people
lose some of their original qualities as they migrated, but the original human, who
remained in Africa, still have these genetic features. Africans are the oldest group
and it can be measured and verified with reliable instruments like the radio-carbon
14 dating method.

Fourth Meeting
 Myths as a Social Construction

All societies have myth stories that are designed to explain the various natural
features of one’s environment. Myths are one of the original social constructions of
human beings. A myth may be defined as a story that explains the existence of
something. This is different from a theory. A theory is also a story that explains
something, but it has research and evidence that supports an accuracy of that story.
A myth has not research and no evidence to support that something actually
happened. Why do some animals look different than others? Why are there so many
languages? Why is the sky blue? In early times people developed myths to explain
these phenomena. Today scientists spend much of their time trying to develop
hypothesis and theories to explain nature.

There are myths that the people construct to explain when and how long it took the
earth to be formed. No one knows. Either they have myths or theories to explain
this. When one believes myths to be the absolute truth, we say that it is intuitive
knowledge. Intuitive knowledge may be defined as the strong emotional belief of
something based on little or no evidence. When one refuses to change his view in
spite of reliable evidence that supports a change, we say that this person has a
cultural mind-set. A cultural mind-set may be defined as the resistance to change
one’s view in spite of new evidence. A paradigm sift is when a person has change
his view when new reliable information is given.

African myths have its sources in three historical backgrounds: the traditional Africa,
the Christian European African and Islamic Arabic Africa. All three of these sources
depend strongly on myths as an influence factor on African thinking and belief
systems. Three important beliefs need to be examine: (1)

The understanding of natural construction and purpose (2 prayer as a method to

influence the future and (3) the existence of God.

Traditional societies generally use the oral method, through story telling, to explain
myths. The Christian and Muslim societies have ‘holy’ books to explain myths. All
three generally explain that there is a Supreme Being and that this Supreme Being
has designed the world with a purpose. In order to see the myth quality of this
statement, one must first understand the difference between purpose and function.
Purpose may be defined as the reason why something exists. Purpose generally
explain the initial reason why something is the way it is. Function, on the other
hand, explains how something is to be used on a daily basis. Function tells how, and
purpose tells you why. No one can explain why a tree exists. He can tell you the
tree’s function, i.e., to give us shade, to bare fruit, to give us wood for our homes,
etc. Function is what we see done on a daily basis. In order to find the purpose of
something one must ask that person why they made it in the first place. No one can
explain why the tree was made, or why is air here, or why there is water. No one can
tell the purpose of a natural construction because they are unable to get an answer
from the architect who designed the planet. It is a myth that one knows the purpose
of ‘God’s plan’. No one is able to discuss with God his/her/its intentions.

Getting the supreme Being to intervene in our lives is also a myth. It is the norm in
most African societies that if one does what is prescribed to do, like pray, fast, treat
others fairly, then, God will intervene in one’s life. This is believed to be done
through prayer. In thousands of years people have being using this method and no
one has shown without a doubt that prayer is the answer to one’s problems. If this
was the case there would be no poverty because most people do not desire to be
impoverished. Yet, the Human Development Index, a tool that the United Nations
have used to identify poor and under developed nations, have shown that most of
the nations who people pray on a daily basis are at the bottom of this index. Out of
192 nations recorded, Ghana is 152, which is very low. After closer observation most
of the African countries are at the bottom. Why then, has the status of African
people improved since they pray so deeply? Africans on the continent of Africa and
those in the African Diaspora are prayers, for hundreds of years. One should ask is
the notion that prayer is the answer to our problem a myth?

Lastly, is it a myth that God exists? Is the concept of God a natural construction or a
social construction?

It is relatively easy to realize that the organization of people to develop a religion is

a social construction. That is, religion is socially constructed. The days, the time, the
place that people meet are socially constructed. The special books that people use
as the ‘holy’ books have also been socially constructed. Since no one is born with
the knowledge of God, he has to be taught. Since no one has seen God or had a
discussion with God, then how do we KNOW and not just BELIEVE that there is a
God? One can not point to a socially constructed book and say that this book proves
that there is a God and God wants us to do these things.

Those who use intuitive knowledge about the existence of God would say that
people must have faith in the teaching of the special book, which has been socially
constructed. When this concept is examined one should ask, is the existence of God
a myth? Some say that there is a God, but it does not operate in the way we
believe. Natural construction or social construction: Did God made us or did we
make God?

Fifth Meeting

II. Human Development of Human Civilization. The Ancient Africans

Over View of a Long African History

The second category of evolution of Africans history is known as the Ancient African
era. Ancient Africa has become recorded to have existed around 7 or 8000 ago and
was represented by the Nubians in northeast Africa which is known as Sudan today.
It was located near the cataracts of the Nile River. Africans have a time recorded
line of existence that extends further than any people on earth. It is believe that the
Nubians had a tremendous influence on the development of Ancient Egypt (Kemet).
The Ancient Egyptians of old are not the Egyptians that we know who reside in the
nation of Egypt today. The current inhabitants of that area conquered the
inhabitants and forced them to leave. The conquerors are Muslims from the place
we call Arabia. People today have considered that these ancient Africans were not
Africans but Arabs. Some have tried to convince the world that the Africans were
Europeans. It was the role taken by the Senegalese scholar Chiek Ata Diop to
prove that these pharaohs who govern the Ancient Egyptian civilization were
Africans. Doing research and study in a university in Paris France for his doctoral
degree on the study

It is understood that the name Egypt was given to them by the Greeks. This name
made reference to the many gods that these people worshiped. These African
people referred to themselves as Kemet in the writing they called Medu Netur. The
Greeks also used another name to refer to their writing. This name was called
‘hieroglyphics’. It is not uncommon for many of the names of the Ancient Egyptians
Gods were also change to Greek.

Information received about the events and the history of Ancient Egypt (Kemet)
comes from the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone is a huge rock
that has three types of writings on it, two from the Ancient Egyptians and a third
was Greek. It was because the Ancient Egyptians understood and communicated
with the Greeks that had this writings on the stone. When this stone was discovered

it took some time but people were able to decipher the ancient writings of medu
netur. There was an important civilization that was considered as important as the
Ancient Egyptian civilization that was located south of them along the Nile River.
These people were thousands of years older than the Ancient Egyptians, however,
they had no Rosetta Stone that would give them information regarding their life and
history. At this point we will never know the influence that the Nubian people had on
the Ancient Egyptians.

This information revealed from the Rosetta Stone showed the importance of
the Nile River and how it influenced the daily lives of these Africans. It was
because of the Nile that the first calendar was invented. The Nile overflowed each
year around the same time and their astronomers were able to predict this event.
As a result of the Nile the first irrigation system was developed. People took the
water that overflowed and directed to their homes and other places by making
ditches. They had surveyors who had the skills to show where property was located
before the overflow. Obviously the used the Nile for water to drink, to bathe, to grow
crops, etc. They also used the Nile to travel. It has been discovered that the oldest
boats in the world were found in Ancient Egypt. Boats were made of wood and
scientists used the radio-carbon 14 dating method to determine the age of wood.

These Africans built the pyramids that still remain today. They have elaborate tombs
where their pharaohs were buried. They had mathematicians, physicians, and thus
they had medicine. They had a social system with complicated structures and
functions that worked for thousands of years. The pharaoh was at the top, was
considered a living god. The next level was his vizer, who assisted in as a high priest
and an adviser. There were nobles, priest and soldiers. There were scribes,
craftsmen, farmers and slaves. There were many gods who were worshiped on a
daily basis. There were many myths told that explained life and after life. After life
preparation was as important as life itself. These were governed by god and often
the gods got married to goddess and had offspring gods. They talked about the
many pharaohs, their dynasties, their tombs and their accomplishments. This was
the life of the Ancient Egyptian civilization (Kemet) five thousand years ago and the
study of Africa should begin with its recognition.

Humans had continued to migrate to other areas of the planet. Many people have
returned to Africa on a temporary basis to learn what their contemporaries had
discovered, i.e., math, astronomy, medicine, etc. They returned to their lands and
implemented this knowledge into their cultures. These people no longer physically
resembled their ancestors because of their mutation differences but they all had the
same important characteristics of being human beings.

Sixth Meeting

Overview for the Mid-term Exam

Students should be able to define the various concepts and explain the differences
between concepts which are similar: natural construction and social construction,
purpose and function, in identity alignment and out of identity alignment, seasoning
and perpetual seasoning, myths and theories, knowledge and beliefs, Ancient
Egyptians and contemporary Egyptians, the traditional African definition and the
contemporary African definition and others

Students should also be able to explain in essay form various topics: Using the Nine
Box Climate chart explain the natural construction of Africa compared to other
places, The concept of God as a natural construction and as a social construction,
The importance of the Nile River and the Rosetta Stone as they relate to the
contributions of Ancient Egypt (Kemet), the journey of genetic tracking and human
mutation, The experience of Africans born in America and the lose of their African
identity perception.

Seventh and Eighth Meeting

Contemporary African culture is dominated by three major sources: (1) Traditional

(2) Christianity and (3) Islam. Lecturers and discussions will be centered on cultural
topics. Students will have the opportunity to discuss and describe their cultural
backgrounds using the following topics;

A. Traditional myths and legends; marriage rituals and taboos; puberty

rites, naming ceremonies and funeral rites.

B. Christian adoptions to traditional cultural beliefs and practices

C. Islamic adoptions to traditional cultural beliefs and practices.

Ninth Meeting

III. The third category of the evolution of Africans history is known as the Old
African era. Old Africans are those Africans who have been conquered
 and subjected to the power of outside negative social forces like slavery,
imperialism, colonialism and forms of oppression of their race. Arabic
Islamic forces conquered north Africa in the 600 AD, and the Western
European Christians conquered the remaining part of Africa from the 1400
AD.

Africans, who remained in Africa, experience one of the worst human tragedies
known to mankind. They were enslaved in the north by the Muslims and elsewhere
by the Christians. Their families were destroyed and millions of them were taken
away from Africa as slaves. Both these invaders left sacred books for Africans to
worship and taught them to pray to a new and different God. The invaders took
African land, some return to their homes while others remained. The invaders
explained to the world that Africans were inferior humans and did not warrant
respect. They also explained that Africans were did not deserve to survive
oppression because they were not fit to survive as noted in the expression,
“Survival of the Fittest”. The Europeans colonial masters continued their
exploitation of Africans by taking the natural resources of the Africans to feed their
colonial industries. The cultures of Africa greatly imitated their European
oppressors; women straighten their hair, men wore European clothes; they imported
the products from Europe rather than producing their own. Most of their social
institutions like their school systems reflected the philosophy and values of Europe.

Africa has problems that go beyond the exploitation of their ex-colonial masters.
There is a problem of absolute and relative poverty. There is a lack of clean water
that is evident throughout the continent. There is the problem of malaria, problem
of HIV/Aids. There is a problem of serious unemployment and inadequate education.
With these problems many feel that they are affects of a much bigger picture.

Mordernity – that state of a society which has experienced the industrial revolution
and is able to support the society’s needs through exportation. African nations
generally have not experienced industrialism and are therefore depended on other
nations for industrial products.

Difference between Contemporary Africa and Modern Africa: Contemporary Africa

may be defined as that state of existence that Africa is experiencing now. Modern
Africa does not exist, for it has not experienced the industrial revolution. It appears
that Africa is modern because of the modern things that it has imported. This is an
illusion because Africans have not evolve on the social cultural evolutionary chart as
those society which have experienced industrialism. This is known as illusionary
modernity.

There are three theories that attempt to explain the cause of African’s inability to
modernize:

i. Modernization theory. This theory holds that Africa’s inability to modernize

has itself to blame. It contents that the problem is internal to Africa with its
 superstition and cultural-mind set. It states that until Africa changes its
cultural ways it will remain behind.

ii. Dependency theory. This theory holds that Africa inability to modernize has
its source in their colonial past. It states that the problem is external. The ex-
colonial masters have forced African nations to be depended on them by not
allowing them to develop industrial skills which would give them
independency.

iii. Combination theory. This theory holds that both the fore-mentioned theories
are accurate. It states that Africa s’ problem is both internal and external. It
also holds that if Africa is to solve the problem a scientific approach should
be applied to reach that end.

Difference between nationalism and Pan-Africanism.

Nationalism involves the concerns of one’s nation and its

political/social/cultural/economic survival.

Pan-Africanism involves the concerns of the survival of African

political/social/cultural/economic life style and it may be divided into two views: (1)
only for those on the continent (2) the inclusion of the Diaspora.

Tenth Meeting

The fourth category of the evolution of Africa’s history is the New African Era. This
is an era where Africans address the theories of Modernization and Dependency in order
that they develop Africa. It is one of the objectives of the class that students seek to
become New Africans.

Characteristics of Old Africa Characteristics of New

Africa

Cultural mind-set Paradigm Shift

Superstitious Secular

Use unreliable information Use reliable information

African identity is primarily cultural African identity is primarily

genetic
 Africans only come from Africa Africans can be born
outside Africa (Diaspora)

Nuclear family/extended family super extended

family

Africans satisfied with dependency Africans seek industrialism

Africans satisfied with imitating Europeans Africans dissatisfied with

imitating Europeans

Scientific Approach to Problem Solving

I. Ask questions to acquire reliable information:

A. Survey (Questionnaires and Interviews)

B. Experiment

II. Hypothesis Development in Experimentation: Identify a dependent and

independent variable, which are the cause and the effects of that
problem.

A. Dependent Variable. That part of the experiment that needs to

change by the independent variable.

B. Independent Variable. That part of the experiment that causes

change to the dependent variable.

C. The result is to determine the cause and effect of a problem.

Scientific Format

I. State the Problem

II. State the Reason for the Problem

III. State the Effects of the Problem

IV. State the literature about the Problem

V. State a Possible Solution to the Problem

VI. State the Resources needed to solve the Problem

VII. Evaluate the Solution to Solve the Problem