west african culture
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West African Culture. Powerpoint presentation created by: Sally Horowitz Library Media Specialist Northside Elementary Midway, KY. Why study West Africa?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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West African Culture
Powerpoint presentation created by:Sally HorowitzLibrary Media SpecialistNorthside ElementaryMidway, KY
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Why study West Africa?
• In exchange for guns and other European goods, West Africans sold slaves, usually either captured in war or accepted as tribute from conquered peoples.
• The slave trade displaced millions of Africans from their native lands. Uprooted from their societies, the Africans brought with them their family values, beliefs, traditions, and religious practices.
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Where is West Africa?
• West Africa is the region of western Africa that includes the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
• It is on what is known as the “Bulge of Africa.”
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Regional Overview
(Click for movie)
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African People and Culture
• There are many different people and tribes in western Africa - with their culture varying from tribe to tribe. We are going to learn about one group: the Ashanti people.
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Who are the Ashanti people?
• The Ashanti live in central Ghana in western Africa. They are the largest tribe in Ghana.
• In each village, the Chief and Elders maintain traditional customs and ceremonies and deal with disputes.
• The Ashanti religion is a mixture of spiritual and supernatural powers. They believe that plants, animals, and trees have souls. Does that remind you of any other culture?
• The Ashanti are known for their gold and metal crafts, woodcarving, and brightly colored woven cloth called kente.
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• The Ashanti are known for their intricate kente cloth
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• Ashanti
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An Ashanti ceremony
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Ashanti people
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African Drums• Drums are used for sending
messages to the people in town, for ceremonies such as weddings or naming ceremonies, and even for healing sick people.
• There are many different kinds of drums. Here is an example of some drums from Ghana:
http://www.aviarts.com/demos/flash/abadjarhythm/index.html
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Why do people tell stories?
• Every human culture in the world has created stories as a way of making sense of the world.
–Sharing the human experience - to express or communicate emotion, feelings, ideas, and information.
–Passing on tradition and culture - (e.g., storytelling, folktales, myths and legends)
–Recreational drama for entertainment
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What are some popular forms of telling stories in our culture
today?• Books
• Movies
• Television shows
• Plays
• Broadway musicals
• YouTube videos
• Magazines
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West African Storytelling
• Africans love a good story and a good storyteller. They are primarily an oral people (their stories are not written down, but told verbally), and are often created to be performed with music and dance.
• Histories and stories of a people that come to us in a spoken and sung form are part of what is called an oral tradition. Oral tradition means that the stories are told rather than written down.
• Because people hold the oral tradition in their memory, sometimes the story changes with the telling. Have you ever played telephone?
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African Storytelling
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Who is Ananse?• Ananse (also spelled
Anansi) is one of the most popular characters in West African storytelling.
• He is a trickster. Trickster tales use animal characters with human features to help us understand human nature.
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Bibliography• Background downloaded from: Backgrounds Etc.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/4842/africa.html• An introduction by Professor Cora Agatucci to the nature of storytelling in
Africa: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/afrstory.htm• Map and article on West Africa from Wikipedia free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Africa• African and African-American Folktales. United Learning (1993). Retrieved
February 26, 2007, from Unitedstreaming: http://www.unitedstreaming.com• Anansi image: http://www.anansi.org/webwalker/intro.html• Regional overview of West Africa: World Geography: Africa. Discovery
Channel School (2004). Retrieved February 26, 2007, from Unitedstreaming: http://www.unitedstreaming.com
• Information about the Ashanti people: http://www.ashanti.com.au/http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/ashanti.htmhttp://www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi3/3_wondr1.htmhttp://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/UMS/Drummers/oraltradition.html