African Art, Religion And Rituals

When most western people think about Native American or African religions there is a certain stigma that comes with the topic. This is in part because there is a lot of misinformation in the world about Native American and African religions. When most westerners think of African religions they think of voodoo and black magic. Likewise, the view of Native American religions is still looked at through the lens of the pilgrims who wrote about Native Americans as being savages and less than human. These stereotypes were all formed from a lack of accurate information. African and Native American religions are very similar. It is difficult to find a lot of accurate information on African and Native American indigenous religions because of the lack of written history but there is a lot of oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. From this information, it is clear that Native American and African religions have many more similarities than they do differences. Three of these similarities will be discussed in this paper. The first topic of discussion is the similarity between African and Native American people when it comes to their perception of the spirit world. Following this topic are the similarities between Native American and African views on the afterlife and finally, the diversity of beliefs within African and Native American religions.

Culture is the characteristics of a group of people defined by language, cuisine, religion social habits music and art. There are many different types of culture including western culture, eastern culture, African culture and many more. Culture is influenced by the groups of people that make up the country (Zimmermann, 2012). The term culture was first used by an English Anthropologist named Edward B. Tyler. It was first mentioned in 1871 in his book named ‘Primitive Culture’. He stated that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Since then culture is the main focus of anthropology.

Dance has always been the focal point in which Africans are able to let free through movements of emotion. In this essay I will discuss the history of African Dance and its importance to the African Culture. Also will be discussing the general information of African dance, the different types of African dance and the ones that I like the most. Dance in the African culture is something that cannot be taken advantage of in the African Culture because it holds such a strong meaningful moment at the time of any occasion.

Art of the Egyptians and Africans express ………………………..In art, style is a characteristic, or a number of characteristics that we can identify as constant, recurring, or coherent.(Art Terminology 1) Artists express their emotions through their art-making, their finished product will reflect that emotion. They might also create a piece of art that makes the viewer create an emotional response. Emotion is any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, fear, etc.(Dictionary 1)

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art

Like in any religion the people have certain beliefs. In the african religions there is no single religion. Researchers try to identify similarities in world views and ritual processes across the african boundaries. African Religions are polytheistic; which means they believe in more than one god. They believe in one overall god, but also ancestral spirits. Most African religion’s creation story reveal the creation of humans more than

On October 9, 2015 I went to the Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art along with attending the Million Man March down in Washington D.C. The experiences were wonderful and I was very excited to be at both events. While at the museum I took two tours one at 10 am that was led by a woman named Nkechi Obi. She talked about docent African Arts. The next one was shortly after at11 am that was led by a teen ambassador named Nicholas Stewart, who was very intelligent. He talked about numerous pieces throughout the museum that had some significance to younger minds so I found that very helpful. After the tour I spent some time down at the mall in DC in which faced the Capitol. This was the Million Man March that was a very popular event that brought out many people. I would describe both events as lectures that were powerful and time put to good use.

The African Culture is one of the most intriguing and complexed cultures to analysis because of the hidden meaning and thought-provoking ritual that has highly impacted their traditions. One of the most considerable piece of evidence of their ritualistic perceptions is the astonishing art work that the African people left behind. The art was a way for the people to implement different rituals throughout the year. For comparison, it is similar to many American cultures ritualistic traditions regarding such holidays as Christmas and Thanksgiving. One piece of art that the African culture is particularly recognized for is their Masks.

Consider how Africa’s geography has changed over time. What positive and negative effects would these changes have had on human populations on the continent? As their new homes changed they were able to adapt due to their innovative mindset. This can be attributed to the new found organization thanks to language. Allowing Africans to grow and expand throughout the entire continent. Other factors that can be attributed are the change in geography for some parts such as the Sahara drying out and swamps and lakes disappeared.

African Art does not have specific date to which it evolved because most early African Art was carved in wood, which perished quickly. This is why most art dates from the 19th and early 20th century. Many 20th century artists admired and collected pieces of African Art. They enjoyed the bold color, expression, and form that produced a new beginning in art history. African Art was mostly dedicated to life affirming activities such as healing, pleasure, protection, and transformation.

In Africa the drum is considered a sacred tool in ceremonies and rituals that are a part of the culture. Africa is a large continent, and drums and their use is different from country to country as the continent is large. In West Africa, the drum can be used for communicative purposes to call meetings or to announce the death of someone important. This communication is made with a talking drum. The talking drum is hourglass-shaped and its pitch can mimic the tone of human speech by squeezing the cords of the two drumheads between the arms and body. It can also be used to send signals. Traditional African religious activities such as communal prayers, rain making, healing ceremonies, and rituals associated with purging evil in society are made complete by drumming. (Kiarie 2) The Conga drum, is used in traditional religious ceremonies in the Conga region. The Conga drum is a single head-drum made from stretching a goat skin over a hollow log. Drums can be found at most African family events including weddings, funerals, marriages, and birth celebrations.

This included folktale beliefs; spiritual believes trickster tales, music, arts, oral tradition and humor. They were naturally filled with certain peculiar strategies for survival. Many of the culture elements played an explicit role for survival and others were to strengthen the psychological and emotional health of these slaves. For instance, some slaves resorted to numerous rituals to protect themselves from these harmful spirits whether white or black; examples includes burying a corpse facedown would prevent return after death, placing a broom, a sifter or a bible at the door would keep spirits from entering, scattering mustard seeds on the floor of a room would confine the spirits to that space until every seed was picked up, reading the bible backwards three times provided especially strong protection.(Levine page 120-130) Furthermore, these traditional beliefs led to the development of remedies and treatments, which may not have always cured or saved lives but they endured the sense of competence, control and active participation by their activities of speaking and believing in nature. This therefore was a quest by African Slaves to use their natural beliefs to cure many sicknesses and also used music to ease the stress from working on fields and plantations. To an African slave, singing provide an immerse boost to work. They usually generate a rhythm for work-issuing instructions that helped them increase their efforts. For instance a black slave Wilfred millers reencountered many times when they sang as they pick cottons, pulled corn with the use of beat and body movement. (Levine 213). This allowed them to communicate continuously with themselves and their peers at the plantations without the knowledge of their master. Aside that slave songs were also a tool to ensure social and moral

African art has played an important role in the culture of the world. The sculpture is the most common traditional culture expression for the African art. The different sculptures are shown by their local styles and they serve for the specific functions, such as religion. From some of these old art pieces, we figure out this kind of traditional culture expression already existed in the African for such a long time. In this paper, the art piece I am going to analyze is the Female Figure with Child and it made by Akan-Asante people. The Akan people of Ghana have been recognized for their various and attractive culture and it located in what are today Ivory Coast and the republic of Ghana in Western African. The Akan people are combined by different groups, such as the Anyi, Akawpim, Akyem, Aowin and Asante, and these people have their own dialect, but they share a lingua franca, which called Twi. The sculpture I choose could effectively reflect its own distinctive culture, because of the social connection reflect on the royalty, the comparison with other local art pieces, like Akuaba fertility dolls and its specific art form.

In this course we have learned about all of the different cultures and their musical traditions. My favorite so far has had to be the west African music culture. They have a variety of different music, instruments, and dances to contribute to the reasons I liked this music culture so much. So, I have taken it upon myself to further my research on this particular musical group. I will compare and contrast a variety of different videos from the west African music culture and I will analyze how they connect to this culture.

     Before one starts to outline the traditional religion in Africa, one must first explain the way Africa is as a whole. Without the knowledge of the past combined with knowledge of culture, one would have a very vague, if any, understanding of traditional religion.