Book Review: Into Africa Essay

While reading Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine Dettwyler, all you can think is “what if I had had to live in a culture like this?” Katherine Dettwyler is an ethnography that primarily study how children feeding and weaning customs, and continuing malnutrition directs to a higher likely hood of children being more likely to perish from life threatening childhood illnesses, for example: malaria, tetanus, diarrhea, diphtheria, kwashiorkor, marasmus and measles in Mali. She also talked about a wider array of topics ranging from culture shock, breastfeeding, population control, child care, female circumcision, women’s role in the house and communities, and the dangers of fieldwork. This novel really makes you think about what it would be like to live in a world without common knowledge of disease and how to prevent them. It also really gets your attention about the different culture customs, for example female circumcision, I feel like that would be a culture shock to any American.

When I began reading Chapter 1 of “Mistaking Africa,” it reminded me of our first class meeting. Professor Crowley asked us to do the same exercise Curtis Keim talks about in the text. Professor Crowley asked us what comes to mind when we think about Africa. It is a great exercise and allow us to express our perceptions of Africa. Even in class, it took me time to think about what comes to mind when I hear the word Africa, because I have not really heard much about it besides the common misconceptions: “Africa is a primitive place, full of trouble and wild animals, and in need of our help” (5). I frequently see the UNICEF commercial with Alyssa Milano, who asks her viewers how it would feel to be able to save a child’s life for fifty cents a day. The commercial precedes to play really depressing music and shows a slideshow of undernourished children, who fend for themselves in

Focusing on micro examples in order to explain a macro concept is the basis of what Donald Wright wanted to do with his book “The World and a Very Small Place in Africa”. In this text, Wright explores the concept of globalization in the small country of Niumi, a country in West Africa with the Gambia river flowing through it’s land. With it’s position in Northern West Africa, Niumi was a major part in the expansion of Europeans for a great part of world history. This expansion impacted the civilization of Niumi during the European Colonial era, and after the colonial era. Globalization, a major theme in our lectures, was a controlling theme and major concept Mr. Wright discusses throughout this book. His micro connection with Niumi & globalization can apply to other

Imperialism is defined as one country’s domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. In Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, imperialism was present and growing. The main countries involved in the imperialism in Africa were the French, German, and Great Britain. The French’s empire was mainly in North and West Africa while Britain’s colonies were scattered throughout the continent. Germany ruled over such countries as Tanganyika, Togoland, and Cameroon, until their defeat in World War I.

In the comparison and contrast essay, “Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa,” by David Sedaris, the author talks about the jealousy he feels towards the excitement present in his friend Hugh’s life. David Sedaris explores the contrast in the dullness of his own childhood with the adventurous lifestyle of his friend’s childhood. Using descriptions, personal experiences of his friend and himself, and language, Sedaris explains why he takes satisfaction in passing his friend’s stories as though they were his own since the stories were more interesting. The field trips, environment, and activities all contribute in the development of the difference in lifestyle between them.

The first chapter in Boahen’s book is titled “Eve of Colonial Conquest” and this section gives the readers a background of the colonialism in Africa through a look at the fundamental economic, political, and social changes that occurred just a few decades before colonialism took root. Boahen states that the trade of “natural products” is the most significant economic change in Africa by 1880. Just before the trading of “natural products” slave trades were abolished.

Africa has had a long and tumultuous road of colonization and decolonization the rush to colonize Africa started in the 17th century with the discovery of the vast amounts of gold, diamonds, and rubber with colonization hitting a fever pitch during World War I. However, the repercussions of colonization have left deep wounds that still remain unhealed in the 21st century. Early on, European nations such as Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium scrambled for territories. Countries wanted land so they could harvest the resources, increase trade, and gain power. The European colonization of Africa brought racism, civil unrest, and insatiable greed; all of which have had lasting impacts on Africa.

People of the early African kingdoms were able to create successful trade routes with Europe and Asia, become very wealthy from conquering and gaining land, and were able to have a strong central government. All of this was done before the Europeans had reached Africa. Trade flourished on the East African coast, especially when trading was established with India and Arabia. African kingdoms were prosperous, because of their success with not only trading but also with their ability to conquer land. A governmental structure is key to allowing any kingdom to thrive, and the African people were able to achieve this.

“Remotely Global: Village Modernity in West Africa” by Charles Piot is a book based on the lives of the people of the remote village called Kabre located in Northern Togo. The author discusses the “vernacular modernity” of the people of Kabre village that has been influenced by a long tradition of encounters with outsiders that included the colonialists. The author provides an in-depth analysis with ethnographic details about the Kabre people as the author discusses a wide range of their culture and history that included houses and the structure of homestead, gender ideology, ritual like initiations, exchange system, and social relations (Piot 178).

In my research, to understand how we undertake the study of the African experience you have to start in the beginning of time which dates back hundreds of thousands years ago and go into one of the first civilizations known as ancient Egypt. Understanding where the people come from and where they are at today does not even cover a quarter of understanding the true African experience. To understand truly how to undertake the African experience you must understand the social structure, governance, ways of knowing, science and technology, movement and memory, and cultural meaning (The six conceptual categories). With these concepts you understand that in a cosmograph known

In the early 1880’s, the powers of Europe started to take control of regions in Africa and set up colonies there. In the beginning, colonization caused the Africans little harm, but before long, the Europeans started to take complete control of wherever they went. The Europeans used their advanced knowledge and technology to easily maneuver through the vast African landscape and used advanced weapons to take control of the African people and their land. The countries that claimed the most land and had the most significant effect on Africa were France, England, Belgium, and Germany. There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons was that the

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.

Book Review: The Myth of Wild Africa: Conservation Without Illusions by Jonathan Adams and Thomas McShane.

Livingstone, I presume?” David Livingstone died in 1873 from Malaria while looking for the source of the Nile River, but his many contributions to the mapping of Africa, his clues about tropical diseases and their probable cures, his creation of commercial and humanitarian interest in Africa, and his effort to abolish the slave trade created a massive legacy for the man that grew up poor and pious in industrialized

Now, there are several salient points that can be made about Symoné’s comments. Symoné’s concern with her inability to accurately trace her African roots is reminiscent of the Pan-Africanist point of view. In this interview, Raven is privileging the Pan- African point of view, deciding that her blackness cannot be validated unless she can show a clear connection to Africa. The Pan-Africanist point of view came about during the time of 18th century slave revolts and continued throughout the 19th century abolitionist movements and the rise of new antisystemic movements in the 1960s (Lao-Montes 311).