For my research paper, I am going to be investigating and writing about the Ashanti people. The Ashanti people inhabit what is today Ghana, West Africa, with their capital city being Kumasi. I am interested in this subject because I spent four weeks of this summer in Ghana. While I spent most of my time with the Fante people on the coast, we toured Manhyia Palace in Kumasi and I was instantly intrigued by the Ashanti culture. I also personally know an Ashanti that has moved to the United States, which makes me all the more interested to explore how globalization, as defined by Manfred Steger, has shaped her life and culture. The issues that I am going to be investigating in this paper are ones that I have had first-hand experience with: …show more content…
Ghana was called “The Gold Coast” until its independence was gained from the British in the 1900s, due to the abundance of gold. This, along with the eventual slave trade was a catalyst for the arrival of Europeans in the area in 1471. The Ashanti Empire was founded in 1697 by King Osei Tutu I. At its height, the Ashanti Empire was incredibly rich and powerful, larger than modern-day Ghana, and even had European advisors. Dress was extravagant, rituals were important, and courts, tax systems, and military organizations were all being employed. Yet, as is the case with many African nations around this time, conflict with Europeans eventually arose. The first conflict between the Ashanti and Europeans was with the British, and it occurred in 1824. The Ashanti emerged victorious with the death of the British governor. During the second conflict with the British, the Ashanti were defeated and Kumasi was captured. The near fall of the Ashanti Empire came in 1896, when the Ashanti were defeated by the British and King Prempeh was exiled to the Seychelles. After this, the Ashanti attempted one last attack on the British fort, spurred on by the disrespect they were being shown by the British governor, but they were ultimately defeated. However, many of the traditions and cultural aspects of the ancient Ashanti’s still exist today.
Art and language are two ways in which Ashanti culture has been preserved
The main sociological issue depicted in the video is globalization. Globalization deals with social changes that affect the world on an international scale. This is regarded as the most important social change of the 21st century because the entire world is connected and can communicate in a matter of seconds. This eases the flow of ideas, people, and material objects and allows a small change somewhere to spread and have far reaching effects. This video examines how globalization has unequal effects on the quality of life for different populations of people all around the world. The living situations for a citizen in Malawi is vastly different from that of a citizen living in Beverly Hills. A specific example of the how globalization was created and how it can having varying effects on populations is how the Europeans conquered America and extracted the resources by force.
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
Ghana: wealthy because of gold; declined because of loss of trade, drought, and pressure from outside forces
Even before Europeans came to Africa, the kingdoms in Africa were quite wealthy. As previously mentioned, Ghana was a very strong kingdom in which its people were also incredibly wealthy. Their government appeared to be wealthy as well, which assisted Ghana in being able to control the gold and salt trade. An Arab scholar, Al-Bakri, wrote about the king’s court and how basically everything that the court had was gold (Document 2). The point of view of this document was also positive, and that is because scholars are usually upper class, just like the king’s court. Al-Bakri thought very highly of the court, and explains in detail how every person has some gold on them and how their surroundings also possessed gold. Ghana had a strong army and an intelligent political counsel, which made other countries fear them. Nations around Ghana did not want to start problems and usually just maintained peace with Ghana (Document 3). Ghana was not the only successful kingdom, one of the leaders of Mali, Mansa Musa,
The Kingdom Ghana in western Africa flourished. Ghana gained control of the salt-and-gold trade (Doc. 2). This was important because Gold was used as a currency,
The relationship between the geography of West Africa and the development of the Kingdom of Ghana go hand in hand. It was a great place for civilization because it flourished over time. The Kingdom of Ghana’s development was helped because of trade and wealth.
Documents two and three reveal the effort among Africans to react with diplomacy. In Document two, Ashanti leader Premph I rejects a protectorate status under British rule goes to great lengths not to offend “Her Majesty” and insists
The Kingdom of Ghana was a rich and mysterious country. The Ancient country lay where Maturia, Mali, and Senegal are to day. The kingdom existed from 700-1200 A.D. but people had been living in the area since the Fourth century A.D. Ghana's Golden age was from the Ninth to the Eleventh century A.D. During this time gold was abundant along with salt and other valuable goods. These items made Ghana a rich nation where the primary income was made from trading with the Arabs and other African nations. Even though trading was the main source of income, most of the common people were farmers. These farmers grew crops like corn, wheat, and rice. All of these reasons make the Ancient Kingdom of Ghana a desireable place to move to.
Ghana was no exception to this, as they were said to have food for all its citizens, advanced weapons, and a good government (doc 3). They were more than capable of living good lives and thriving. The city of Timbuktu in the empire of Mali valued written manuscripts and sold them for a higher price than that of any other good (doc 5). Mali also viewed security and justice as very important things to include in a society (doc 6). They were always fair and the citizens and tourists were never afraid. Finally, bronze was important, and went through a very lengthy process to make beautiful and amazing figures (doc 7). Aspects that make a society complex were valued and used during the reign of African
“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 between the eighth and eleventh century the kingdom of Ghana grew. Their advance of political structure can be shown through the amount of wealth
How did the polity of Ancient Ghana arise? How did Ghana maintain its strength and what were some of the challenges? The Wagadou Empire was a monarchy, and the king was regarded by the people to be a semi-divine figure who kept order and justice. Ghana was not rich in natural resources as it was located along a major trade route between ivory and gold producing areas and salt miners in the Sahara. Merchants were lured into Ghana by the wealth of gold and prosperity helped the capital, Kumbi Saleh, to be a center of trade. The country will eventually become a prosperous entrepôt. Ancient Ghana derived power and wealth from gold and transportation of camels during the Sub-Saharan trade to increase the quantity of goods that were transported. The traditional Ghanan religions and Islam spread
The author of the article named Kwame Appiah who is also from Ghana, precisely analyzed and demonstrates examples of the ways in which the world is indeed becoming globalized. Depending on how one may look at globalization, it may appear as a good thing, or it may appear to come off as a bad thing. It will all be based on that person’s paradigm or personal experiences/beliefs. From the author Kwame Appiah’s standpoint he demonstrated globalization as a positive thing yielding good results.
The histories of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai are not well documented. Much of what we know is a mixture of legend, stories and secondhand accounts. North Africa has small coastal areas, some savanna areas, but it is mostly made up of the sahara desert. It is a very dry and hot region. West Africa has some desert areas, wet and dry grasslands, small rainforest, and long rivers, like the Niger River. It has some vegetation areas, but it also has some dry and hot areas. According to legend, Ghana started when a foreigner named Dhinga had to kill a goblin, and marry the goblins pretty daughters. Their offspring became ancestors of the ruling Soninke clans. After he died, his son Dyabe defeated his brother and founded the empire of Ghana somewhere
This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.