Summary On The International Society For The Suppression Of Savage Practices

There are many misconceptions that have been universally accepted mentioned in Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, many of which are based on biased and incorrect accounts and are extremely offensive. Three important myths are that Africa is a land of cannibals, it is backward and very uncivilized, and that it is one country where everyone and the climate are the same all over. These will be explained, refuted, and the detriment to the people of Africa will be discussed.

* The Ibo people have a civilized community because they have an organized structure to their society with rules and laws. A society that employs morals, ethics, and accountability for peoples’ actions cannot be considered savage. The Ibo are highly religious; the base of most of their daily life revolves around religion, whether it is how they raise their families or how they grow crops, such as yams.

Europeans filled in the blanks of African history by using exoticism to come up with origin theories that made sense to them. Because the African population has a different physical appearance than Europeans, they were viewed as the “other” race, and therefore were inferior in the minds of Europeans. Africa, however, was a society that was equally as complex as any European nation, unique with their own kingdoms and customs. Because of this, it was incorrect for Europeans to label Africans as “savage” individuals. Africa’s culture is rich and deserves to be interpreted in the way that they see fit, rather than having European stereotypes of the past define their culture of

Between America and other European nations, stereotypes and misrepresentations have ultimately plagued the continent of Africa. To every side there is often another story, yet unfortunately for the many countries of Africa, they are ultimately victimized and suffer through further oppression. According to Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, Keim suggests that Africa is essentially under the public microscope, it tends to be scrutinized, and compared to European nations and America. Keim elaborates on human natures need to group people, places, and things, which creates the theory of superiority or dominance over races, cultures, and even religions.

2. The Ibo people are in no way savages because they have an organized structure to their society with rules and laws. A society that employs morals, ethics, and accountability for peoples’ actions cannot be considered savage. The Ibo are highly religious; the base of most of their daily life revolves around religion, whether it is how they raise their families or how they grow their crops. “The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began, to honor the earth goddess” (36). Yams control the Ibo economy, and if a person farmed well, success tended to follow. The Ibo village created a very stable economy due to this. The society itself is organized mostly by a person’s title, which states their place in a sort of government. The Egwugwu act much like “judges” and the people themselves try to settle things peacefully between each other.

On a “Trip to Congo” Sir Richard F. Burton writes a story during his exploration to the Yellalla or Cataracts of the Congo leaving some detail insights of the customs and behavior of the African communities. He only gives his point of view from an imperialist position and sometimes denigrates and diminishes the people and their culture. Even though Burton had a translator throughout his trip the language barrier prohibits interaction with the communities and the ability to empathize with the natives. Interaction and understanding is the key to appreciate their behaviors, instead Burton

Regardless of how civilized people are, given certain surrounding environmental circumstances, can produce changes in human nature to the point where they can turn into savages.

10. My third piece of evidence comes from Document 3 again and it’s talking about how they are being described as savages by this historian “ Although generally they are considered good looking, they’re given to gross personal hygiene... They run dirty and barefoot, even in winter… They grease their blonde hair with butter and care not that it smells rancid.” (Document 3)

The Raramuri protect their culture for change. So much, they have simply run from possible

The history of Africa is very complex. Europeans invaded Africa and stripped them of their culture and denied future generations their history. Despite the focus on the time of enslavement in modern history, African history expands far beyond that. African history has been consistently whitewashed and many historians have attempted to put our history in a box. In order to understand and study the African experience, one must realize that the history of Africa extends far beyond the times of enslavement and colonialism.

In the film “The Gods Must Be Crazy” by Jamie Uys, there is a contrast between the primitive and the civilized society. The civilized society has come a long way since its primitive days. Its hard to imagine that there are still people in this world that live without the advantages and developments of a civilized society. Those living in a civilized society would must likely believe that their society is better than that of a primitive society, but like wise a primitive society would think their society is better. In this essay, a comparison will be made between the different traits that make up these two different societies.

Miner (1956) discussed the body rituals among the Nacirema. The Nacirema are human beings, just like all other humans. They bleed, they love, they are born, and they die. However, for some reason, the Nacirema consider themselves a special breed of humans. This belief is so ingrained in their traditions and cultures that some have taken it to the extreme. Scholars have argued that the Nacirema’s inflated sense of pride stems from the greatness of their ancestors. They descended from a great group of warriors who came together and agreed on the future of their descendants. This essay will examine the Nacirema’s obsession with oil and how this informs their aggressive behavior.

Africa, being the second largest continent on earth, has always enticed foreigners to exploit their land and way of life. The biggest offender of trying to diminish their way of life is the western presence, always attempting to alter their normality into their own because they see it as the best way to live, which is not always the case. Throughout history, Africa has been under the impression of the white man and their customs, which can be demonstrated in the novels The Posionwood Bible, by Barbra Kingsolver, and The Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. Both Conrad and Kingsolver display the futile efforts of the western presence to “civilize” Africans with their numerous points of view, clever symbolism, and conveying diction.

In “Primitive,” Mark Antliff and Patricia Leighten argue that in various topics, “primitive” can either have positive or negative connotations. They also specify that the term is not a classification but rather a comparison to its inverse: “civilized.” Antliff and Leighten explicitly discuss its use in the fields of time and space, gender, race and class to support their argument.

The desire to conquer land that was previously unexplored has existed throughout history. This desire forced many indigenous societies, who were usually dominated technologically, to adapt to the teachings and overall system of the ‘superior’ conqueror nation with destruction as the only alternative. This causes a major impact on how a certain society functions, even after seeking independence from the foreigners. The rise and fall of indigenous societies can be analyzed through various media. Chinua Achebe is a novelist specializing in African literature, and this essay deals with the themes regarding colonialism in one of his many novels. In