While watching The Ink Road there was a lot of new information that I was taking in, about the history and culture of West Africa that I had no knowledge of whatsoever. I was enlightened of all the new characteristics of West Africa that I had not heard about. There seems to be a substantial difference between West Africa and America, between culture, history, and education. West African values are undoubtedly charismatic, and it bewilders me how little have fallen in their footsteps.
For instance, education and literacy was and still is a major aspect of the history and culture of West Africa. In the past, as a tool, students and scholars mixed boiled water and powdered rice to make ink, and they would write on wooden tablets called lohas. In fact, the ink they used was also put to good use for medicine. It is said, that the ink West Africans used, taught humans what they know now. To the West Africans, learning was regarded as spiritual and physical, which introduces me to my second unknown fact. This shows me how truly valued education was in their society. The key to learning was to teach young and to continue to teach when
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West Africans taught their own material, and it was indigenous and unique. At every school is was important to seek knowledge from the craters of the grave. Learning, having spirituality with God, and having an unbreakable connection with your mother was and is still being taught in West African schools today. Instead of a regular school setting, school sessions are seen as a sense of community. Classmates are your brothers and sisters, teachers are your uncles and aunts, and respect is a vile quality during sessions. Schools in the United States are so much different than those in West Africa. American schools hardly have a sense of community in classes, and material being taught is not spiritual or physical; the difference speaks volumes to
Our human species is dated back to more than 200,000 years ago, now if we can attain a significant lesson that our ancestors have passed down to us, it would definitely be to keep learning and writing. Many past generations and societies have been destroyed by diseases, famine, and due to their lack of knowledge and their capability to reason. Considering the Egyptians were very intelligent, few of their inventions that we still use till this day are geometry, the pen, and papyrus, which is used as paper. But even so, they were wiped out by the thousands from diseases. However, humans have yet to reach their highest potential but by attaining knowledge through literature, one can endure lessons from the past without having to experience it.
Throughout history, African American weren’t considered the smartest race on earth. With slavery and being for bided to ever touch or learn to read a book, African American became the race that envy having an education. Education became a prime factor in the African American culture. Having an education to an African is having the one-way ticket out of the terrible streets. They believe that if they don’t know nothing they won’t get nothing. In other word, if they aren’t educated their life would remain the same. Way back to slavery, African American would be beaten if they were to open a book and dare to read it instead of cleaning it.
The first part of the Ink Bridge is about an Afghan boy named Omed. The violence in this book took me by surprise. In only the first chapter of the book, Omed’s friend Zakir died and Omed’s tongue gets cut off by the Taliban. This introduces the audience to the Taliban and their violent influence on Afghanistan.
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.
By going back to one’s roots, the future of developing countries resided in the “development of Africa is one of the most constructive and universally helpful missions” (Locke, 6). This direction was a form of modernization that was an improvement of relationships between African Americans and other races.
Education has always been valued in the African American community. During slavery freed slaves and those held captive, organized to educate themselves. After emancipation the value of education became even more important to ex-slaves, as it was their emblem of freedom and a means to full participation in American Society (Newby & Tyack, 1971). During this time many schools for African Americans were both founded and maintained by African Americans. African Americans continued to provide education throughout their own communities well into the 1930’s (Green, McIntosh, Cook-Morales, & Robinson-Zanartu, 2005). The atmosphere of these schools resembled a family. The
As soon as we start our educational journey, we are indoctrinated with the ideals and values American society hold in high regard. From the moment we walk into our classroom, on that first day we meet our fellow classmates, who will become apart of our daily lives. These classmates come from different backgrounds, and cultures. Each one a different set of ethics and some practice differ religions and customs. We are taught to work together as one, despite our varying differences. We become connected to each other throughout our learning process. Soon we learn that we were all connected to each other, even before we stepped into that classroom. We discover this by practicing a custom all americans in public school, no matter their cultural
Crichton, through the the affects the different cultures have on each other, shows that having and applying knowledge preserves the existence of one’s culture.
Imperialist education destroyed key aspects of African storytelling culture during colonialist attempts to replace African traditions with European customs. Before the invention of writing and even after, history was told orally. In Mali, griots were the professional historians who told the history of a tribe or important lineage. They passed on stories deeply rooted in traditions, customs, and the past. (Clark 253) In many cases, where griots did not exist, it was simply the responsibility of elders to recount their wisdoms and the tribe's history to the children (Clark 261). This tradition created a fluid account of antiquity as griots could only rely on their memories to describe information. Their stories also include cultural explanations of natural
Literature opens our eyes to the different social and cultural standings around the world. For instance, in the book “Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini, Hassani's parents had believed that education was important and put hassani in school but they married her off at the young age of 13. She was sent away from her family to live with her husband and his family. Prior to reading this book, it was implemented in my brain that education is the
Before the Europeans came and colonized much of Africa, including its schooling systems, many educational practices in Africa consisted of groups of older people, known as elders, teaching aspects of life such as rituals and rites of passage, helping to transition children into adulthood. Almost every member of the African community played a part in the educational upbringing of a child. However, when European colonialism began to take place, it started to change the indigenous education systems once taught before. Schooling was no longer just about rituals, instead school now meant earning an education that could compare to countries throughout Europe and the United States. Even with the improvements of educational systems throughout Africa, educational participation rates in many Sub-Saharan African countries are still low.
At an early stage, E Ink had a broad perspective and considered several market opportunities, both in emerging- and mature industries, as well as different business models, in which all leveraged their unique technology.
Through the years, many successful people have came from the traditional setting. The earliest recorded occurrence of education proved that people learned in a
Education is held to the highest regard no matter what location one lives in. Without any form of education or knowledge on what shapes the world, the deeper connection between events and the human mind would lay untouched. In order for an individual to understand his/her country, it is imperative that they study cultural literature. It allows for an individual to gain stability in their own country as well as becoming open-minded about their surroundings and other cultures.
When studying history, it is important to be thorough and complete in your analysis. More specifically, when reading into the African educational system, there are many parts to focus on. These sections range from physical to social to spiritual. From studying these, we can see just what role each part played in the system. Things to consider from this are questions concerning