Sub-Saharan Africa has a unique cultural fabric that is tightly woven, which has seemingly been defined by struggles with European cultures, the colonization process (before and after), and various cultural conflicts. The future of this region will be bright if religious, political, social, and cultural systems can be honored and simplified, allowing for respect of family relations, property ownership, and each nation’s unique heritage. Using the United States of America for a comparison, we can identify differences and similarities, and find opportunities to compare and contrast between a growing host of nations, finding their way in an increasingly modern and globalized world and a super power that has reached its pinnacle.
In the readings, identifying one of the most essential building blocks in the culture of Sub-Saharan Africa was easy to spot. The family unit and strong ties to religiousness and spirituality were easily recognizable as a lynchpin. There is a strong foundation and belief in ancestral spirits, extended family, and kinship relations. There is a uniqueness in the family belief system that differs significantly from the United States of America (USA). Where the USA can be seen as a religious society, most believing in a significant god, we can identify a typical difference using one of the many legends or religious systems discussed in the text. Using the Yoruba of Nigeria as an example, the Yoruba believe in a god called Oludmare. However, hundreds of deities below Oludmare differ significantly from the religious belief system in the USA. The cultural impact of a system with many gods would be a great source of confusion and angst in the USA, but in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a belief and strength that this system will connect and bind its people.
With agriculture of extreme importance, working the land as a family unit requires multi-generational support. A family’s land tenure arrangements and rights to their ancestral land are typically held communally and not individually. The land and any monetary value associated with it often can’t be sold. Family land, for instance, is passed down through a matriarchal or patriarchal lineage. Destruction of the land or sale could provoke severe punishment, sickness, or even death (Attoh, 2010, p. 152) and has deep connections with ancestral spirits. Aside from the system of transferring land wealth by legal agreement and/or contract with the USA, the differences stop there. Family businesses, not land, have a higher standing in the USA, without a direct need for the underlying land in most instances outside a farming business. There isn’t a connection with ancestors unless we consider the monetary wealth passed down from past generations, which, as an aside, is often wasted. Where ancestral spirits have significant standing in maintaining the land, a great desire to maximize profit holds firm in the USA. If land holds family wealth, there isn’t a negative connotation with its sale to the highest bidder, like in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Referencing back to family land both in its importance to remain an asset for the family and also the livelihood that exists through farming, both marriage, and polygamy are front and center in the culture. Marriage takes many forms in Sub-Saharan Africa and is seen as a connection between extended families. It allies communal scenarios with many social impacts beyond the husband and wife. In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are distinct purposes for getting married, which are directly correlated with the highest total fertility rates in the world and a need to work the land for food. Families combine as one during the marriage, with built-in support systems, whereas a marriage in the USA can be an almost complete separation from family. There are stronger bonds that take place during a marriage when compared to the USA, where a union of a man and woman has become somewhat of a burden on the youth and, more specifically, the feminist movement, which has allowed greater freedoms for women than ever before. Where marriage is a burden to young adults in the USA and is seen as optional, marriage is a necessity, which may even include the need for multiple wives, in many nations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Polygamy is permitted, and although it may be a simplistic approach, polygamy allows more women hands to work, produce offspring, and farm the land. In short, marriage connects ancestors and extended families. It is a requirement to live, whereas in the USA, marriage has become an option and is unnecessary, even to raise and have a child.
Over the past 100 years, women in the United States have worked hard for their rights to unprecedented freedoms unrivaled in the history of the world. The story of the African woman is far different, including many constraints. With the ability to postpone childbirth well past the 30s, own land, create and control independent wealth separate from a family or man, receive an education, and work in just about any industry with nearly equal pay to men, the family and agricultural demands of a woman in the USA has dropped off significantly, allowing a woman to seek these freedoms. There is no expectation or dependency on this typical US woman. However, African women are required to produce offspring and be active in family agriculture, frequently without the ability to own the land they work, leaving very little, if any time, to become educated or receive proper training to rise through industry and become a leader. The many domestic burdens are real, and any slight change or modernization of the African woman can alter the economic benefit of the family and have dire straits.
With a growing opportunity to enter the global markets, Africa is joining the developed world, but issues remain. The colossal, head-on collision with European culture, both before and after the colonial era (Attoh, 2010, p. 151), is still taking its toll on Sub-Saharan Africa. There remain opportunities for this region to continue to develop, establish, and necessitate serious modernization of its many systems. The Sub-Saharan African culture is deep and strong and will lead the way. (Submitted July, 2014)
References
Aryeetey-Attoh, Samuel. Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa. Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.