African art and history

 On the evening of the 16th March 2010 an intense fire swept through the royal enclosure at Kasubi Hill. As the flames spread across straw thatching and engulfed the immense grass hut structures housing the tombs of four of the Kingdom of Buganda's recent kings and their descendants, news of the loss of the UNESCO world heritage site filtered across the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Carried on radio airwaves and in the reports of mobile Boda-Boda drivers initial information was confused. By the time news reached a fellow researcher and myself around four miles from the scene, rumours had already begun to circulate as to the origins of the fire. There were suggestions of arson and even intimations as to the involvement of the national government of President Yoweri Museveni.1 On the morning of the 1 i h huge crowds of Ganda gathered at the location of the tombs to express their grief and anger over the loss of one of Buganda's key spiritual sites described by Buganda minister, Medar...

I Am An African I am an African Not because I was born there But because my heart beats with Africa I am an African Not because my skin is black But because my mind is engaged by Africa I am an African Not because I live on its soil But because my soul is at home in Africa When Africa weeps for her children My cheeks are stained with tears When Africa honours her elders My head is bowed in respect When Africa mourns for her victims My hands are joined in prayer When Africa celebrates her triumphs My feet are alive with dancing I am an African For her blue skies take my breath away And my hope for the future is bright I am an African For her people greet me as family And teach me the meaning of community I am an African For her wildness quenches my spirit And brings me closer to the source of life When the music of Africa beats in the wind My blood pulses to its rhythm And I become the essence of sound When the colors of Africa dazzle in the sun My senses drink in its rainbow And I beco...

  Did you know that Ethiopians trained Lions to capture the soldiers of the enemy and fought side by side with Cheetahs,bees,elephants and lions? Ethiopian soldiers with their fighting lions. The Ethiopians went to war with dangerous animals and insects such as bees, wasps, lions, elephants or cheetahs trained to capture the soldiers of the enemy camp, which enabled them to win all the wars of colonization against them and to be the only country in the world to have never been colonized. At the battle of Adowa Ethiopian warriors skilled in sword fighting called Shotel destroyed the invading Italian soldiers in hand to hand combat.

  'The dominant globalism of the nineteenth century was colonialism with its dynamics as the conquest, commerce, and sometimes civilization (mission)' (Myers 2017:56). In this section, globalization and its influence will be discussed with a focus on Africa from the perspectives of Myers (2017) in his book,   Engaging globalization . Globalization  is known as colonialism in the third world for several centuries and is even today seen 'as a globalization by a minority' (Myers 2017:40). Bosch (1991:305-306) reflects on the relationship between colonialism and mission, quoting statements such as: 'To colonize is to missionize', and referring to the three 'C's' of colonialism, namely Christianity, commerce and civilization. It is clear that, within our previously stated understanding of spirituality, we may speak of globalization as a form of spirituality to be found also in the specific context of Africa. Many white and black people in Southern Africa ...

  Some scientists view Africa as the mother continent of the entire world's people. Africa has a very rich heritage of what previous generations of African people thought, did, experienced and passed on to their children. However, this heritage is not uniform. Mbiti (1991:4-10) describes the heritage under the following three headings: firstly, historical heritage - where he describes African life in general; secondly, the cultural heritage - the way people act and live as well as their physical and intellectual achievements; and thirdly, he refers to religious heritage. He indicates that religious heritage may also be viewed as culture. According to the researcher, these three distinctions are so closely related that it can be captured under the umbrella term   spirituality . Spirituality is not always religious but is always concerned with the quest for meaning of life. When such a quest involves an explicit reference to God or the Divine, then that spirituality is religious...

A shaman woman of the Mongo people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo proudly shows her "3rd eye". Circa 1937. The Mongo people are a Bantu ethnic group who live in the equatorial forest of Central Africa. They are the second largest ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highly influential in its north region. A diverse collection of sub-ethnic groups, they are mostly residents of a region north of the Kasai and the Sankuru Rivers, south of the main Congo River bend. Their highest presence is in the province of Équateur and the northern parts of the Bandundu Province. The Mongo people, despite their diversity, share a common legend wherein they believe that they are the descendants of a single ancestor named Mongo. They also share similarities in their language and social organization, but also have differences. Anthropologists first proposed the Mongo unity as an ethnic group in 1938 particularly by Boelaert, followed by a major corpus on Mongo ...