African art and history

  The philosophy symbolized by the mythical Sankofa bird of the Akan tribe in Ghana is that you need to know where you come from in order to know where you are going. The bird flies resolutely forward while casting its head back regularly. In Africa, colonization  was accompanied by the erasure of history. Part of renewal, of renaissance is to once again connect to that history. In this Africa Month edition of The Journalist, we build on the efforts to achieve that. History has bequeathed Africa an unequal and inferior status. The characterization of Africa as a dark continent that required civilization was integral to the process of colonization. This mythology was vigorously advanced by the colonizer and even internalized by the colonized. Western historians advanced the notion of Africa as a place with a scant history and very little or no achievements. In the post-colonial period efforts have been made to address this historical injustice. In this Africa Month, it is ...

  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.

  While the British tabloid press created a fictional title for their comedy demonizing Ugandan leader President Idi Amin, the reality about their own unelected Monarchy remains well hidden from public scrutiny. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England is the largest landholder in the world. She has 6.6 billion acres of land in her name. She is the Queen of 16 countries in total where she has never been elected by the indeginous peoples. I was shocked to discover that all dolphins and whales within 3 miles of the United Kingdom shores are by law owned by Elizabeth. Under British law, she also owns all the swans in the River Thames. I never thought such ridiculous claims could still exist in the 21st century. Unlike everybody else on the planet, the Queen is the only person who has given herself power to drive any vehicle without a license. In fact all UK driving licenses are issued in the Queens name, both in the UK and in all the 16 countries she controls. So that's her excuse no...

  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...

  Two young ladies arrived a Meeting wearing clothes that were quite revealing their body parts. Here is what the Chairman told them: He took a good look at them and made them sit.Then he said something that, they might never forget in their life. He looked at them straight in the eyes and said; "ladies, everything that God made valuable in this world is well covered and hardly to see, find or get. 1. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. 2. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. 3. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers of rock and to get them, you have to work hard & dig deep down to get them. He looked at them with serious eyes and said; "Your body is sacred & unique" You are far more precious than gold, diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too."So he added that, if you keep your treasured mineral just lik...

  A couple was invited to a masked costume Halloween party. The wife got a terrible headache and told her husband to go to the party alone. He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she argued and said she was going to take some aspirin and go to bed, and there was no need for his good time to be spoiled by not going. So he took his Batman costume (mask) and away he went. The wife, after sleeping soundly for about an hour, awakened without pain, and, as it was still early, decided to go to the party. In as much as her husband did not know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him. She put on a Goldilocks costume (mask). So she joined the party and soon spotted her husband enjoying himself on the dance floor, dancing with every nice woman he cuddled and occasionally giving a little kiss here and there. His wife went up to him and being a rather seductive woman herself, his husband left his new pa...

  A man was dating three women and wanted to decide who to marry. He then gave them a test. He gave each woman $10,000 and observed what each did with the money. The first one did a total make-over which included a fancy hair style, make up and several new outfits. She then dressed up for the man and said, "I have done this to make myself more attractive to you because I love you so much." The man was impressed. The second woman went and bought gifts for the man. She bought him a new smartphone, a Rolex watch and very flashy clothes. As she presented these gifts to him she said, "I've spent all the money on you because I love you so much." The man was again impressed. The third one invested the money in the stock market. She earned $40,000 and gave him back his $10,000. She then deposited the remainder in a joint account. She told him that she wanted to secure their future because she loved him so much. Obviously the man was very impressed. The man thought for a...

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 ...