Sub Saharan Africa: Part 3

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Gender Relationships

        Strict division of labor and responsibilities between men and women is a long-standing tradition in many rural areas in Africa (though not all).

       Women: domestic activities (cooking, water getting), subsistence agriculture, cash agriculture if men migrate, crafts

       Men:  Preparing land for cultivation, cash crops, migrating for work

      Result is rural men often work less hours than women

 

Gender and Sexuality

        In pre-colonial times, most (not all) marriages were social alliances between families.

       Husbands and wives spent most of their time with family members of their own sex

       To this day, men and women have separate bank accounts for their earnings

        Under Islam, Christianity, and colonization, men gained power and women lost options

       Urbanization seems to be bringing options back

        Female circumcision/genital mutilation most publicized, extreme gender-related abuse/rite of passage in region

       A pre-Christian, pre-Islamic practice

        One area of major concern is that not only have many countries ignored LGBTQ rights; but some countries have made new actively discriminatory laws.

 

Religion

Indigenous Belief Systems/animism

        Though there is great diversity, most are based on maintaining contact between departed ancestors and living people

       Children are important to continue rituals, care for ancestors.

        Spirits of the deceased are believed to be all around and offer protection in return for respect.

        Religious beliefs in Africa evolve continually (b/c passed orally) as new influences are encountered

       Also, when animists covert to new religion, often retain some of old

      Called syncretism

Religion (cont.)

            Islam and Christianity in Africa

        Islam is the predominant religion in most of northern and western Africa

       Long interaction with Islamic Middle East

       Islamic leaders helped the British colonize.

        Christianity had existed since ancient times in Ethiopia

       Missionaries spread it in the 19th century

      Old churches do well: More Anglicans in Africa than England, fastest growing Catholic continent
      Anglicans do well among Middle class, evangelicals, especially those preaching the Gospel of Success, among poor

 

Ethnicity and Language

        Very rarely do groups occupy discrete and exclusive spaces.

       Often groups are complementary (one herds, other farms), and live peacefully

       Now people in same group can have quite different lives if in rural or urban area

        More than a thousand languages are spoken in Africa

       Many are dying

       Lingua francas like Swahili (an Arabic influenced Bantu language), English and French are taking over

 

Olympic Video Time

            One on Greece

            Two on Sochi  (aftermath)

 

Questions

Almost every Olympic games (even those in giant cities like Beijing) have a hard time using all the infrastructure and recouping the cost.  But they certainly bring a city attention, some infrastructure improvements and most people like them while they are happening.

                   Would you like Miami to host the Summer Olympics?  Would it be worth the cost? Why or why not?

                   As every Olympics seem to be more expensive than the last, what is the solution?  Is the current system OK or can you think of different options?