West African Culture
Powerpoint presentation created by:
Sally Horowitz
Library Media Specialist
Northside Elementary
Midway, KY
West African Storytelling
• Africans love a good story and a good
storyteller. They are primarily an oral people
(their stories are not written down, but told
verbally), and are often created to be performed
with music and dance.
• Histories and stories of a people that come to us
in a spoken and sung form are part of what is
called an oral tradition. Oral tradition means that
the stories are told rather than written down.
• Because people hold the oral tradition in their
memory, sometimes the story changes with the
telling. Have you ever played telephone?
African Storytelling
• A great deal of what we know about West
Africa comes from the griots (storytellers),
but archaeologists are often surprised by
new finds. In the last twenty-five years,
scholars have concluded that civilization
developed in West Africa as much as one
thousand years earlier than expected. We
now know that Africa had an Iron Age
culture with cities and trade routes about
250 years Before the Common Era.
Griot (storyteller)
Who is Ananse?
• Ananse (also spelled Anansi) is
one of the most popular
characters in West African
storytelling.
• He is a trickster. Trickster tales
use animal characters with
human features to help us
understand human nature.
Where is West Africa?
• West Africa is the region of
western Africa that includes
the countries of Benin,
Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, GuineaBissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger,
Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra
Leone and Togo.
• It is on what is known as the
“Bulge of Africa.”
Regional Overview
West Africa Habitats
Government in West Africa
Population Density: Darker = Denser
African People and Culture
• There are many
different people and
tribes in western
Africa - with their
culture varying from
tribe to tribe. We are
going to learn about
two groups: The
Mandinka and the
Ashanti people.
Who are the Mandinka?
• The Mandinka are an ethnic group that live
in West Africa, primarily Senegal, Gambia,
and Guinea-Bissau.
• Most Mandinka are farmers.
• Mandinka have a rich oral history that is
passed down through praise singers or
griots.
Mandinka People
Traditional Mandinka Housing
What is a Griot?
• A griot is a West African storyteller-musician. A
griot doesn’t just tell stories. They typically
accompany themselves on a stringed instrument.
They still play an important role today—to tell
people about the past, to keep their history alive,
and to safeguard their traditional culture. They
sing the history of a tribe or family at weddings,
naming ceremonies, and other social and
religious occasions.
(you were listening to a griot playing and
singing)
Some Griot instruments
• A kora is made from a
calabash, (a fruit like a
watermelon) that has been cut
in half. The front is made of
cowskin. A traditional kora has
21 strings, made of fishing line.
The strings are plucked by the
thumb and forefinger of each
hand.
• A balaphone is similar
to a xylophone, with
17-21 wooden slats
that are played with
two mallets.
Balaphone
African Drums
• Drums are used for sending
messages to the people in town, for
ceremonies such as weddings or
naming ceremonies, and even for
healing sick people.
• There are many different kinds of
drums. Here is an example of a
djembe from Mali:
Who are the Ashanti people?
• The Ashanti live in central Ghana in western
Africa. They are the largest tribe in Ghana.
• In each village, the Chief and Elders maintain
traditional customs and ceremonies and deal
with disputes.
• The Ashanti religion is a mixture of spiritual and
supernatural powers. They believe that plants,
animals, and trees have souls. Does that remind
you of any other culture?
• The Ashanti are known for their gold and metal
crafts, woodcarving, and brightly colored woven
cloth called kente.
An Ashanti ceremony
Ashanti people
Traditional Ashanti Housing
Why do people tell stories?
• Every human culture in the world has
created stories as a way of making sense
of the world.
–Sharing the human experience - to express or
communicate emotion, feelings, ideas, and information.
–Passing on tradition and culture - (e.g., storytelling,
folktales, myths and legends)
–Recreational drama for entertainment
What are some popular forms of telling
stories in our culture today?
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Books
Movies
Television shows
Plays
Broadway musicals
YouTube videos
Magazines
Bibliography
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Background downloaded from: Backgrounds Etc.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/4842/africa.html
An introduction by Professor Cora Agatucci to the nature of storytelling in
Africa: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/afrstory.htm
Map and article on West Africa from Wikipedia free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Africa
African and African-American Folktales. United Learning (1993). Retrieved
February 26, 2007, from Unitedstreaming: http://www.unitedstreaming.com
Anansi image: http://www.anansi.org/webwalker/intro.html
Regional overview of West Africa: World Geography: Africa. Discovery
Channel School (2004). Retrieved February 26, 2007, from Unitedstreaming:
http://www.unitedstreaming.com
Information about the Ashanti and Mandinka people:
http://www.ashanti.com.au/
http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/ashanti.htm
http://www.globalvolunteers.org/1main/ghana/ghanapeople.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi3/3_wondr1.htm
http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/UMS/Drummers/oraltradition.html
Gambian Griot School of Music and Dance
http://home.planet.nl/~verka067/African_griot.html
Example of Griot singing:
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/griotimages.html