Traditional Society & Culture in
Africa
Global History I: Spiconardi
Stateless Societies
Family organization is central to African
society
 Many families are organized into groups
called lineages (clans)
 Lineages  people, both living and dead,
who are descended from a common ancestor

 Lineages
took the place of rulers in many
African societies
Stateless Societies
societies  cultural groups in
which authority is shared by lineages
of equal power instead of being
exercised by a central government; no
one executive ruler
 Stateless
 Community
rule over individual rule
Usually the community
that made the decisions
consisted of male family
heads
Stateless Societies
Positives
Turn to your partner and
create a list of the positive
and negative attributes of a
stateless society.
Negatives
Traditional Societies: Family Descent

Patrilineal 
trace ancestors
through fathers

Matrilineal  trace
ancestors through
mothers

20% of African societies
are matrilineal today
Traditional Societies: Age-Set System

Age-Set System  a cohort of young people within a
region who are born during a certain period



Pass through life stages/rites of passage together
At each life stage the age group inherits different
responsibilities
Boys and girls are generally separated
Traditional Societies: Griots

Griot  keeper of history via oral tradition in West
Africa


Poet, praise singer, & musician
told tales of births, deaths, marriages, battles, hunts, and
hundreds of other folklores via song
Traditional Societies: Griots

Father of the poor people
Husband of beautiful ladies
At whose absence the city is not interesting
At whose absence the people are not happy…
Be our mother
Be our father
Provide us with clothing
Be the salt we need for our gravy
Be the oil we need for our porridge…
You are our eyes
You are our mirror
You are our hands and legs
That we use to walk.
Traditional Societies: Griots

My master has requested that I ask you the exact meaning of your name Da.
Is it Da Guinea hemp?
Is it Da clay pot?
Is it Da the syphilis?
Is it Da the mouth?
Is it Da the door?
Is it Da do you sleep there?
If you are a pot, Kaarta Tiema will break you.
If you are Guinea worms he will harvest you in order to give you to his
fishermen who will make nets of you.
If you are syphilis, he will treat you with a red hot iron.
If you are a mouth, he will rip you open to your ears.
If you are a door, he will close you for good and you will never serve for any
pathway.
If you are sleeping there, he will stand you up like a house at the top of a hill.
That's what my master put in my mouth with the order to spit right into your
face.
Religion

Animism  the belief that
spirits are present in natural
objects


What animals is portrayed
by the apparel in the photo?
Many Africans believed the
spirits of their departed ancestors
were present on Earth
Ancestral spirits would be called
upon for help in times of
need/trouble
African Animism
Religion

Islam


Spreads throughout North Africa
Enters West Africa during the age of the
trade empires

West African Islam



Many maintained traditional aspects of
animistic religion
Women were not veiled & interacted with men
in public
Mosques designed in traditional architecture
Assessment
1. In what sense were the early societies of SubSaharan Africa stateless?
1. They lacked centralized government and tax
systems
2. They did not have an agriculturally-based
economy
3. There were no cities or large villages where
the majority of the population lived.
4. Provincial governors owned the majority of
the land in their respective territories
Assessment
1. The Islamization of sub-Saharan Africa was
similar to the spreading of Buddhism to Japan in
that both
1. led to the creation of a rigid class hierarchy
2. involved blending with native cultural and
religious practices
3. were a result of extensive missionary work
4. led to tensions between aristocrats and
peasants