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Sanankouya
Sanankuya (also sanankou(n)ya, sinankun, senenkun, senankuya) refers to a social characteristic present especially among the Manding peoples as well as many West African societies in general, often described in English with terms such as "cousinage" or "joking relationship". In addition to ''sanankuya'' relationships that are pre-established between certain ethnic or professional clans, a ''sanankuya'' relationship can also be established between any two willing participants who have "broken the ice". Those in a ''sanankuya'' relationship may treat one another as if cousins or close family members with whom familiar jokes or humorous insults are exchanged. It is considered an essential element of Mande/West African society. Sanankuya was reputedly ordained as a civic duty in the ''Kurukan Fuga'', the oral constitution of the Mali Empire, by Sundiata Keita in c. 1236. This complex and longstanding custom in West African society is thought to survive in African-American culture in suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African-American Culture
African-American culture refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on American and global worldwide culture as a whole. African-American culture is a blend between the native African cultures of West Africa and Central Africa and the European culture that has influenced and modified its development in the American South. Understanding its identity within the culture of the United States, that is, in the anthropological sense, conscious of its origins as largely a blend of West and Central African cultures. Although slavery greatly restricted the ability for Africans to practice their original cultural traditions, many practices, values and beliefs survived, and over time they have modified and/or blended with European cultures and other cultures such as that of Native Americans. African-American identity wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandinka People
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family and a ''lingua franca'' in much of West Africa. Over 99% of Mandinka adhere to Islam. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali. The Mandinka are the descendants of the Mali Empire, which rose to power in the 13th century under the rule of king Sundiata Keita, who founded an empire that would go on to span a large part of West Africa. They migrated west from the Niger River in search of better agricultural lands and more opportunities for conquest. Nowadays, the Mandinka inhabit the West Sudanian savanna region extending from The Gambia and the Casamance region in Senegal to Iv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African-American Cultural History
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Slavery in the United States, enslaved Africans who are from the United States. While some Black immigrants or their children may also come to identify as African-American, the majority of first generation immigrants do not, preferring to identify with their nation of origin. African Americans constitute the second largest racial group in the U.S. after White Americans, as well as the third largest ethnic group after Hispanic and Latino Americans. Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of West Africa, West/Central Africa, Central African with some European descent; some also have Native Americans in the United States, Native American and othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burkinabé Culture
The culture of Burkina Faso in West Africa is also called the Burkinabé culture. Two key elements of culture in Burkina Faso (a country once known as Upper Volta) are its indigenous masks and dancing. The masks used in this region of the western Sahel are made for rites of sacrifice to gods and animal spirits in the villages. Native dance, on the other hand, is employed to demonstrate the villagers' desire for blessings by the spirits. Literature Literature in Burkina Faso is based on the oral tradition, which remains important. In 1934, during France, French occupation, Dim-Dolobsom Ouedraogo published his ''Maximes, pensées et devinettes mossi'' (''Maximes, Thoughts and Riddles of the Mossi''), a record of the oral history of the Mossi people. The oral tradition continued to have an influence on Burkinabé writers in the post-independence Burkina Faso of the 1960s, such as Nazi Boni and Roger Nikiema. The 1960s saw a growth in the number of playwrights being published. Since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West African Culture
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (''ouest'' in French, ''oest'' in Catalan, ''ovest'' in Italian, ''oeste'' in Spanish and Portuguese). As in other languages, the word formation stems from the fact that west is the direction of the setting sun in the evening: 'west' derives from the Indo-European root ''*wes'' reduced from ''*wes-pero'' 'evening, night', cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος hesperos 'evening; evening star; western' and Latin vesper 'evening; west'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin occidens 'west' from occidō 'to go down, to set' and Hebrew מַעֲרָב maarav 'west' from עֶרֶב erev 'evening'. Navigation To go west using a compass for navigation (in a place where magnetic north is the same dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gambian Culture
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publications. p. 11. . and is surrounded by Senegal, except for its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia is situated on both sides of the lower reaches of the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the centre of the Gambia and empties into the Atlantic Ocean, thus the long shape of the country. It has an area of with a population of 1,857,181 as of the April 2013 census. Banjul is the Gambian capital and the country's largest metropolitan area, while the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama. The Portuguese in 1455 entered the Gambian region, the first Europeans to do so, but never established important trade there. In 1765, the Gambia was made a part of the British Empire by establishment of the Gambia. In 1965, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malian Culture
The culture of Mali derives from the shared experience, as a colonial and post-colonial polity, and the interaction of the numerous cultures which make up the Malian people. What is today the nation of Mali was united first in the medieval period as the Mali Empire. While the current state does not include areas in the southwest, and is expanded far to the east and northeast, the dominant roles of the Mandé people is shared by the modern Mali, and the empire from which its name originates from. Songhay, Bozo, and Dogon people predominate, while the Fula people, formerly nomadic, have settled in patches across the nation. Tuareg and Maure people continue a largely nomadic desert culture, across the north of the nation. The interaction of these communities (along with dozens of other smaller ethnicities) have created a Malian culture, marked by heterogeneity, as well as syntheses where these traditions intermix Ethnic patchwork and intermixing Mande people share a caste system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traoré
Traoré or Traore is a surname of Manding origin ( bm, Taara-oray), as written in French orthography, which is common in Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Guinea. In anglophone West Africa the name is often spelled Trawally. Notable people with the surname include A * Abd Traore, Guinean entrepreneur * Abdou Traoré (other), multiple people * Abdoulaye Traoré (other), multiple people * Abdoullaye Traoré (born 2000), Ivorian-Italian footballer *Abibatou Traoré (born 1973), Senegalese writer * Abou Traoré, Guinean politician * Aboubacar Traoré (born 1992), Burkinabé footballer *Adama Traoré (other), multiple people *Aissata Traoré (born 1997), Malian footballer *Alain Traoré (born 1988), Burkinabé footballer *Ali Traoré (born 1985), French basketball player *Aliou Traoré (born 2001), French footballer *Alou Traoré (born 1974), Malian footballer *Alyssa Traoré (born 1998), Dutch fashion model *Amadou Traoré (born 2002), French foo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fadenya
''Fadenya'' or “father-childness” is a word used by Mande peoples, originally to describe the tensions between half-brothers with the same father and different mothers. The concept of ''fadenya'' has been stretched and is often used to describe the political and social dynamism of the Mande world. ''Fadenya'' is often discussed in contrast to ''badenya'', or mother-childness. Definition ''Fadenya'' originally described the conflicts between half-siblings with the same father, but different mothers. In the traditionally polygamous Mande world, half-brothers would often compete for control of their father's lineage and claim to his wealth and land. In order to do so, these brothers would have to set out on their own, leaving the safety of their community, in order to achieve recognition independently and claim the lineage of their father or to “ vercomepaternal and ancestral reputations”.Bulman, Stephen (1995). "The Image of the Young Hero in the Printed Corpus of the Sunjat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cousinage
In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that the study of kinship is the study of what humans do with these basic facts of lifemating, gestation, parenthood, socialization, siblingship etc. Human society is unique, he argues, in that we are "working with the same raw material as exists in the animal world, but ecan conceptualize and categorize it to serve social ends." These social ends include the socialization of children and the formation of basic economic, political and religious groups. Kinship can refer both to the patterns of social relationships themselves, or it can refer to the study of the patterns of social relationships in one or more human cultures (i.e. kinship studies). Over its history, anthropology has developed a number of related concepts and terms in the study ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dozens
The Dozens is a game played between two contestants in which the participants insult each other until one of them gives up. Common in African-American communities, the Dozens is almost exclusively played in front of an audience, who encourage the participants to reply with increasingly severe insults in order to heighten the tension and consequently make the contest more interesting to watch. Comments in the game may focus on the opposite player's intelligence, appearance, competency, social status, and financial situation. Disparaging remarks about the other player's family members are common, especially regarding their mother. Commentary is often related to sexual issues, and this version of the game is referred to as the "Dirty Dozens".Chimezie, Amuzie (June 1976). "The Dozens: An African-Heritage Theory", ''Journal of Black Studies'', Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 401–420. According to sociologist Harry Lefever and journalist John Leland, the game is played almost entirely by Afric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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