Africa’s entanglement to colonization
Africa is a land of fertile soils and rich mineral resources. The first man to live on earth was from Africa which is why Africa is said to be the “birthplace of humanity.” The people of Africa were enjoying their motherland, their culture, and heritage before the trans-Saharan trade which exposed them to the outside world and the greediness of the Europeans leading them into slavery and captivity. Although Africans practiced their own form of slavery, usually among kings and chiefs, either as laborers or debtors, the slaves were not treated maliciously like the Europeans did to them. Readings in class from Homegoing and Slavery at sea unveils some untold stories about the experiences of enslaved men on their journey to the new world. The Europeans colonized Africa, exploited the land, leaving it damaged, and now Africans are working hard to redeem their land from the adverse impact of this colonialism. Mittlebeeler described colonialism as the policy of a nation to exercise political control over a non-neighboring country without granting them their rights and involvement in governing their affairs (1). The colonists stripped off the beauty and value of the continent with most African countries now poor and underdeveloped after gaining independence. Impacts of colonization entangled Africans to lose appreciation for their religions, languages, clothing, foods, skin color and politics.
The white men who have written the history of this great continent made it seem that Africans had no history before the arrival of the Europeans. Just because their history was passed on by words of mouth and not written down in books, does not mean African have no history. Mazrui in “In Search of Africa’s Past” analyzed that when Hegel or Trevor-Roper said there was no African history, what they meant to say was that there is no historical event that is of significance to African historians prior to the arrival of the Europeans (4). The society has miseducated Africans to ignore the relevance of this indigenous history, instead, they pay much attention to colonial events.
Africans had their own languages they used as a medium of communication before the arrival of the Europeans, but now most African countries use either Arabic, French, or English as the official language. The Europeans forced people to abandon their local dialects but rather learn their language like French, Portuguese, and English. If the people did not have a common language, there is no way they could coexist as a nation, which serves as evidence that the people were involved in a lot of different activities before the coming of the Europeans. People consider those who are not proficient in these foreign languages in this century to be uncivilized. In 2012, a lady in Ghana by name of Akua Donkor wanted to run for the presidential election. Because of her inability to speak English, Ghanaian did not regard her (Graphic online). As Africans, we have ceased to acknowledge the capabilities of people just because they cannot express themselves in a language that was not even ours but imposed on us by the colonial masters. People with great ideas are not involved in matters regarding their countries because of this language problem.
The school system in Africa uses either English or French or both in a majority of our teaching with only a small proportion in our local languages. In Ghana, some schools do not even teach the local language until middle school level. In 2002, Ghana passed a law which mandates that pupils in lower primary school that is first through third grade be thought in the English Language. The Minister of Education claimed that there are not enough textbooks and other resources in the local languages to aid in teaching. This had scholars and educators come out to criticize it because these young people are beginning their educational journey and so using a medium of instruction other than their native tongues is challenging and unfair. This creates underachievement in the schools since they are unfamiliar with the language and so understanding their teachers becomes hard (Owu-Ewie, 76). Research showed that children instructed in their local language in lower primary tend to do better in the English language when introduced. This was shown to be the in Guinea Bissau and Mozambique (Owu-Ewie, 80) There is no general requirement for the local language in high schools and the only people who have classes in the language are those who chose to take it as an elective for their General Art major. It is surprising that even children born in Ghana cannot speak the local language because they don’t use language in their homes. Some parents communicate to their children in English, denying them the opportunity to learn the language from infancy. At Dr. Anne Rotich colloquium on “Silencing the Controversial: Education, Language and the Youth in Kenya” she talked about how teachers hang signs and objects around students’ necks if they caught them speaking vernacular because the only language they expected them to speak was English. Although Swahili is one of the national languages in Kenya it was not all welcomed in their schools. Despite every African country gaining independence from their colonial masters, they are entangled to their masters’ languages and view them highly over their native tongue.
Some African countries rely on importing food from other countries to feed their people. The arrival of the Europeans exploited and deserted the fertile soils with the indiscriminate mining activities and buildings to hold slaves (Apoh, 360). The lands no longer bear good food like it used to, and the waters are polluted. In Ghana, grains such as rice, maize, millet, and sorghum are the main local foods grown and consumed in the country, but the local rice can only meet thirty-five percent of the demand and so they depend on importing wheat and rice to meet the domestic demand. Although Ghana is an independent country, their reliance on other countries to provide food for its people does not make them self-sufficient. The poverty rate of people living in the Northern regions of Ghana is approximately sixty-three percent compared to the twenty-nine percent national average. The northern regions are dominant sorghum and millet production areas. What the country can do is channel resources to help farmers in these regions to access tools and chemicals in order to produce more food instead of having to import from foreign countries. This can help bring down the number of people living in poverty. Also, they should develop mechanisms to store excess produce, so they would be enough to feed the people when the crop is out of season. Some of these imported foods are not as healthy as the local ones and is unable to provide the nutritional needs of the consumers. The country has lower tariffs which encourage importation food into the country to the disadvantage of the local farmers. The overreliance on imported food makes them vulnerable when there is fluctuation in the international market price which is a risk to the nation’s economy. (Cudjoe et al, 295).
Africans have lost their identity by their fashion identity. The people of Africa were recognized by their unique style of dressing which included their clothes, ornaments, and sandals. A person’s dressing could tell his role in the society or the clan they belonged. Both men and women dressed decently per their cultural norms. These clothes and sandals were sometimes symbolic and told the history of the land. Other times, it could tell the mood or a circumstance someone was in whether they were mourning or celebrating. But now, the market for these materials are falling. The Europeans introduced their style of dressing making it superior over the traditional dresses. People prefer to wear designer items that have been imported from overseas despite the price giving much attention to the country of origin. They refuse to patronize the materials made in their own land with their resources. The consumers hold the ‘Made in Ghana’ label in low regards relative to foreign labels (Opoku & Akorli, 351). People regard those who still wear traditional clothing to be old-fashioned and backward. Africans prefer to wear items shipped from thrift stores overseas than items that the makers took their time to weave it with their hands paying much attention to the details. In Africa, you would find most clothing stores selling dresses imported from foreign lands like China, Europe, and America with only a few stores selling African clothing because the people prefer to buy and wear foreign clothing.
Religion is the determining principle of African life. Africans involve religion in whatever they do, in their thinking, social life political party and socioeconomic life. The worship of gods was the tradition in Africa before the introduction of Christianity and Islam. According to a research study done in Ghana on the religious beliefs of people, they found that approximately seventy-one percent identified as Christians, eighteen as Muslims and five as African traditional religion with the rest not identifying with any religion (Agyare, 1). The people have neglected their indigenous religion which was supposed to be upheld and passed on from generation to generation. Peoples’ religion shapes their viewpoint in certain situations and so the different religious beliefs sometimes lead to disagreement and conflict as one religious group believes itself to be superior over the others and expect their ideas to be the accepted one in decision making. People who still worship the smaller gods are seen to be evil and backward in the society. Other times, people in power try to favor people they identify the same religion creating bias and unequal opportunities for everyone. These two major religious institutions that are Christianity and Islam has some advantages and disadvantages to the country. They provide social services by building schools and hospitals that are accessible to all. The religious groups are social support systems to its members. People who do not affiliate to them do not get the privileges rendered to them (Pokimica et al 66). This has led to some Africans been entangled in their affiliation to these religions introduced by the colonial masters and have lost a sense of oneness or nationhood
The idea of white skin and its superiority was instituted in Africa as a result of colonialism. Skin bleaching is a global problem among people of color predominantly African descents. Africans especially women are using different pharmaceutical chemicals to lighten their skin tone. They have modernized from calling it bleaching to skin toning. According to Dr. Blay, a large number of fair-complexed women in Africa use skin-lightening products on a regular basis. She mentioned that this was as a result of the Elizabethan era when the Queen was distinguished as bathing regularly. The Europeans viewed Blackness as related to dirt. The Pear’s Transparent Soap advertisement was another way that the black skin was made inferior where consumers witnesses how this magical soap could wash black skin and make it white (Amgborale, 5). This problem of skin whitening has to a variety of health effects including skin cancer since these chemicals destroy the natural protection against the adverse effects of the ultraviolet rays. People prefer to look lighter because the lighter skin one has, the closer to whiteness. According to Asante (88), this is a result of colonial days when children in the West Africa, whose fathers were British, had formal education and were given political and social power in the society than the native dark skinned. This created a system where people wanted to be white to get the same opportunities. Bleaching companies are expanding in Africa and other continents around the world. They use light skin people of color for their advertisement to convince its consumers. In a country like Ghana where race should not have been a problem, colonialism has created a system of hierarchy based on one’s skin tone.
The political form of governing was by matrilineal kinship before the arrival of the colonist. There was a royal family from which the rulers of the land were chosen. Because of this, there were no elections, and power was handed over peacefully to the successor after the ruler died. Post-colonial Africa has changed from this system to choosing leaders by voting. Educated people and the rich are the ones who run for power in the society. This should not have been an issue if not for the numerous problems these elections create. Families become enemies if they do not support the same candidate likewise friends and coworkers. There is a lot of chaos during election times which sometimes leads to injuries and loss of lives.
Colonialism did more harm than good to Africa. It has denied them of their history, heritage, and culture. If only people will appreciate the way Africa was before colonial times and how better they would have been should the Europeans not have invaded them, they would not deny them of a history. People need to hear about precolonial Africa. We need to know how far we have come in order to know what the future holds for us. We do not disregard the positive things the Europeans implemented but denying Africans of a history implies that the land was lifeless before colonial times. Africans need to claim the independence and sovereignty that they fought for and not be entangled in colonialism relying on past colonial masters for their survival. They should appreciate their culture and embrace it fully holding it high above all others.