Portal:Pan-Africanism

Négritude is a framework of critique and literary theory, developed mainly by francophone intellectuals, writers, and politicians of the African diaspora during the 1930s. Its initiators included Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor (the first President of Senegal), and Léon Damas of French Guiana. Négritude intellectuals disavowed colonialism, and argued for the importance of a Pan-African racial identity among people of African descent worldwide. The intellectuals employed Marxist political philosophy, in the black radical tradition. The writers generally used a realist literary style, and some say they were also influenced somewhat by the Surrealist stylistics. In 1932, the manifesto "Murderous Humanitarianism" was signed by prominent Surrealists, including the Martinicans Pierre Yoyotte and J. M. Monnerot.

Henry Sylvester Williams
S.Ẃilliams (1905) by E.H. Mills
Born	(1869-02-15)15 February 1869 Arouca, Trinidad
Died	26 March 1911(1911-03-26) (aged 42) Trinidad
Occupation	Barrister
Known for	Pan-Africanism

Henry Sylvester Williams (15 February 1869 – 26 March 1911) was a Trinidadian lawyer, councillor and writer, most noted for his involvement in the Pan-African Movement. As a young man he went to North America to further his education, and subsequently to Britain, where in 1897 he formed the African Association to challenge paternalism, racism and imperialism; the association aimed to "promote and protect the interests of all subjects claiming African descent, wholly or in part, in British colonies and other place, especially Africa, by circulating accurate information on all subjects affecting their rights and privileges as subjects of the British Empire, by direct appeals to the Imperial and local Governments." In 1900 Williams organised the First Pan-African Conference, held at Westminster Town Hall in London. In 1903 he went to practise as a barrister in South Africa, becoming the first black man to be called to the bar in the Cape Colony.

The Scramble for Africa was the occupation, division, and colonization of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914. It is also called the Partition of Africa and by some the Conquest of Africa. In 1870, only 10 percent of Africa was under formal European control; by 1914 it had increased to almost 90 percent of the continent, with only Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Liberia still being independent. There were multiple motivations including the quest for national prestige, tensions between pairs of European powers, religious missionary zeal and internal African native politics.

The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa, is usually referred to as the ultimate point of the scramble for Africa. Consequent to the political and economic rivalries among the European empires in the last quarter of the 19th century, the partitioning, or splitting up of Africa was how the Europeans avoided warring amongst themselves over Africa. The later years of the 19th century saw the transition from "informal imperialism" by military influence and economic dominance, to direct rule, bringing about colonial imperialism.

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Traditional African religions
Religions Akan Baluba Bantu Kongo Zulu Bushongo Dinka Dogon Efik Gbe Hausa Nubia Lotuko Lozi Lugbara Luhya Maasai Mbuti Odinala (Igbo) San Serer Tumbuka Vodun Waaqeffanna (Oromo) Yoruba
Doctrines Divination African divination Dogon astronomy (the star Sirius) Dogon astronomy (Nommo) Index of African mythology and creation narratives Philosophy Serer astronomy (the star Sirius)
Deities Index of African deities List of African deities and mythical figures
Sacred places Bandiagara Escarpment Benin City Dahomey Fatick Ifẹ Igbo-Ukwu Kanem–Bornu Mount Hombori Nri-Igbo Nsukka Ouidah Oyo Point of Sangomar Sangha Sangha Ogol Leye Sine Sine River Somb Tattaguine Tukar Yaboyabo Youga Dogorou
Education Ndut Okuyi
Priesthood Hogon Houngan Mambo Saltigue
Relation with other religions African diaspora religions Persecution Persecution of Dogons Persecution of Serers Traditional African religion and other religions
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The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in a supreme creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional medicine.

Adherents of traditional religions in Sub-Saharan Africa are distributed among 43 countries and are estimated to number over 100 million. Although the majority of Africans are adherents of Christianity or Islam, African people often combine the practice of their traditional belief with the practice of Abrahamic religions. The two Abrahamic religions are widespread across Africa, though mostly concentrated in different areas. They have replaced indigenous African religions, but are often adapted to African cultural contexts and belief systems.

West and Central African religious practices generally manifest themselves in communal ceremonies or divinatory rites in which members of the community, overcome by force (or ashe, nyama, etc.), are excited to the point of going into meditative trance in response to rhythmic or driving drumming or singing. One religious ceremony practiced in Gabon and Cameroon is the Okuyi, practiced by several Bantu ethnic groups. In this state, depending upon the region, drumming or instrumental rhythms played by respected musicians (each of which is unique to a given deity or ancestor), participants embody a deity or ancestor, energy or state of mind by performing distinct ritual movements or dances which further enhance their elevated consciousness.

When this trance-like state is witnessed and understood, adherents are privy to a way of contemplating the pure or symbolic embodiment of a particular mindset or frame of reference. This builds skills at separating the feelings elicited by this mindset from their situational manifestations in daily life. Such separation and subsequent contemplation of the nature and sources of pure energy or feelings serves to help participants manage and accept them when they arise in mundane contexts. This facilitates better control and transformation of these energies into positive, culturally appropriate behavior, thought, and speech. Also, this practice can also give rise to those in these trances uttering words which, when interpreted by a culturally educated initiate or diviner, can provide insight into appropriate directions which the community (or individual) might take in accomplishing its goal.