Category Archives: Africa
IGBO
#14 Sacrifices, Death, and Burial
(G. T. Basden, 1938)
… [the] “Ichu-aja”… offering consists of a selection of the following: food, strips of cloth, a gin bottle, a lizard, a chicken or a kid, and other things up to a bull or, in the past, a human being, according … Continue reading
YORUBA
#12 Yoruba Laws and Customs: Suicide
(A. K. Ajisafe, 1924)
When a man finds life burdensome, disgraceful, and perilous to him, and consequently commits suicide he is given great credit and honour. But when out of shame for a mean act he commits suicide, his corpse is considered abominable and … Continue reading
Filed under Africa, African Traditional Sub-Saharan Cultures
ASHANTI
#7 The Price of Intrigue with Women of Royal Blood
(A. B. Ellis, 1887)
In Ashanti the women of royal blood are permitted to intrigue with any eminently fine and handsome man in order that their kings may be commanding presence. If, however, permission has not first been obtained, the lover, and all who … Continue reading
ASHANTI
#6 Funeral Rites for Babies and Kings
(Capt. R. S. Rattray, 1929)
…I am afraid that some of the following pages may be repellent to some of my readers. I have considered it to be my duty to set out the details of many of the horrors of the old régime. I … Continue reading
AFRICAN TRADITIONAL SUB-SAHARAN CULTURES
(documented 1853-present)
African Origin Myths: Man Desires Death (Hans Abrahamsson) Dogon: The Souls of the Dogons (documented by Solange de Ganay, 1937-39) LoDagaa: Restraining the Bereaved to Prevent Suicide (documented by Jack Goody, 1962) Akan: The Detection of Witches: Ordeal and Punishment … Continue reading
OLAUDAH EQUIANO
(c. 1745-1797)
from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself
Olaudah Equiano, an Igbo, describes himself as born to a relatively prosperous, slave-owning family in the region east of the city of Onitsha, Nigeria, where ownership of slaves and slave-raiding were local practice at the time. At the age … Continue reading
Filed under Africa, Americas, Equiano, Olaudah, Selections, Slavery, The Early Modern Period
IBN BATTUTA
(1304-1368/69)
from Rihla: On Sati and Religious Suicide
Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Batutah, known as Ibn Battuta or sometimes Battuta, was born to a Berber family of Islamic legal scholars in Tangier, Morocco. He is known for the extent of his travels over 30 years, setting … Continue reading
Filed under Africa, Hinduism, Ibn Batutta, Middle Ages, Selections
AUGUSTINE
(354–430)
from The City of God
from On Free Choice of the Will
Born to a small landholder, Patricius, and a pious Christian, Monica, in the small town of Thagaste in the Roman province of Numidia (modern Souk-Ahras, Algeria), Augustine of Hippo was of profound influence on the history of Western thought. … Continue reading
Filed under Africa, Ancient History, Augustine, Christianity, Europe, Selections, Stoicism
LACTANTIUS
(c. 240–c. 320)
from The Divine Institutes
Born sometime between 230 and 260 in proconsular North Africa to a non-Christian family who lived at Carthage, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius became a rhetorician and professor of oratory in Nicomedia, in northwest Asia Minor. Known for his Latin … Continue reading
Filed under Africa, Afterlife, Ancient History, Christianity, Europe, Lactantius, Selections
PLOTINUS
(204–270)
from The Enneads
On Happiness
On the Primal Good and Secondary Forms of Good
‘The Reasoned Dismissal’
Plotinus, the founder and principal exponent of the philosophical school known as Neoplatonism, was born in Egypt; it is not clear whether he was Greek, Roman, or a Hellenized Egyptian. He had a Greek education. He studied for 11 … Continue reading
Filed under Africa, Ancient History, Europe, Plotinus, Selections