African Origins Lesson 1 Class 2

[Theressa Holmes]

Important Themes

Three important factors that affect human society and human existence:
Civilization
Religion
Philosophy

Civilization is an expression and the outgrowth of culture. It is based on the premise that your values are positive and beneficial to humanity.

Culture is everything that a society does, such as the clothes you wear, the food you eat and your language. It is based on your outlook, your philosophy of life.

Everything in your culture is based on your philosophy of existence:

Who you are
What you are
What you do

The heart of African Culture is family. The basis of the philosophy of family is a spiritual awareness that all is spirit.

In African culture, everything has to involve spirit – politics, economics, social programs, etc.

If a culture does not have spiritual awareness that culture can then become an instrument of destruction.

The African philosophy of life is grounded on the continuity of life, an essential component of the family philosophy of Africa. It involves revering the elderly and the young.

As a humanity, we are part of a stream of spirit, manifesting as those who come before and those who will be. This is the essential process of nature.

Cheikh Anta Diop in his book “The African Origin of Civilization”, speaks in terms of restoring the African personality. His concept is that there are three factors that compete to form the collective personality of a people, a psychic factor, the historical factor and the linguistic factor. The African personality has been damaged by colonialism and the slave trade. Diop’s premise is that if we can reconnect to the African consciousness, we can rebuild the personality and rebuild culture for the good of humanity.

The earliest known civilization that there is evidence of emerged from northeast Africa in the Great Lakes Region. From the northeast Africa, also known as Kush, Africans migrated to Kamit. From Kamit, humans began to migrate into the rest of the world.
The world was one land mass that included the Americans. As landmass separated, human beings began to become isolated from one another. Due to geographical and local vegetation people began to change in their appearance.

Ivan Van Sertima’s research concludes that we are all a part of the Kamitan ancestry through the migrations. He argues that Africans reached America before Columbus.

Human beings have one hereditary source which is Africa, therefore, all human beings are Africans.

Cultures developed in different parts of the world based on different climates

When you are a human being you are connected to geography you have a family

The word Africa is named after Scipio Africanus a Roman General who defeated Hannibal.

Quote by Cicero

“The easiest people to conquer are those people without culture”

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