Archeology in times of War

Article:

“Striking prehistoric rock art created up to 5,000 years ago has been discovered at almost 100 sites in Somaliland on the Gulf of Aden in eastern Africa.”

The paintings include one of the earliest depictions of a mounted hunter. It is believed that at least 10 of these sites will be given World Heritage status. Even though the history of Somalia is rich, it is still unexplored in a country that has dealt with too many wars to appreciate their archeology. Paintings in Dhambalin suggest farming or ritual traditions 5,000 years ago!

“The pictures also depict animals, such as giraffes, no longer found in Somaliland.” This could be a sign of the migration of animals together with the people of Africa. Or maybe giraffes in that particular environment died out.

Something to think about

I don’t have an article for this post. I’ll post a proper one later, but for now I just had to share my thoughts here, and let you guys in on a secret: I think I know what’s wrong with Africa.

My grandfather discovered he had cancer 40 days ago, and last week, he passed away. He lived in Brazil, and the only person there with him was my aunt. He stayed in the best hospital there is, and had all the privileges money and good friendships can buy, and yet… my aunt stayed in the hospital with him for 33 days, and every day she would call and let us know what was going on. The hospital was living hell. The hallways were filled with old, sick people, lying on the floor, dying, from the lack care, space, doctors, and what not. One of the patients that did get in had been there for four years, weighted 20 kg (that’s about 50 pounds) and didn’t have proper care, being left there to die. We could hear the screams of people in extreme pain over the phone. Again, that’s one of the best hospitals. Then my mom said something that made me realize what was so wrong with Brazil, and I believe, Africa: it’s all about the value these nations place on human life. In a world where human life should be the most preserved gift from God, we focus on material things, on power, success, and so on, often forgetting that humans are so fragile and in so much need of help. I guess that’s why African countries like Nigeria haven’t found out how to use their money yet. And maybe poverty, hunger, and death are all part of the price we have to pay for valuing the wrong things.

Just something to think about.

Capoeira is African

One of the most “Brazilian” arts is really African. Created by the Africans brought to Brazil as slaves beginning in 1500, capoeira is a martial art that was forbidden by law but survived underground. It was used by slaves to protect themselves in the hostile environment. There is much dispute surrounding the origin of this art: there are many who disagree on whether it arrived with enslaved Africans or whether Africans created it once they reached Brazil. The article states there is a continued effort to “disfranchise African people of their contributions to world civilization” (assatashakur.org), but truth is, no one disputes that it is an African creation. The word "capoeira" is probably a derivation of the Ki-Kongo word "kipura" which means "to flit from place to place; to struggle, to fight, to flog". N'dongo warriors, using their capoeira skills, would literally catapult themselves across rivers to avoid being captured by the Portuguese slavers. It is an amazing spectacle of agility, acrobatics and physical prowess. It can be a dangerous, even murderous style of combat that gives the trained fighter the ability to beat back an attack by eight men simultaneously, tossing them in all directions and crippling them one by one until all are incapacitated if not dead. In one of the novellas I posted earlier (Little Missy), there is a scene where a slave kills his master with capoeira.

Capoeira is practiced in Brazil today as a form of art, not as a murderous skill. During the carnival, bands of capoeira attract large crowds on the streets. It has become a dance with music provided by singing and percussion instruments, using the berimbau (originated in Tunga, Africa), which has a low-strung wire that is beaten with a stick. Practitioners of Capoeira gather in a circle, called a roda, and those who surround the contestants sing, clap and play the berimbau and drums. History and philosophy are passed through the songs. Then the contestants perform a movement called the Ginga, where they move around each other, almost like a dance, in order to disorient their opponent. It has a unique beat that continues to touch my heart. It is almost impossible to imagine how many years of culture and skill have been put into the capoeira practiced today, but like many of Brazil’s most loved bits of culture, it’s come from Africa.

http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/guerrilla-warfare-tactic-technique-survival/1496-africa-brazil-beyond-capoeira.html

Brazilian Soap Operas and what they have to offer

As I mentioned in class, there are many Brazilian novellas about Africa and African slaves. Since a good percentage of the country’s population has a very low level of education, researchers and directors usually use the novellas to educate the people about the history of our own country and of the people who helped us build it. Although I could not find a lot of material in English, I did find some descriptions that should be helpful. I will include the links below.


Xica da Silva
A novella about Chica da Silva (Francisca da Silva de Oliveira, 1732-1796), an 18th Century African-Brazilian slave, daughter of a slave woman and a white Portuguese man. Chica was sold to slavery by her white sister, and had many masters (and sons) before being sold to Joao Fernandes de Oliveira, a rich diamond mine owner. They start a romance and Chica is freed by him. They live together (sine they aren’t allowed to be officially married) and have 13 children. The plot of the novella is the fact that Chica will do just about anything to achieve a higher status and be considered white. She paints her face white (as a way of escaping her slave past), exchanges sexual favors for prestige, and even order her slaves (yes, the slave had her own slaves) to pull out a servant’s teeth so she won’t be able to smile at Chica’s husband anymore. The novella has a lot of graphic material, and lots of nudity, but is a great example of how things worked in Colonial Brazil. When banned from the local church, Chica built her own church and palace a few miles away from the city, and paid people to go to mass with her and her servants. I have attached a picture of the couple. This one is a must in the history of slavery in Brazil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chica_da_Silva


Sinha Moca (Little Missy)
Much different from Xica da Silva, Sinha Moca was a novella about romance and freedom just before the abolition of slaves by Princess Isabel of Portugal. First released in 1986, the second version came out in 2006 (see picture) and had a major impact on how people saw slavery. In Araruna, a small town in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, circa 1886, Sinhá Moça and republican Dr. Rodolfo are engaged in a forbidden love affair. Rodolfo is fighting slavery, and Sinhá Moça, besides being an abolitionist herself, is the daughter of Coronel Ferreira, the Baron of Araruna, a man who is thoroughly pro-slavery. To complicate things further, there appears Rafael, a former slave who earned his freedom, and is, in fact, the result of an obscure relationship between the Baron and his slave. Sinha Moca invades the “senzalas” (place where slaves were kept) at night and lets the slaves escape. The slaves who run away are the firsts to form the Quilombo dos Palmares, a colony of runaway slaves that started a major slave revolution in Brazil. The novella ends with the abolition of slavery in Brazil and the arrival of the Italian immigrants to take care of the coffee production in the country. It also shows how slaves brought capoeira to Brazil, and how they used it. Here is an awesome website that has some great videos of the novella with the soundtrack, and gives you subtitles so you can have an idea of what was going on at the time. Must see! http://www.mysubtitles.com/movie/sinha-moa-a_724756.html

Map Quiz!

Here's a quick link to help you with our coming map quiz. It should be useful after that, too. =] Cool game.

http://www.purposegames.com/game/countries-of-africa-quiz

Getting a hold of it... and food for the soul.

It's sunny outside, and for my first post I thought I'd find something fun, at least until I get a hold of this and find out exactly what I want to focus on. There is only one thing I'm sure of: I won't focus on the bad stuff. The African cultures have an enormous influence on that of my own country (Brazil), and I find it amazing that you see such a rich culture in a continent that has just recently been added to history courses. Their music, their dances, their costumes, their souls; these will hopefully be my themes. I'll try to bring to your view a side of Africa that we, Brazilians, have had the pleasure of knowing, and that some places in the world have chosen to ignore. One problem I did encounter (and probably will again) is the lack of information about my topics on "trusted" sites. But I am insatiable, and my journey has only begun.

Concluding my thought, don't consider my first post as essential information, but rather, see it as food for the soul (or food for thought, as you Americans like to say). This post will be about art. More precisely, about the Segou Music Festival. Segou is the second city of Mali, and they apparently have a wonderful, 3-days-long music festival, where world-famous singers as well as local drummers and fishermen can be seen. The website says it takes place beside the Niger river (you'll remember today's class discussion on it). During the festival, racial differences seem unimportant as albino dancers dance for black singers (being born an albino in west Africa can be a traumatic experience, according to the website's report.) The article offers tips about the Bobo Bwa culture, an ethnic group indigenous to central Mali, known for their masks (which were used by artists in the festival). Follows the link to the article, originally puclished in the Guardian. http://http//www.allwestafrica.com/170620105116.html

Also on that topic, if you have a little extra time, check out africancolours.com . It promotes contemporary African artists and has links to their portfolios, giving them "adequate exposion". It has info about film festivals, art and antiques that are for sale, etc. The picture I posted is of one of the paintings (wasn't successful at placing it in the right place). Hope you enjoy.