Introduction
Cultures of Africa refer to the wide spectrum of tribes, each with their own features, that form part of the continent. The overall culture overlies the diversity and dynamism of the people within and without the continent, the latter being part of the African diaspora. In particular, the cultures of Africa, just like any other cultures around the world, express their norms and traditions through religion, arts and crafts, music, folklore, clothing, language and cuisine among other aspects. While the entire continent is full of diversity in terms of culture, it is important to note that within the individual countries, the same diversity is similarly apparent. For instance, in Kenya, there are about 42 tribes, which implies 42 different cultures. In the diversity, several studies have noted a blizzard of similarities among the different cultures of Africa. For instance, almost all the cultures of Africa have shown great reverence for the aged who are considered the primary source of societal wisdom and the benchmark of rationality in the communities. Despite the fact that Africans have been determined to be conservative with respect to their cultures, it is also apparent that other continents, at least in the contemporary Africa, have watered down the African culture in the face of the ongoing adoption of Western civilization. Researchers attribute this change to the willingness to conform to the incessantly varying modern world rather than maintaining the normative African culture. The onset of the cultural change occurred at the height of colonization of Africa. Some African communities like the Kung, Nok and the Great Lakes Twa of Central Africa have remained steadfast to their cultural prescriptions. Even so, elements of Western civilization stain all the contemporary Africa culture. The following research will examine how colonialism changed Africa and impacted the form and existence of hunter-gatherer tribes like the !Kung It seeks to study the cultures of Africa with respect to Marjorie Shostak’s ‘Nisa, the life and words of a !Kung woman.’ While at it, the study will compare and contrast the Great Lakes Twa peoples culture with that of the Kung community and the Nisa’s experience with a view to highlighting the possible similarities, and contextualizing the study to Africa as a continent.
Overview of Marjorie Shostak’s Nisa, the life and words of a !Kung woman
A preliminary overview of the book and Nisa’s experience is of central importance to understanding the succeeding sections of this research. The author is an American anthropologist who spent most of her time in the Dobe region of Africa (northwest Botswana)- her husband’s motherland. The book is an exquisite documentation of the life of women in the hunter-gatherer community. After painstakingly learning the !Kung language, Marjorie embarked on interviewing the women in the community. Nisa (a fictional character) is one of the women that Shostak extensively interviewed. Her character was particularly outstanding given the articulateness of her narratives, emphatic methods, and an astounding spirit of withstanding the tragic life experiences in her culture. The book sets Nisa against a clear background of cultural life comprising domestic and family responsibilities. Despite her eloquence and above par story telling abilities, the author strives to show that Nisa ate from the same plate as the rest of the women in the !Kung community- no special treatment. Nisa’s Zhun/twasi (“real people”) community is a tribe of bushmen who belong to the larger racial group Khoisan.