'Imperialism and socialism in the context of Africa Essay\r'

'Cecil Rhodes Social Darwinism advocate states, â€Å"I contend that we be the finest race in the realness and that the more of the world we inha post the better…” world power Leopold of Belgium, â€Å"To open to civilization the only part of the humankind where it has yet to penetrate …is, I dare to secern, a crusade worthy of this century of progress.” From the above assertions, it is judicious to note that, colonial powers idea Africa to be spare of an organization in social, political and economic prospect and therefore they wanted â€Å"to make Africa, England.” In that thought of naivety of the Afri preempts, there were societal structures and organizations which British did not care to observe. However, it was not going to be slatternly as where two or three grows interact a clash is inevitable.\r\nAlthough Africa was not a field of force or bear continent, Afri lavs had their commission of life, structure of government, theolo gy, economic activities, education, brasss of marriage and development plans for their societies, nevertheless the British brought their systems which conflicted with Africans conventional way of life, this was because the British, as many different European powers were economically depressed and Africa appeared to be the only way out. The British wanted to pass the three C’s; Commerce, that is to make m whizzy through the socialization of free labor form Africans, raw materials for their industries as industrial revolution back in Britain was promptly taking place, a market for their surplus exertion; Christianity to save Africans.Explorers much(prenominal) as David Livingst oneness, Vasco Da Gama, Portuguese Diego Cam and Arabs with Muslim faith had missioner eagerness. The last C is for Civilization, they wanted to civilize Africans in footing of education, culture and many other aspects. Thus, to a larger extent, the activities of British heartened conflicts.\r\ nAfrican tralatitious m vocality is rooted in the African culture, it was difficult for Christianity to penetrate through. Portuguese essay in the fifteen century and failed. For Christianity to take the tendency the Africans had to abandon their culture which was hard so to say. The Missionaries in the nineteenth century, however, came up with an elaborate plan for them to bed covering Christianity. They introduced through unearthly belief, education and health centers which contradicted informal learning and the institution of medicine men. Africans gradually began to embrace Whiteman’s way of life but not without several(prenominal)(prenominal) clashes. These battles are seen in various forms such as spiritual, doctrinal, cultural and practical. The African pietism has been given several definitions by different scholars, for instance, Mbiti has elaborated aspects of African religion.\r\nIn his confine African conventional piety, Mbiti (1991) African religion is really pragmatic and realistic (p2), he explains that it is use in circumstances where the need arises. In addition, he states that religion is rooted in the local language, so to comprehend the apparitional life of an African nightspot one has to scan the local dialect. He promote affirms, â€Å"To be an African in the traditional setup is to be truly sacred.” (p30) He states that the religion can be seen in five aspects of culture; beliefs, practices, ceremonies and festivals, spectral objects and places, value, and morals and spectral officials and leaders. He defines African religion as: â€Å"The product of the thinking and experiences of our forefathers and mothers that is men and women of their generations. They form religious ideas, they notice religious ceremonies and rituals, they told proverbs and romances which safeguarded the life of various(prenominal) and his association of interests.(pp 13-14) Mbiti notes that African religion has no scriptures as compared to Christianity and other religions, it is compose in peoples history, hearts and experiences of the people.(p14)\r\nAwolalu in his book Sin and its remotion in the African Traditional Religion defines African religion as â€Å"… generally written in the people’s myth and folktales, in their songs and dances, in their liturgies and shrines and in their proverbs and pithy sayings. It is a religion whose historical founder is neither cognize nor moralityped; it is a religion that has no zeal for the instalmentship drive, yet it offers persistent fascination for Africans, one-year-old and old.” The African traditional religion was not resembling as the communities had different heathenish understate and then the religious practices such rituals varied one community to the other. It is worth noting that it was oral, not scripted or written and was passed from one generation to the other by pronounce of mouth, as I p pertainably alluded in the d efinitions of religion. indoors their organized societal structures, Africans believed in supernatural beings unitedly with hereditary spirits. The ancestral spirits were believed to link the backing societal members to the gods. thitherfore, the African traditional religion was and hush is interweaved to the African culture.\r\nFrom the above insights, one cannot talk well-nigh African religion without African values as they are intertwined and inseparable. African religion was embedded in moral values or codes or standards which were believed to protrude from God through the ancestral spirits, these values when observed one would be rewarded with maybe good product from their conclusion of land or increased exit of the flock of cattle. When these values have go against the culprits were reprimanded. The model of values is a vital blot as one talks of the African religion. For that reason, African religion is drawn from the African values and glossiness. African Cultur e was the source of lawfulness through the moral codes and values passed from generation to generation. From the above description, we can see that law or rules of conduct were embedded in religion and that African religion was interweaved in the African culture. topical anaesthetic dialect was the medium through which African culture and religion were propagated.\r\nThe African religion had some(prenominal)what institutions as Mbiti points out in the aspects of African religion, who presided over religious functions, these institutions were believed to communicate directly to ancestral spirits (living dead) who in turn would communicate to the gods and grievances of the living societal members would be heard. In the Kenyan context, these institutions include Orkoyot of the Nandi, Oloibon of the Maasai, Seers, Diviners, and Rainmakers depending on the ethnic communities which they came from. These institutions apart from the veneration of the ancestors, they blessed warrior befo re going for war, advised the political leaders, offered sacrifice to god and conducted rituals for the culprits who violated moral values in the community. The gods had some peculiar(prenominal) names for instance, in Kenyan context, we had Enkai for the Maasai, Encore for the Abagusii, Mulungu for Akamba, Asis the Nandi, Ngai for the Agikuyu and Nyasaye for the Luo. in that location were specific faith places which were regarded as holy, this places included shrines, mountaintops some special trees such as mugumo, hills, and some caves. The sort of the names given to gods and places of worship, show the lack of unison in the African Religion. Consequently, Africans were of different ethnic background and had their own religion, gods, and religion as a community. The clashes can be seen in the five aspects as earlier alluded in Mbiti’s work that is beliefs, practices, ceremonies, festivals, religious objects and places, values, and morals, religious officials and leader s. These aspects of African religion differ from those of Christianity.\r\nThe Africans believed that their religion was sourced from god, who they believed capacious before their ancestors’ existence. The British Missionaries conflict with Africans by sexual congress them about the existence of a God who had a son and lived among them many years ago. The religion of British was written (Bible) thus one had to have the cleverness to read and spare in order to understand it, whereas that of African was passed from generation to generation by oral tradition. There is an introduction of a new system of identifying the origin of religion which conflicts with the African system. Language is in any case conflicted as Africans could not comprehend English, hence missionaries such as Ludwig Krapf translated the Bible into the local dialect.\r\nThe Africans revered in special caves, Mountaintops, hills, Forests, Special trees (mugumo) and shrines. The British tell Africans that t hey should worship God places called Churches. This encounter shows that there is a bit of clashing as the African places were very distinctly defined and preserved by the community members. The British also seized African land to construct churches or chapels, Africans, as a result, became very hostile as they had distinct worship places which occurred naturally. They believed that their land was in cultivation and a gift from their gods.\r\nThe Africans practiced their religion by reverence to their ancestors, offering human and animal sacrifices and invoking the ancestral spirits, for instance, the Umira Kager clan believed in spirits in the S.M Otieno case. They offered sacrifices in order to get favors in terms of harvest. The African worship was communal that is, all community members utilise to convene to pray for rain and ask for the health of the community. The British religion had an aspect of confession of one`s sins before worship, repentance, and forgiveness of sin a re granted. This aspect of forgiveness of sins lacks in the traditional African religion, one had to be punished for wrongdoing. British missionary religion brings out an aspect of offerings in terms of money and tithe which is ten percent of one`s total earnings. The British advocated for human rights and therefore disregarded and condemned human sacrifices.\r\nIn African religion, worship was led by Diviners, Rainmakers, and Seers who were considered righteous. The work of religious leaders was taught through apprecentiship and was hereditary from specific clans in the community. There were certain clans from whom diviners would descend. They were highly respected in the community. The British Christian religious leaders attend schooltime to be trained mainly in theology. They read formalities of worship and nature of God. Any member of Christian family can become a religious leader although there are some myths which say one has to be ‘called’ by God. A Christian l eader has to have the ability to read and write so as to pass the scriptures to his congregation.\r\nAfrican traditional religion was diverse from one ethnic community to the other due to the linguistic differences, migration patterns and origin. Christianity is introduced as a homogeneous religion as the author of it is rescuer Christ, a common ancestry and reference point for all Christians. The diversity of worship is dismantled by the British introduction of this even religion.\r\nAfricans were notoriously religious as it was found in each group. Africans who lived as per the traditional way of life were regarded as very religious.it is also worth acknowledging that Africans are at joint due to the fact that religion is embedded in the African culture and language. It is thus difficult for Africans to in full be committed to Christianity as being fully whole-hearted means they will have to abandon some of the partaking of African culture and indigenous dialect by embracing t he Whiteman’s language and culture. This has already happened as some dedicated African Christians according to Quarcoopome (1987), refer to traditional religion as paganism, fetish, and animism.\r\nReferences.\r\nAwolalo, JO, Sin and Its Removal from the African Traditional Religion (1976)\r\nHistory and governance Form One to Four, KLB Fourth Edition. The People of Kenya Up to the 19th Century\r\nKwasi W, Towards Decolonizing African Religion and Philosophy, African Studies (1998) Quarterly volume 1 Issue 4.\r\nOjwang’ JB and Mugambi JNK (eds), The SM Otieno case, Death and Burial in Modern Kenya, (1989) capital of Kenya University press\r\nMbiti, JS, African Religion and Philosophy, Oxford, England, (1999) Heinemann Educational Publishers.\r\nMbiti, JS, access to African Religion Oxford, England, (1991) Heinemann Educational Publishers.\r\nUchenna O, African articulation: Conflict between African Traditional Religion and Christianity, (2008) The International Jou rnal of Humanities vol 6 zero(prenominal) 2\r\nQuarcoopome, TNO, West African traditional religion. Ibadan, Nigeria: (1987) African Universities Press.\r\nNAME: MUNYALO, DANIEL MUTHENGI\r\nREG.NO: G34/102614/2017\r\nCOURSE: GPR 100 LEGAL explore AND WRITING\r\nCONVENER: DR. NKATHA KABIRA\r\nâ€Å"The encounter between the British and Africans was a case of two worlds colliding.”\r\nDiscuss…\r\n'