African ethnicities are new not old, part of complex. Rather than atavistic survivals of stagnant primordial tribal identities and communities. Recent statistics on poverty in south africa indicate that poverty is much higher amongst historically disadvantaged groups with no indication of any improvement. Remember an ethnic group is a group of people with a common family tree and ancestry and who share cultural ideas and beliefs that have been a part of their community for generations. Nunn 2008, for instance, uses current ethnic group identities to code historical slave exports, which he then claims led to the creation of modern ethnic groups, a. Archaeological evidence indicates that the continent has been inhabited by humans and their forebears for some 4,000,000 years or more. Precolonial period by the end of the 16 th century, most ethnic groups constituting the modern ghanaian population had settled in their present locations. What religion do the different ethnic groups belong to. They married local women, and the process of blending cultures and religions began there as well.
Available also through the library of congress web site as a raster image. Jan 22, 2016 the main ethnic groups found in africa are. The ethnic groups of africa number in the thousands, with each population generally having its own language or dialect of a language and culture. Practically all anthropological reasoning rests on the premise that cultural variation is discontinuous. Start studying africa s religious and ethnic groups. The population is roughly balanced between muslims and christians with a small minority of those who practice indigenous beliefs. The political mobilization of ethnic and religious identities in africa november 2014 according to this logic, act in rational pursuit of their. Berman abstract the paradox of efforts over the past twenty years to reinvent democracy in africa has been that rather than dampening the fires of ethnic conflict, they have often made them more intense and in the past decade have been accompanied by the explosion of violent conflicts of autochthony. Other major ethnic groups of the north are the nupe, tiv, and kanuri. South african ethnic groups are also found across south africa s boundaries in neighbouring countries.
There are muslims, christians, and followers of traditional religions. There are over 650 different bantu languages and dialects. Ethnic groups are, to be sure, inventions and constructions in some measure, but they are also decidedly real, even in the sense that states are said to be. Measuring ethnic fractionalization in africa daniel n. Statistics south africa asks people to describe themselves in the census in terms of five racial population groups. Nation, tribe and ethnic group in africa progressive, africans argue that tribalism is one of the most disruptive influences confronting newly independent subsaharan african states. Working paper series explaining african ethnic diversity lse. A groups customs and traditions often come from religion, from where the group lives, or from the demands of daily life. Ethnic and cultural intolerance is still alive and well in postapartheid south africa. Africas religious and ethnic groups flashcards quizlet. Ethnic conflict ethnic conflict types of ethnic groups. Nigeria and south africa are both stratified societies. In this lesson, well explore some of the largest ethnic groups on the continent of africa.
Ethnicity and religion as sources of political division in africa. The ethnic groups of africa number in the thousands, with each population generally having its. The three largest ethnic groups can all be found in the south, namely the baganda. The ethnic groups in south africa have a variety of origins. First, i examine the social construction of african ethnicities since the imposition of european colonial rule, with particular focus on both the role of. Anatomically modern humans are believed to have appeared as early as 200,000 years ago in the eastern region of. These three major ethnic groups are differentiated not only by region, but also by religion and lifestyle.
Africa is now widely recognized as the birthplace of the hominidae, the taxonomic family to which modern humans belong. The largest ethnic group in south africa is the zulu and the majority of them live in kwazulu natal province and gauteng province. Bantu is a mixture of nearly 600 different ethnic groups combined. African ethnic groups and their religions, customs, and traditions africa is made up of 54 different countries and many ethnic groups. Bantu make up about twothirds of africas population and cover the southern half of the continent. Postapartheid has seen an increase in indian immigrants coming to the country and are the majority of this group with a population of approximately 1. This article shows that most measures of ethnic diversity including the commonly. According to the principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses, some of the bases upon which ethnic groups are.
The bantu people are distributed throughout central and southern parts of the continent. The people of zimbabwe are 98% african, with regional distributions of bantuspeaking shona and ndebele peoples that impact the nations art, music, and traditional beliefs. Bantu is usually known more as a language than an ethnic group. Depending on the political structure of the state democracy versus authoritarian regimes and the size and situation of the ethnic minority large versus small portion of the society, regionally concentrated versus dispersed, ethnic groups will have different. Well also give population numbers and locations as. Pdf ethnicity and democracy in africa researchgate. At independence african states and nations, ethnic groups and classes, were all in flux, processes of active social construction and political contest rather than. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Traditionally, african societies and even states functioned through an elaborate system based on the family, the lineage, the clan, the tribe, and ultimately a confederation of groups with ethnic. Not all ethnic groups are politically active or engage in ethnic conflict. The student will describe the diverse cultures of the people. Bantu generally refers to nearly 600 ethnic groups in africa who speak bantu languages. The political mobilization of ethnic and religious identities. Although later censuses placed less emphasis on the ethnic and cultural composition of the population.
Along the east coast of africa, arab traders traveled by land and by sea down to presentday kenya, mozambique, tanzania, and zanzibar. Ethnicity, cultural diversity and poverty in south africa. The oldest of these intellectual traditions, ethnic primordialism suggests that politics and conflict in the region hinge on hardened antagonisms between ethnic or tribe groups horowitz. Race, ethnicity and language in south africa world elections. For example, nomadic bedouin tribe must have customs that. Data on ethnic groups may reflect variety of concepts as can be seen from questions asked on the topic by different countries. The genetic structure and history of africans and african americans pdf. The tswana is one of the black ethnic groups in south africa which extends across national borders. Ethnic groups and boundaries by fredrik barth introduction this collection of essays addresses itself to the problems of ethnic groups and their persistence. The ethnolinguistic groups include various afroasiatic, khoisan, nigercongo and nilosaharan populations.
Race and ethnicity in south africa south african history online. Uganda ethnic groups ugandans can be classified into several broad linguistic groups. Pdf ethnic groups in africa 1 ethnic groups in africa. The hausafulani ethnic groups count for 30 percent of the population, the yorubas about 20 per cent and the igbos about 18 percent. In 1960 roughly 100 linguistic and cultural groups were recorded in ghana. Ethnic comparison republic of kenya over 70 distinct ethnic groups. Ethnic groups in africa number in the hundreds, each generally having its own language or dialect of a language and culture. Many ethnic groups and nations of subsaharan africa qualify, although some groups are of a size larger than a tribal society.
Jul 18, 2019 the indian ethnic groups began to grow in the 19th century when they came to south africa as indentured servants to work in the sugar plantations. Although later censuses placed less emphasis on the ethnic. Nigeria is located in western africa with a population of over 180 million people as of 2016. A traditional religion follows a mixture of spiritual and supernatural powers.