05 - Pre-Colonial and Post-Colonial Institutions and Organizations p.1

Q: What core question replaces “Did Africa have civilization before Europe?”

“How did African societies organize themselves before European encounter?”

Q: Why is the term “post colonialism” debated?

Colonial structures and influences persist, making “post colonial” an incomplete description.

Q: What shaped leadership responsibilities in pre colonial Africa?

Social institutions such as kinship, lineage, and community roles.

Q: What are the three virtues of leadership in Africa?

Mobilizing people, promoting unity, and strengthening organizations through clear roles.

Q: What are the dangers of leadership?

Concentration of power, passivity among followers, and narrowing of debate.

Q: What is traditional leadership based on?

Sanctity of immemorial traditions and legitimacy rooted in culture and history.

Q: What authority did traditional leaders hold?

Political, spiritual, military, and judicial authority guided by customs and councils of elders.

Q: What characterizes modern leadership in Africa?

Bureaucratic systems, merit-based roles, record keeping, and democratic accountability.

Q: Why did many African presidents become dictators after independence?

Adoption of colonial governing systems that concentrated power, especially in presidential models.

Q: What are Evans Pritchard’s two categories of pre colonial societies?

State societies and stateless (segmentary/acephalous) societies.

Q: What defines stateless societies?

No centralized ruler; power held by families, clans, lineages, elders, age sets, and religious leaders.

Q: Give examples of stateless societies.

Igbo (Nigeria), Tallensi (Ghana), Nuer (Sudan), San (Southern Africa), Kikuyu (Kenya).

Q: What defines state societies?

Centralized authority under kings, chiefs, or emperors with hierarchical political control.

Q: Give examples of state societies.

Asante (Ghana), Buganda (Uganda), Zulu (South Africa), Mossi (Burkina Faso), Yoruba (Nigeria).

Q: What are age sets?

Groups of people initiated together into adulthood, often forming tight social units.

Q: What are Fried’s four classifications of pre colonial societies?

Bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states.

Q: What characterizes bands?

Small, kin based, egalitarian groups with informal leadership and high mobility.

Q: Give an example of a band society.

Khoisan/!Kung, G/wi, Efe/Mbuti, Baka, Aka/Bayak.

Q: What characterizes tribes?

Multiple communities linked by kinship; local chiefs; redistribution systems; communal ceremonies.

Q: What characterizes chiefdoms?

A paramount chief with subordinate chiefs; hereditary leadership.

Q: What characterizes states?

Large territories, multiple communities, formal administration, and non kin political officials.

Q: What economic system correlates with band societies?

Hunting and gathering.

Q: What defines hunting and gathering?

Mobility, wild food exploitation, age/sex division of labor, and nuclear family units.

Q: What defines horticulturalists?

Farming using only human labor, no irrigation or plowing; sedentary; linked to tribes/chiefdoms.

Q: What defines pastoralists?

Herding animals, seasonal mobility, age/sex labor division, and high social complexity.

Q: Give examples of pastoralist societies.

Maasai, Fulani, Dinka, Nuer.

Q: What defines intensive agriculturalists?

Large scale farming, economic surplus, specialized professions, and complex political systems.

Q: What were common pre colonial currencies?

Gold, salt, cowrie shells, ivory, beads, brass, copper manilas, ceramics, iron objects, slaves.

Q: What is communalism?

A socio cultural system emphasizing interdependence, cooperation, solidarity, and mutual support.

Q: What role did kinship systems play?

Defined relationships, inheritance, responsibilities, marriage rules, and conflict resolution.

Q: What role did religious institutions play?

Ancestral spirits, rituals, sacred sites, and spiritual leaders guiding community welfare.

Q: What is the significance of sacred natural sites?

They serve as spiritual centers and are protected spaces for ritual specialists.

Q: How did pre colonial trade function?

Inter regional and long distance networks with fluid movement before colonial borders.

Q: What disrupted African connectivity?

Colonial boundaries, restrictions on movement, and later xenophobic policies.