African Culture And Religion: The Effects On Day To Day Life In West Africa

Alex Aragon

Human Geography 102

Human Geography Research Project

For my research project, I decided to write about African culture and religion. The main subject I wanted to pin point is exploration of the effects on day to day life in West Africa. How does it differ from my life? How is it different on a large and small scale? I plan to answer these questions in my research paper as well as explore the routines and customs of their culture and religion. Many African cultures and religions are very interesting and I plan to research one of West Africa, searching through taboos and beliefs. I believe if I research all of these points and really get deep into my research, I will be able to conduct a solid research paper that answers my questions

The one culture and religion I decided to research was the Yoruba religion in southwestern Africa. This group of people occupies the southwestern corner of Nigeria, which they call “Yorubaland”. When this religion was being formed, it was centered around more than twenty-five kingdoms. The most important to the people, Lle-Lfe, is believed to be founded around the year 850. Since there is no actual date of foundation, we can go off of what we know from the time we discovered this religion, which was in the 17th century by

Women, in most traditional African cultures are treated as objects, as this has been normality for a long time. Not until recently have feminists and women’s rights activists been trying to change things. As for the Yoruba culture, the women are mainly disadvantaged in most aspects; socially, politically, economically, and religiously. As for the most part, the Yoruba people share the same morals and beliefs towards women in their culture. The women are expected to follow the men’s orders as well as remaining a virgin and wearing the marks of chastity until marriage. The most interesting part that I found about this is the status you are given, from birth in their culture. The women are also expected to give birth to a son, preferably. As soon as a mother goes into labor, the question of the sex of the baby is posed. In their culture, if the mother bears a son, both the mother and the child are praised. If the mother bears a daughter, from then on the mother will be scolded and be labeled as “good for nothing”, and the daughter will then be next to hopefully give birth to a son, despite the fact that the father actually determines the sex of the baby. The marks of inferiority come as soon as childbirth. This could make it potentially hard to reach the spiritual world of Orun-Rere, due to the social status of the newborn child. Birth control in the Yoruba culture again disadvantages the women. In the