AFRICAN MAGIC AND SORCERY

magic has always been seen as the manipulation of the physical world which involves incantations to bring about a desired outcome or effect on the body of an estate or harms on a fellow human being.
magic are basically distinguish in two broad ways, either according how harmful or beneficial the outcome of magic can be.
*when the out come of magic is beneficial it is known as 'white magic' in the language of anthropology.it is an expression of the common usage of magic,the individual uses it for the benefit of others,to heal,to cure diseases and to ward of harms and danger,likewise using it to gain wealth.
*when magic is used to do harm or cause harm it is known as 'black magic' in anthropology it is called sorcery because its involves the employment of objects to cause harm to people.
 black magic makes use of two principle :
1.the principle of sympathetic magic,meaning like beget likes
2.the principle of contagious magic,meaning a part affecting a whole for instance when a a part of what  an individual makes use of is manipulated for example a lady sanitary pad can be manipulated with the use of magic to stop her from getting pregnant.
in understanding African magic there has always been a great deal of literature and at the same time a great deal of falsifications,prejudice and ignorance . such ignorance is made up of two camps !
.firstly it is made up of a large camp,those whose ignorance,false ideas and exaggerations has be little the whole concept of mystical power
.second view are made up African scholars who seriously considers African fears,uses and the manipulation of African fears.

An image of a typical African voodoo man.

IN REALITY most of these distortion came from the mostly the Europeans and American writers,missionaries and formal colonial administrators most of them who grew up in African environment have perchance experienced this mystical powers in form of magic,divination and sorcery and most times in forms of witchcraft which i will talk more on in my next post, for them they have all seen this in effect and thus defies scientific explanation,,for instance an account was in 1962 by a man named Mr Neal,who was then a British investigation officer in Ghana then,he told a story to an anthropologist that during his teen age back then,when he was growing up in a village then about how they witnessed a locust invasion in every bodies farm in that community except the farm of one elderly woman who had previous burnt an anti-locust medicine around her farm land which automatically secured her field from such locust invasion,thus this was a mystical power and no body was able to explain it.although he later sought and fought such power but ended up sorting and seeking refuge in such same power as an European ironically we may say its seems weird but of a truth such power still and does exit in African only an experience will further expose us to such fact.sign up to my blog for more of this in my subsequent post thanks and i hope to see your comments.

religion as a belief system:The cosmology of African religion

religious belief system it is seen as a system of belief and practices organized around the existence of a supernatural power. the belief by humans is that we have two dimension of religion. they include:
1.supernatural beings(our ancestors)
2.supernatural force(deities)
*Supernatural forces: they are seen as forces that controls the universe according to the belief in African mythology they are seen as principles and forces located in the metaphysical world which awaits to be used by humans who harnesses them and thus they end up assuming a function according to the individual launching it.a good number of forces are witchcraft,magic and sorcery
*Supernatural being: they are those supernatural beings presume to posses human like qualities such as bodily form,appetite,feelings,while it is also believed that in Greek mythology that those supernatural beings can as well marry,eat and die.these supernatural forces have a will and a purposeful principles and they can also make demands on humans,they favor those who do their will and punishes those who disobey their rules.example,the Greek who believe in gods like Oedipus
 The universe of the African religious belief comprises of the supernaturals. the mountain is not just a mountain but it is either a deity or the apple of a deity,there is a sun but a closer look will review is not a heavenly body but its a deity.the head in the religious cosmology is not just the head,it symbolizes a destiny.they worship only one supreme God,beneath God u would now find deities and ancestors...for instance their are oluku small god, ogun small god,Amadioha small god,e.t.c             The view of the world from an African religious cosmology it is believed that universe is divided into two part,the metaphysical and the physical and they are located in the same lane.
it is believe that man goes through a transition into this world from metaphysical to the physical.in the metaphysical realm it is believe that what ever one says or do will surely come to pass in the physical,that is to say what ever happens in the metaphysical(meaning spiritual realm/world) will also happen in the physical world.destinies are predicted here,when one is given birth to it is assumed that he/she has a predestined life to live in the physical world,so what ever happens here automatically affect the individual in the physical world and no forces or whatsoever dimension can stop it. while it is also believed that supernatural powers are all found in the metaphysical world.
in conclusion the metaphysical world are just a product of the human mind,it can not been seen but it is based on how we perceive and belief about it. thanks i do hope to hear some comments from you my readers..

belief system: capitalism as a belief system

As we have red from my previous post,capitalism is another type of belief system which i would like to deliberate on this post,,capitalism which we all know has to do with ownership of the means of production of goods and services by a sole entity,its also a situation were by some individuals are in control of the majority of the scares resources which are often used for production activities. having gotten an understanding of what these means,we can deduce that its all a form of sole enterprise and management ventures were people are obliged to work and own an entity that they could call their own.interestingly also there are things we can often found in it universe,things like material and social resources.their world is built around such two vices. most importantly also there are two major categories of people we often see in this same universe.
 below are some diagram and images i was able to extract from some of it sources.

diagram source from www.philosophers forchange.org

diagram source from www.newleftreview.org

 

1. those who control productive resources: few people are often found in this class,they control the means of social,political and economic activities of the capitalist universe majorly it could be as a result of inheriting such wealth or they acquired it through hard work which could be through decent way or it could also be the other way round which are not legal.they are likewise tagged as the holders of the economic power because who ever is in control of this is un arguable the controller of the productive activities of a nation,they have the powers to protect them self,further their interest and deprive others from accessing most of this useful resources because they are in control
2.while it is also made up of those that doesn't have:these are people with little,limited or no access to productive resources whom are often the majority of the population in a particular place and are deprive of such resources because of it being under the control of the minority . such people are often known as the workers,the peasant e.t.c . they are left in dire mercy at times,they are usually bullied and left to suffer in poverty. thus having discussed about the various group of people living side by side in this capitalist environment,we would also discover that as a result of all this fracas and continue marginalization and deprivation of the majority by few dominant minority who are in charge of these resources,as such continues there are bond to be conflict,such conflict may include ethnic strive,marginalization,inequality and exploitation. such conflict often arises as a result of perceived deprivation and when such groups perceives that they are not only deprived but oppressed they tend to form a group which 'Karl Marx' one of the fathers of capitalist society calls it class for itself,and when they recognize that they are being oppressed by a group they further metamorphose into class for themselves and later on when they start fighting because with those that are oppressing them it will now be seen as class struggle(the antagonist fighting the perceived protagonist) further down th e line ,when such class struggles continues and without no resourceful mediation by a third part or likewise a tangible agreement by two parties as regards to a stop to such conflict it would now become a revolution(a situation were by the parties on ground are removed and being subsequently replaced by a new party). this are all the make up of a capitalist society..

BELIEF SYSTEM: The ingredient of faith and it sacredness

according to professor okpokunu(uniben anthropolical lecturer,2016) defined belief as things that are held to be true with little or no evidence. it is also something held to be real with no substantial evidence to back up such truth.belief which also stand together with faith because faith is a class of belief,faith which is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. one interesting fact about belief is that when it is eventually verified with an evidence thus at this period it would become a knowledge       
                                             there are two ingredient of belief/faith
.they are like an assumptions accepted
.they have no evidence to back up such as claimed or accepted
belief can also be grouped into system: before a go further let me give a little bit definition of what a belief system means. it is simply some notions of ideas and concepts organized around some particular subject(or the existence of certain things) surrounding some aspect of the world with little or no evidence.
types of belief system:
.ideology
.science
.religion
.magic-witchraft-sorcery..
i will begin by explaining each starting with ideology. ideology is seen as a system of ideas organized,that gives an orientation on how members of a society,individuals or groups act or behave in the world.ideology can also be illustrated into different ways,which are as following :
.socialism
.capitalism
.African communism or polity privacy
let me begin with African communism: for an African man,the community is what matters and not the state,a community which are more primordial are far more important because it is based on collectivism,shared ideas,love and care among his/her fellow communal members,which is why it is often called communal individual and also because the community is believed to have more important virtues to pursue and protect than that of an individual pursuit. collectivism for an African man means the community takes residence of every one . the community is also seen as supreme because it decisions made are taken collectively ,no body is seen as greater than the community for instance in the igbo culture which fortunately i am from here,we see the umunna (meaning kinsmen)

A typical umunna attires

as the greatest group in our land which are often made up of elderly and matured adult whose decisions and deliberations are seen as the final in any situations and thus they are given the necessary respect and privilege and thus such decisions are often seen as final and not biased in any way because of the inclusion of old and matured adult which is made up of the members of each family in such community.i do believe u my readers would find this interest,i hope to continue from here in my next write up,thanks...

FORBIDDEN/DEGENARATIVE CULTURE:THE EFFECT OF VALUE AND BELIEF SYSTEM

During year 2012-till date,anti- (LGBT)lesbian,gay,bisexual and heterosexual laws penalizing such  practices has always been meted out with high level of brutality and as well to curb higher ages of same sex marriage and most of these that falls victims are often put in prison or either killed. further more around may 2016,73 countries as well sub-national jurisdiction had laws that criminalized homosexuals with most of those countries found in Africa,some part of Russia,some Islamic countries ,middle East and some part of Asian countries. we should also note that majority of those countries have a high level of religiosity ,while most of them also are poor especially some part here in  Africa. for instance on June 12,2016 the worst mass shooting occurred in Colorado, Florida a lone gun man opened fire at a gay night club in Orlando killing 49 persons and injuring a dozen..while in Africa,homosexual are considered as an unnatural act(meaning it is not created by God) and also it is seen as alien to the African culture. thus this has produced a great wide spread of negative and porous attitude towards homosexuality. hence in general Africans believes LGBT and any other practices associated with it are inimical to the African culture and thus they are not natural. hence African nations and so many other Muslim countries around the world who were all against LGBT have been resisting the influence of the developed countries of the world to give room for for homosexuality and encourage the right to freed0m as stated by the united nation human right council which states as follows: that every human being,including lesbians,gays,bisexual and transgender are all equal in dignity and rights.(United Nations 1951). while also in the middle east who are majorly Muslim, have always kicked against the right and freedom of LGBT and thus most of those engaged in such act are often arrested and killed because they see it as being against the cultural and religious practices o characterized by if the majority of the population(who are mostly characterized by Islamic faithful). as a result of all this,the western world which includes countries like the first,second and some part of the third world countries who have of course accepted LGBT as legitimate and hence they see it as a right to individual freedom of sexual expression and wishes, it is believed by them that it is a progressive culture because the right of freedom and equality of every human are highly acknowledged and for those countries that are against such practices are now seen as degenerative and backward culture because they are against the right and freedom of humanity.

from the argument above we can deduce that culture and belief system has always played a role in deciding the kind of practices each society practice but the honest truth is every human being has a right to choose his or her way of life and personality but it has turned out to be a reverse,many are left to bear the punishment of such practices depending on the side they belong. until we begin to adjust to the reality of a changing world and not wholly an interplay between values and belief system.

culture shock: the steroe typical effect

Basically in every human society,each has a unique cultural practices and traditions that serves as the backbones and what has been the building blocks of such society.. for instance in southern part of Nigeria a chubby women are mostly seen as the best bet for a man to get married to as compared to the slim and skinny ones because they belief that they will derive satisfaction (sexually) from them in comparative to the slim ones.likewise also in Nigeria,domestic animal are often killed to prepare one delicacies or the other but such practices if a Nigerian caries it out in the queens land(united kingdom) such individual would be arrested for a violation of the right of animal or back in my community in the eastern part were some snakes are not meant to be killed because they are regarded as sacred and also places like Calabar a river line area in cross river state in Nigeria were snakes are eating as a special dish,the list goes on and on.the point am driving out here are most of the stereo typical effect it would have on such culture when it is been seen as whack and as an inferior cultural practices ..
some of these effect on such culture includes
1.ethnocentrism. it is serious act that needs to be addressed,cultural practice ideas are meant to be respected and held tight to but the period when others begins to see it inferior such attitude are often termed ethnocentric,a belief that some one else culture is infact superior and better than others and hence they are should be seen as backward.
2.Posses a threat to the future such culture: such attitude would also affect the tendency of such culture being sustained or going into an extinction because  most of it norms are being abandoned .
3.causes chaos between and among culture: certainly it would bring about strive and disunity among different culture,the one that  belief that its culture are superior and hence the other one seen as inferior would also react thus leading to a misunderstanding among them both                                     4.cultural assimilation: it would also lead to the assimilation of such cultural practice to a more preferable ones that are often seen as ok but the repercussion of such are often neglected which would arise in future to come.                                                                                                                            its an effect we must all fight to stop and make a way for all cultural practices to remain irrespective of how terrible or weird we may adjudge it to be because every culture has it key stone of sustenance and what keeps it going and thus when tempered with it will bring about a distrustful consequences ..
 quote from a well know author once said,the solutions to today problems are the problems of tomorrow so in essence let us strive harder to be a solution provider...

The relationship between sociology and geography

sociology which is the study of human social life and human nature and it does not really do that in retrospect of other discipline for instance geography which has to do with the study of physical aspect of human environment,the earth,the sea,it weather ,it soil e.t.c such studies which has to do with the physical characteristics of such human nature and because those factors are sometimes the main reason behind the way human behave socially or physical against some certain situations and conditions in which at that time was in existence. for sociologist in understanding human social behavior through geography,the relationship that exist between them are as following.

its like a mother to a child relationship where by the mother teaches a child some certain things in life from oral stage,to anal,puberty,adolescent age and to it youthful age/stage,during such periods the child learns through her before he or she could do most of the things needed as humans ,that's just the way it both of them,geographers helps to explains what is needed in understanding human nature and sociologist would begin from there in applying those fact in understanding human social behavior.

sociology studies the social and while geography is all about the study of the physical. thus the social aspect of human actions and interaction are often the by product of how the physical environment affect humans and this is why they are both needed understanding human social and physical problems.

finally understanding human nature has always been a difficult thing to do and understand and hence the combined effort of both social sciences discipline is well needed to further explore and break into pieces and branches in other to have a further futuristic understanding and plan ahead for unforeseen circumstances which might arise as a result of human actions...

The major sociological theories ..

In social science as a whole sociology and anthropology have always been seen as the founding fathers of such discipline and it has mostly been regarded as the major discipline with a unique theory that explains human societies ...first there are three major sociological theories of our time,which are conflict theories,functionalism and symbolic interaction.i am going to explain all of them below,starting with the first to the last.

1.conflict theories: it is one of the most toughest of all of them,conflict theory was majorly propounded by Karl Marx,the Siberian icon (which is known as Germany),the theory states that conflict and strive arises and exist in a society because most of the nation wealth and resources that are used for production are owned and controlled by the capitalist (they are often called bourgeois) who are few,thus while many are left to work under them (whom are often called the proletariat) for penny and are often forced to sell their labor for wages.they believed that as a result of this conflict would always exist in human society because the rich will continue to grow richer because of the position they occupy,controlling large scale production facilities and while the poor(proletariat) will continue to be poor because they are being marginalized as a result of the structure of the economy ,thus for him the only way the society can be equal and develop well is for the poor mass to set up a revolt against the few rich that controls the means of production thereby bringing about a change in power and as well the country of the economy i the hands of the government.in total conflict theories pays more attention to power differentials such as gender,race and class and  thus it ideology about human society is  one that is based on conflict and social change

2.functionalism: it was a theory that was propounded by Herbert Spencer,Talcott parson,Emile Durkheim e.t.c they saw the human society as a complex whole that works together to promote stability and solidarity. in essence it is believed that when one part of the society is not working well,let say for instance if the norms and laws of a society are not perfectly understood,some individuals might manifest some deviance attitude at some often times and hence in other to solve such a menace the norms or laws of such society are to be evaluated ...

3.symbolic interaction: this was a work done by Herbert mead and colleagues e.t.c ,it is often intersected with interactionism which places emphasis on subjective meaning. the theory states that the signs and symbols in human society are all created by humans with specific meaning and information that guides it,for them the believe that the society we live in today is a product of every day interaction between human..it is also a shared reality of what human think and do,likewise during that process countless and numerous numbers of signs are used in accomplishing a task. hence final for them they believe also that the society is an ever changing arena day in day out..
these are the three major sociological theory in sociology and anthropology.

the relationship between anthropology and ethics

Before understanding their relationship we must first understand what ethics means. ethic is the fundamental principle that is based on what rules and guide the way in which peoples behavior are accepted as right or wrong or good or bad,ethics entails what a discipline puts in place to determine the sustainability of any human organization . hence in anthropology as a  discipline the case are not different,ethics are put in place to make sure that every individual in it adhere to it practices and regulation and thus avoiding any foul practices that would endanger the discipline,ironically ethics in anthropology has always been over emphasized,usually the lay more concern on the negative than the positive and they are seen to be more reactive than proactive but nevertheless anthropology as always been a discipline which has been built on sound foundation which has served as it agility to success. in this article am going to explain how both ethic and anthropology relates and works with each other.

• ethic as a conductor of rules in anthropology: ethics are far far cherished in anthropology than in any other discipline except medicine,its allows for a smooth flow of it practices by it researchers bearing in mind of the consequences that may befall them if thy do other wise.
• ethic as a drive toward discipline: this has always been the main feature of why ethic is here to stay in anthropology because punishment for offenders are often spelled out in such ethics guiding anthropological discipline thus putting in place an a plain environment that encourages pure competitions from young researchers and as well as an opportunity for the older once to expand their horizon

• ethic as a building block in anthropology: ethic has enable anthropology to get were it has gotten today with it constant check and balance of every sector in it discipline..

so as long as anthropology will continue to strive ethics will remain it guiding principle 

THE CULTURAL PRACTICES OF THE SEMINOLE TRIBE

• the history of the Seminole tribe of Florida in the united state of America are often referred to as the run away tribe,which most of their culture has been in existence for more than a thousand years now.they emerged as a group of ethnologist people from different ethnic group into forming what we now known as the Seminole tribe . in this article i am going to explain most of their cultural practices and belief system into two Broadways.

1. their religion
2. their custom and practices                                                                                                                    Their religion. 

The Seminole people believes that just like the way humans have life in themselves,that is the same way everything in nature such as water,animals,mountains,rocks,the sea e.t.c and that they all have a reciprocal effect on humans and human too over them. such that they believe that before anything will happen in the physical world,it will first appear in the spiritual world. thus this has played a significant role in their belief system such that every clan has their name curled out from the names of some animals such as the snake,the bear and the alligator,such that every practices in their culture are spiritually inclined.
            Their customs and practices.
the Seminole people are also known for their very rich cultural practices and traditional rite performance which was dated back to the 18th centuries ago,such cultural practices were also linked to their spiritual life and activities.The first of those cultural practices includes
The green corn dance: the green corn dance is widely celebrated festival every summer, the people of Seminoles come together during this period to discuss issues that borders the tribes,relates and interacts with one another and possibly pray for the success of another planting season and hopefully this will bring about a good harvest year.
 The stomp dance:the dance is led by their leader known as the medicine man,followed by the men and later by their women,during this stomp dance the people are given a scratch on their backs and body with the hope that this will purify their sins and purge our sickness from their body and keep them health for another planting year, after such practices the people will know pack their bags and back to their home land with the believe that every of their sacrifices have been accepted,it is long kept tradition of the Seminole which has kept them in unity. hence such is the life of the Seminoles but with the recent growth in the science and globalized world one could only wish that such practices will be sustained for a very long time.