West Africa Review (2000)

ISSN: 1525-4488

MANY NOW WONDER ABOUT THE AFRICAN WORLD

Natalie Washington

The documentary series “Wonders of the African World, with Henry Louis Gates Jr.” was his personal journey through some parts of Africa to reveal aspects of African history that are not typically explored. The audience Dr. Gates spoke to throughout the series was the descendants of Africa, a group of people who have often been misinformed or uninformed about Africa as Dr. Gates noted. The purpose of this program was to create a deeper understanding of African heritage, but the program created some misunderstandings of the African world.

Like any other place on the planet, the continent of Africa has a complex and dynamic history that has been studied by many. Dr. Gates’s on-screen references to written historical accounts of Africa had little if any reference to “Black- African” people, who have written on Africa, the very people he is seeking legitimize. He says “Nobody knows anything at all about Nubia...I am embarrassed to admit I know so very little about the real Nubians.” But there have been exceptional “Black-African” scholars such as Dr. Yosef ben- Jochannan’s (commonly referred to as Dr. Ben,) and Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop to write extensively on Egypt.

Religion is a significant part of African life, and if one is to approach the subject of African culture, at least a moderate study of traditional religions, Islam and Christianity is not only appropriate, but also necessary. In regards to the portrayal of traditional religion in the documentary, Dr. Gates made quite a few verbal faux pas.

While in the region of the “Swahili Coast” he told us he attended a spirit “cult ceremony.” “Cult” is an incorrect and inappropriate term not to be used in this context because of its contemporary negative connotation. In this scene he dismisses the holistic concept of body, mind and spirit connection many Africans hold as a foundational life principle, (which is even becoming a trend in Western medicine today). In reference to a man’s “exorcism” Dr. Gates shows little regard for the high importance of this part of the man’s recovery process when he comments “The exorcism seems to have worked, but it looks like a case of malaria to me.”

While in Benin, Dr. Gates mentions that “Vodun” was the “only African religion that took root in the New World.” The word Vodun itself means religion, but it is also the name of certain religions. The religion he was probably referring to is Ifa from the Yoruba culture.1 The religions based from the Yoruba or Oyo people in Benin, Nigeria and Togo also can be found in places such as Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad and the United States today.

The Islamic people need to be approached with serious consideration also since Muslims make up a large percentage of the population of Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa. The issue of a Muslim man potentially having four wives was mentioned in various segments, but never was there the explanation that the man must be wealthy enough to take care of his wives, nor were the rights of Muslim women explained.

It was fine that Dr. Gates brought out the denial of African heritage by some Swahili, but he does not explain the religious aspect of this trend. Dr. Gates would have used his audio space better by not disregarding Sheik Badawi’s connections to the prophet Muhammad, with the expression “whatever he says...” Instead he should have properly informed his audience that to claim descendancy from the prophet Muhammad (or other Arabic relatives,) is not primarily a racial but religious cultural dynamic, and it should be respected.

Most importantly, this image of Swahili only represented a segment of that region’s population. Dr. Gates does show isolated individuals who recognize their African ancestry, but the impression was these people were the minority. People of the Swahili region being depicted as culturally ignorant is highly debatable (and offensive to many natives,) especially given the sorrow shared by millions worldwide for the recent death of former Tanzanian President Dr. Julius Kambarage Nyerere, one of the world’s most influential Pan-Africanist leaders. He represents a strong legacy of cultural pride for the people of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Faith is a critical pillar of the Christian religion, proven by its presence in the Bible on at least twenty separate occasions. But Dr. Gates repeated demands (on at least nine occasions) for tangible proof the Ark of the Covenant is located in Ethiopia left his audience with more doubt than revere for this ancient culture’s sacred treasure, and he successfully insulted some of Ethiopia’s important religious figures.

Dr. Gates mentioned that Ethiopia was the only unconquered nation by Europe, but missed an opportunity to speak on the battle of Adwa (1896) in which Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II defeated Italian invaders. Black people around the world have celebrated this victory for the last century. This along with the subsequent crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie was catalyst for the religious-political Rastafarian movement. This battle at Adwa is the subject of film to be released this month by Haile Gerima, the creator of the movie “Sankofa.”

In his journey to “The Slave Kingdoms” and throughout his African journey Dr. Gates reiterates that he is a descendant of slaves and repeats the concept of “slave and slavery” to many he encounters. Dr. Molefi Asante, an African-American scholar credited with founding “Afrocentricity,” twenty years ago, notes that consistently referring to Africans as “slaves” while talking about their status prior to going through forced migration is hazardous because they were “African people[:] farmers, blacksmiths, fishers, [warriors, doctors, priest and priestesses, griots] and members of royal families,” not necessarily “slaves.”

While it is true that slavery was a very long standing institution in Africa the difference in the meaning of “a slave” with the “slave” of the European trade is so complexly different, many debate if the term “slave” is proper to use in the African context. The popular narratives of Olaudah Equiano (or Gustavus Vasa,) an 18th century capture from the West African region brought to the Americas who bought his freedom and became an abolitionist in England, details differences between African and European slavery. African slaves were treated with humanity, many times even accepted as part of the family; humane treatment was virtually nonexistent in European slave trade.

Yes, it is startling to many that West Africans were the people who largely sold other Africans they kidnapped or took as prisoners of war, but Dr. Gates was dangerously divisive to fixate on blaming Africans, and to remain angry, because it puts an unnecessary wedge between people of similar backgrounds. Not only are the Africans of the America’s similar to Africans in cultural ways that were not erased by slavery, but after the slave era ended Africans encountered many of the horrors America’s slaves did.

Dr. Gates only glossed over the last 150 years, in which Africans suffered much of the same tragedies, devastation, violence, and imposed erosion of culture from colonialism all too common to the history Africans in the Americas. What Africans have been experiencing since the slave trade ended actually connects Africans more with their descendants today than it has for the last 400 years. Facts like these help anger to subside and reconnections to develop, the anger displayed in the series should not be imitated. The scramble for Africa, colonialism, and emergence of African nations, cannot be ignored if one is attempting to relate to Africa and “rediscover” his or her roots.

“The Wonders of the African World,” series serves a genuine purpose in retelling of history, but as we redefine and reveal parts of a whole continent’s 5000-year segment of history, we must do so with caution, care and expertise.

© Copyright 2000 Africa Resource Center

Citation Format

Washington, Natalie. (2000). MANY NOW WONDER ABOUT THE AFRICAN WORLD. West Africa Review: 1 , 2.[iuicode: http://www.icaap.org/iuicode?101.1.2.23]