Truly I must be naive, for the color of skin is not something I see past its color. Racism, however, is a powerful force with which to be reckoned, to be sure. We can see this entity permeate several aspects of our life and history. Historical accounts of racism are many, yet what of those not accounted?
A question posed in class only two days ago caught my attention and I have been dwelling on it since: Why is such emphasis given to Egyptian culture yet not to sub-Saharan Africa?
This has three, closely linked answers.
First, racism plain and simple. Africa, we know, is the cradle of civilization, our birth place as a spaces. Yet as Africa was over taken via colonization the thought that blacks were mere sauvages was prevelant. There was a complete disregard for their own complex social structure, laws, spritirual beliefes, and so on. These developments were not new, rather a product of centures of cultivation. I truly do believe the hostile whites thought this way because the natives did not have the same things they themselves had, this this was the basis for their superiority complex (as well as their own religious zeal). The natives simply live from the land, natuarally, more as we all once did, and yet should.
Second, we see the Egytpian comparison. It is because Egypt was developed into an imperial-like state they were seen to be developed on the whole. They had a strong government, were more often prosperous, were a stong military power, and had more dealings with other states, powers, and languages and commerce. Thus, they were and are yet seen as beinig developed; perhaps seen as more European in a way. Let us not forget that Eurocentrisicm also plays a part in obscurinig sub-Saharan history. Thus Egypt is decidedly "more interesting," regardless of the long and rich (yet lost) history of their counterpart.
Finally, we coemt o the sad fact that, because of colonization, death, inter-tribal war, and a faulty oral tradition, the true history of sub-Saharan Africa is lost to time itself, Whatever was know is not lost int eh grasslands and dune sands, the rocky mountains and costal lines of Africa.
Maybe this too is another reason Egyptian facination is so strong: there is simply more we know about Egypt in comparison to sub-Saharan Africa.
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I definitely agree that both racism and a Western perspective play a part in the lack of information about Sub-Saharan Africa.
ReplyDeleteThe view that oral tradition is faulty and lost intrigues me. Since we know more about Egypt because of their writing, what will become of our own culture? Much of our information is stored on the internet, and more is transferred there every day. If someday in the distant future the technology and the internet are as lost as the legends of the peoples of Africa, what will people conclude about us?