Notes

Arifur Rahman Homework#22: Many Peoples, Many Traditions 4/5/16
Mcummiskey Global 2
The fertility of ones environment heavily influenced how one lived, especially in Africa: for example, the Khoison hunters in the Kalahari lived in small bands and traveled often to follow their prey while the slash and burn societies lived in larger farming bodies, but still had to travel due to the issue of soil depletion.

The institutions of family, lineage, governance, and religion held African societies together.

Art and religion were connected in many African cultures due to the fact that artistic creations, such as masks and sculptures, were often used in religious ceremonies or in some religious/spiritual capacity.

A matrilineal society might allow women to take a greater role in governance and positions of authority by placing a greater importance on women, keeping wealth from marriages in the woman's family, and by placing more women in elder and family leadership positions.


Slash and burn agriculture involves the clearing of forested or otherwise obstructed land in order to create farmland, which is then used until it tires. When land becomes depleted, slash and burn farmers then move on to clear more land.
A danger associated with slash and burn agriculture is that of deforestation and ecosystem destruction. For example, as populations increase, more and more people will clear land, eventually clearing potentially all of the forests and ecosystems nearby, damaging the overall health of the land.