clst 303 / engl 475 african american english history in the study of aae

CLST 303 / ENGL 475 African American English

History in the Study of AAE



Diaspora:

•Dispersal created by the movements and culture of Africans and their descendents throughout the world

•Europe, Caribbean, North America, South America, Central America

•Historically the result of European colonial slavery, but recently the result of massive emigration



Thus, African-American history has to begin with Africa.

•History

•Culture

•Languages

Political Geography of Modern Africa

54 nations

6 North Africa

48 Sub-Saharan nations

Population Density

Major Cities

African Languages

Four major language groups, with several unclassified languages.

•Afro-Asiatic•Semitic (Arabic, Hebrew, etc.), Berber, Atlas, Oromo (Somalia, Ethiopia), many, many more

•Khoisan•Kwadi (Angola), Nama (Namibia), !Kwi (South Africa), Hua (Botswana)

•(Niger-Kordofanian) Niger-Congo•Wolof (Senegal), Mande group (includes Mende in Liberia), Kwa group (Yoruba, Ewe, Nupe, Ashanti, etc.), Bantu group (hundreds of central African lgs.)

African Languages

•Nilo-Saharan•Includes Koman (Ethiopia, Sudan), Nubian,

•There are over 1,000 languages spoken in present-day Africa.



•Arabic has the greatest number of speakers (first and second language).

•Swahili has the second greatest number of speakers—a Bantu language of the Niger-Kordofanian. Official language of Tanzania and Kenya, but widely used throughout east central Africa. Approx. 50 million speakers.



A brief overview of African history.

•The most important fossil evidence for human evolution comes from the Great Rift Valley of east central Africa.



•5-2.5 million years ago: Fossils, rocks, ancient skeletal remains have been uncovered in the Rift Valley and surrounding areas.

•Evidence points to a common human ancestry originating in Africa from the emergence of a humanlike species in eastern Africa some 5 million years ago. From Hadar, Ethiopia, the 3.18 million year-old remains of "Lucy" were unearthed in 1974. •"Lucy" (Australopithicus afarensis) was found in 1974 near Hadar in Ethiopia.



•2.5 million years ago: Homo habilis, first use of tools (East Africa).

•1.8 million years ago: Homo erectus, bipedalism (East Africa).

•After this time (1.8 million years ago) hominids are found outside of Africa.

•600,000-200,000 years ago: Wide spread of species across Asia, Europe, and Africa. Fire use develops. The earliest true human being in Africa, Homo sapiens, dates from more than 200,000 years ago.. A hunter-gatherer capable of making crude stone tools, Homo sapiens banded together with others to form nomadic groups



•6,000-4,000 years ago: The River People emerge along Nile, Niger, and Congo Rivers (West-Central Africa); the Isonghee of Zaire (Republic of Congo) introduce mathematical abacus; and Cyclopian stone tombs built in Central African Republic area. Spread of agriculture south of the Sahara Desert supporting a growing population, which mastered animal domestication and agriculture.

•4500 years ago:Ancient Egyptians begin using burial texts to accompany their dead, first known written documents. Ancient Egyptians, who called their land Kemet (Land of the Blacks) and Ta-Meri (Beloved Land), were primarily agriculturists who, with the practice of irrigation and animal husbandry, transformed the Nile Valley into a vibrant food-producing economy .



•2500 BCE: Centers of early civilization flourish in Mesopotamia, Egypt, northeastern India, and northern China.•2700-1087 BCE: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom , & New Kingdom of ancient Egypt & Upper Nile.



•First pyramid of Djoser was built at Saqqara (Old Kingdom era, 2686-2182 BCE).



•1000-800 BCE: Bantu ("the people") migration spreads through sub-Saharan Africa (Africa south of the Sahara Desert), over some 2,000 years. Bantu, a linguistically related group of about 60 million people living in equatorial and southern Africa, probably originated in West Africa, migrating downward gradually into southern Africa. The Bantu migration was one of the largest in human history. The cause of this movement is uncertain, but is believed related to population increase, a result of the introduction of new crops, such as the banana (native to south Asia), allowing more efficient food production.



•Early in their history, the Bantu split into two major linguistic branches—the Eastern and Western Bantu. The Eastern Bantu migrated through present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique, down to South Africa. The Western Bantu moved into what is now Angola, Namibia, and northwestern Botswana. Today, among the Bantu language groups, the most widely spoken Bantu-derived language is Arab-influenced Swahili, which is used as a lingua franca (a language used in common by different peoples to facilitate commerce and trade) by up to 50 million speakers on the eastern coast of Africa.



•Ethnic groups descended from the Bantu include the Shona, the Xhosa, the Kikuyu, and the Zulu, of the Eastern Bantu language branch; and the Herero and Tonga peoples, of the Western Bantu language branch.

•750-600 BCE: Kush or Nubia (upper or southern reaches of Nile River) rules Egypt from capital Meroe; with metal technology, widened economic influence in sub-Saharan Africa.

•500 BCE: Ancient Nok culture thrives in forests of central Nigeria (to CE 200). Claimed by the Yoruba peoples as ancestors, the Nok are justly revered for their art and terra cottas.



•Ca. 300 CE: Rise of Axum or Aksum (Ethiopia) and conversion to Christianity. (By CE 1st century, Rome had conquered Egypt, Carthage, and other North African areas; which became the granaries of the Roman Empire, and the majority of the population converted to Christianity). Axum spent its religious zeal carving out churches from rocks, and writing and interpreting religious texts.

•600-1000 CE: Bantu migration extends to southern Africa; Bantu languages will predominate in central and southern Africa.

clst 303 / engl 475 african american english history in the study of aae

Documents

africanamerican history

eastern africa

presentday africa

bipedalism east africa

central african republic

kwi south africa

use of tools east africa

study of aaeclst