Africa Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Culture== {{Main|Culture of Africa}} [[File:Wassu Stone Circle.jpg|thumb|The [[Senegambian stone circles]], lying in The [[Gambia]] and [[Senegal]], are a [[List of World Heritage Sites in Africa|UNESCO World Heritage Site]].]] Some aspects of traditional African cultures have become less practised in recent years as a result of neglect and suppression by colonial and post-colonial regimes. For example, African customs were discouraged, and African languages were prohibited in mission schools.<ref name="pearsonhighered.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205208606.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501070358/http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205208606.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Pearsonhighered.com|archive-date=1 May 2015}}</ref> Leopold II of Belgium attempted to "civilize" Africans by discouraging polygamy and witchcraft.<ref name="pearsonhighered.com"/> Obidoh Freeborn posits that colonialism is one element that has created the character of modern African art.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/gefame/4761563.0002.103/--crisis-of-appropriating-identity-for-african-art-and-artists?rgn=main;view=fulltext|title=The Crisis of Appropriating Identity for African Art and Artists: The Abayomi Barber School Responsorial Paradigm|journal=Gefame|year=2005|last1=Freeborn|first1=Odiboh|access-date=18 December 2015|archive-date=22 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222185342/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/gefame/4761563.0002.103/--crisis-of-appropriating-identity-for-african-art-and-artists?rgn=main;view=fulltext|url-status=live}}</ref> According to authors Douglas Fraser and Herbert M. Cole, "The precipitous alterations in the power structure wrought by colonialism were quickly followed by drastic iconographic changes in the art."<ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSIxOcgE378C&pg=PA95|title=African Art and Leadership|first1=Douglas|last1=Fraser|first2=Herbert M.|last2=Cole|year=2004|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-05824-1|page=95|access-date=18 December 2015|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611043035/https://books.google.com/books?id=sSIxOcgE378C&pg=PA95|url-status=live}}</ref> Fraser and Cole assert that, in Igboland, some art objects "lack the vigor and careful craftsmanship of the earlier art objects that served traditional functions.<ref name="books.google.com"/> Author Chika Okeke-Agulu states that "the racist infrastructure of British imperial enterprise forced upon the political and cultural guardians of empire a denial and suppression of an emergent sovereign Africa and modernist art."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ojPJBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT63|title=Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria|first=Chika|last=Okeke-Agulu|year=2015|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-7630-9|page=63|access-date=18 December 2015|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611035844/https://books.google.com/books?id=ojPJBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT63|url-status=live}}</ref> Editors F. Abiola Irele and Simon Gikandi comment that the current identity of African literature had its genesis in the "traumatic encounter between Africa and Europe."<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521832755.021 |chapter=African literature and the colonial factor |title=The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature |year=2000 |last1=Gikandi |first1=Simon |pages=379β397 |isbn=978-1-139-05463-8 }}</ref> On the other hand, Mhoze Chikowero believes that Africans deployed music, dance, spirituality, and other performative cultures to (re)assert themselves as active agents and indigenous intellectuals, to unmake their colonial marginalization and reshape their own destinies."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3y9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|page=8|title=African Music, Power, and Being in Colonial Zimbabwe|first=Mhoze|last=Chikowero|year=2015|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0253018090|access-date=18 December 2015|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611043301/https://books.google.com/books?id=o3y9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|url-status=live}}</ref> There is now a resurgence in the attempts to rediscover and revalue African traditional cultures, under such movements as the [[African Renaissance]], led by [[Thabo Mbeki]], [[Afrocentrism]], led by a group of scholars, including [[Molefi Asante]], as well as the increasing recognition of traditional spiritualism through decriminalization of [[West African Vodun|Vodou]] and other forms of spirituality. As of March 2023, 98 African properties are listed by [[UNESCO]] as [[World Heritage Site]]s. Among these proprieties, 54 are cultural sites, 39 are natural sites and 5 are mixed sites. The [[List of World Heritage in Danger|List Of World Heritage in Danger]] includes 15 African sites.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Africa |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/africa/ |access-date=30 March 2023 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Convention}}</ref> ===Visual art=== [[File:Nok sculpture Louvre 70-1998-11-1.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|left| [[Nok culture|Nok]] figure (5th century BCE-5th century CE)]] {{Excerpt|African art|paragraph=1,2,3,4,5||only=paragraphs}} ===Architecture=== {{Excerpt|Architecture of Africa|paragraph=1,2,3|file=1}} ===Cinema=== {{Excerpt|Cinema of Africa|paragraphs=1-2|file=1}} ===Music=== {{Excerpt|Music of Africa|paragraph=1,2}} ===Dance=== {{Excerpt|African dance|paragraph=1,2|file=no}} ===Sports=== [[File:World cup african countries best results and hosts.png|thumb|Best results of African men's national football teams at the FIFA World Cup]] [[File:Watching South Africa & France match at World Cup 2010-06-22 in Soweto 13.jpg|thumb|Supporters watching the [[2010 FIFA World Cup]] in the township of [[Soweto]], [[South Africa]]]] Fifty-four African countries have [[Association football|football]] teams in the [[Confederation of African Football]]. Egypt has won the African Cup seven times, and a record-making three times in a row. Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, and Algeria have advanced to the knockout stage of recent [[FIFA World Cup]]s. Morocco made history at the [[2022 FIFA World Cup|2022 World Cup in Qatar]] as the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA Men's World Cup. South Africa hosted the [[2010 FIFA World Cup|2010 World Cup tournament]], becoming the first African country to do so. The top clubs in each African football league play the [[CAF Champions League]], while lower-ranked clubs compete in [[CAF Confederation Cup]]. In recent years, the continent has made major progress in terms of state-of-the-art [[basketball]] facilities which have been built in cites as diverse as [[Cairo]], [[Dakar]], [[Johannesburg]], [[Kigali]], [[Luanda]] and [[Rades]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Getting to know Africa's flashy basketball arenas |url=https://www.fiba.basketball/news/getting-to-know-africas-flashy-basketball-arenas |access-date=10 December 2020 |work=[[FIBA]] |date=2 September 2019 |archive-date=7 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107193242/https://www.fiba.basketball/news/getting-to-know-africas-flashy-basketball-arenas |url-status=live }}</ref> The number of African basketball players who drafted into the [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] has experienced major growth in the 2010s.<ref>{{cite news |first=Lee |last=Nxumalo |title=Basketball's next frontier is Africa |url=https://www.newframe.com/basketballs-next-frontier-is-africa/ |access-date=11 January 2021 |work=New Frame |date=20 December 2020 |archive-date=16 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116062357/https://www.newframe.com/basketballs-next-frontier-is-africa/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Cricket]] is popular in some African nations. [[South Africa national cricket team|South Africa]] and [[Zimbabwe national cricket team|Zimbabwe]] have [[Test cricket|Test]] status, while [[Kenya national cricket team|Kenya]] is the leading non-test team and previously had [[One Day International|One-Day International cricket]] (ODI) status (from [[President's Cup 1997-98|10 October 1997]], until [[2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier#Super Six|30 January 2014]]). The three countries jointly hosted the [[2003 Cricket World Cup]]. [[Namibia national cricket team|Namibia]] is the other African country to have played in a World Cup. [[Morocco]] in northern Africa has also hosted the [[2002 Morocco Cup]], but the national team has never qualified for a major tournament. [[Rugby union|Rugby]] is popular in several southern African nations. [[Namibia]] and [[Zimbabwe]] both have appeared on multiple occasions at the [[Rugby World Cup]], while South Africa is the most successful national team at the Rugby World Cup, having won the tournament on four occasions, in 1995, 2007, 2019, and 2023. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/news/608463/rwc-2023-spotlight-south-africa|title=RWC 2023 Spotlight: South Africa ο½ Rugby World Cup 2023|website=www.rugbyworldcup.com|access-date=29 May 2021|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213126/https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/news/608463/rwc-2023-spotlight-south-africa|url-status=live}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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