Bantu community

Bantu means, "The People". It is an African language family that branched into many different African languages. Swahili is a the largest Bantu language currently spoken in Africa today by 50 million people. The Bantu migration was one of the largest in human history. 60 million people migrated from West Africa as far south as South Africa. The cause of this movement is believed to be a population increase. It could have been caused by the introduction of new crops, such as the banana. It started around 800 AD and spread across sub-Saharan Africa.

Nothing happens by chance in the African Bantu civilization. Every tragedy has an external cause. So explanation is critical after an unexpected tragedy occurs. It is believed that witchcraft and sorcery are the primary external causes of most unexplained tragedies. An example could be a lightening strike which resulted in the unexplained death of a person. A quote from the Bantu people is appropriate here. An anonymous school teacher in Lebowa commented: 'Something must be done to root out this firm belief in witchcraft. We welcome the rains for our crops, but live in mortal fear of what the lightning may bring' ( Drum, March 1984:6). If every event has an external cause then the Bantu people are consumed by the question why.

There intense desire to answer that question has led to witch hunts and the practice of necklacing. Necklacing is the practice of taking an accused witch and placing a petrol filled tire around their neck and setting them on fire. Fire is seen as a purifying agent that will separate the ancestral spirits from this continued treason. It is the survival of the community that is at stake. So the value of community is so important that they will sacrifice individuals who threaten its continuance. These people will even justify extending the practice to include someone who snitches on another community member. In this way the Native American and Bantu civilizations are similar.

The Bantu People express their communalism in specific ways. Their music tends to be participatory instead of performance based. When a song is initiated everyone in the community will participate by clapping or drumming rhythms. For most people, it is a wonderful experience to join in this activity. In my case I have a very poor sense of rhythm so it can take work for me to participate. But, my students do seem to enjoy watching me struggle at something that comes very naturally to them. :-) The Bantu people have contributed rich art, music, dance, poetry and literature to Western Culture.

I taught in a inner city school for a short time. It was primarily African American students. While I was there an elementary student was accidently shot when a drug deal went bad in a neighborhood elementary school that fed its students into our high school. The discussion in my classroom immediately turned to what could be done to "stop the violence" in our school. It was then that I observed first hand the value that my students placed on loyalty against the police force. Some students felt that snitching on a member of their community was as large an offense as the senseless killing of a child. When I suggested anonymous letters to the editor, poetry and satire as agents of change I did not get very far. Their community or neighborhood became far more important than any individual offense. A study of the Bantu people has helped me to understand this.

The virtue of the Bantus is community. It is both a noun and verb in the language of virtue. Its elements are participation and loyalty.

http://www.wits.ac.za/csvr/papers/papball.htm


«Bantu» by A. York
bantu.mp3 491 K, 31 sec.