African Art Essay

Socialization refers to the preparation of new members to be part of an existing group and to feel, think, as well as act in ways suitable to the group. It involves a process of replacing a member. Instances of socialization include situations such as child nurturing, familiarizing a new member of an organization, teaching someone to become something else, or acquainting an immigrant with the culture and life of a new community.
In the African societies, boys and girls are brought up to perform some gender specific duties depending on their capacities. Boys grew up defending their ancestral lands during battles, hunting, herding livestock, tapping palm wine, clearing the farms and fetching firewood. On the other hand, girls grew up cooking, babysitting, tending the farms and hoeing, as well as fetching water. It can be deduced, although it is tempting, that the place of traditional African girls was in the kitchen while the place of the traditional African boy was in hunting grounds and battlefields. However, this did not matter. What was important to the traditional African society was the truth that duties performed by the two genders were equally significant for the survival and maintenance of the society. These tasks were neither rigid nor had different levels of significance. The significance of a particular task was not contingent upon the gender of the person doing it. The traditional African society did not value the duties of women in society less than male duties.
Different objects such as cars, physical shrines, churches, mosques as well as stores and planning of villages represent different societies. Symbols on the other hand are important elements of a particular society. They include things such as flags, beliefs and attitudes. In the African societies shrines, language and beliefs represented their culture. Art objects that may be found for African societies include masks, jewelry, ceramics, ritual figures as well as ceramics.

Work Cited

Collier, Gordon. African Cultures and Literatures: A Miscellany. Amsterdam [etc.: Rodopi, 2013. Print.