Wodaabe are nomads, migrating through much of the Sahel from northern Cameroon to Chad, Niger, and northeast Nigeria. The last nomads in the area, the Wodaabe number between 160,000 and 200,000. Other around them - the Hausa, Fulani, and Tuaeg - regard the Wodaabe as wild people. The Wodaabe refer to the Fulani with equal disdain as Wodaabe who lost their way.The seasons dictate Wodaabe migrations. From July to September, the short rainy season, sporadic storms cause floods. Most of September and October are hot and dry, November to February is cold. The hottest months, March to June, are also dry. During the short rainy season, Wodaabe lineage groups come together and hold their ceremonial dances, the Geerewol, Worso, and Yakke. The rest of the year the Wodaabe split up into small lineage groups.LivelihoodThe Wodaabe's main economic activity is cattle-herding. Cattle provide milk products that, along with cereal obtained through trading, are the basis of the diet. Beef is eaten only during ceremonies. The Wodaabe also keep goats and sheep for milk and meat and use camels and donkeys for transportation.During the dry season, milk production is lowest, and the need for cereal grains especially acute. At thee times, however, the cows are in their poorest condition and grain prices are highest. Thus, Wodaabe sell their cattle at cutrate prices. Moreover, droughts in the 1970s and early 1980s depleted the herds, so many Wodaabe have had to resort to earning wages in towns or herding cattle for their sedentary neighbors.While these activities allow Wodaabe llineage groups and individuals to survive the dry season, they don't rebuilt the herds. The depletion of the herds means the Wodaabe can't use their traditional way of aiding members of the tribe who lose their cattle - by loaning a cow for several years, with the borrower keeping the calves.Cultural SystemsThe Wodaabe divide themselves into 15 lineage groups. Membership is based on both blood-lines and traveling together in the dry season.Membership in a lineage groups determines who can marry whom. The only marriages that may occur between members of the same groups are Koobegal marriages arranged during the partners' childhood and formally recognized by the council of elders. Subsequent Teegal marriages are by choice of the partners.Lineage-group membership doesn't exclude people from Teegal marriages, but such marriages often cause friction. They usually involve "wife-stealing," often with the consent of the woman but never with that of her husband. Teegal marriage is also a source of friction between the new wife and previous ones. More wives means that fewer resources, such as milk from the husband's herd, are allocated to each. Eloping in a Teegal marriage that carries little stigma allows a Wodaabe woman considerable freedom, but she must leave her children with the ex-husband. The system guarantees the children's place in society while permitting spontaneity and flexibility to the parents.The Wodaabe believe in various bush spirits that live in trees and wells and are reputed to be saddened by how people have treated them. All spirits are intertwined in taboos pertaining largely to ecology. Some spirits are dangerous.The Wodaabe have acquired some knowledge of Islam and invoke the name of Allah in times of death or difficulty. However, what constitutes the notion of Allah for the Wodaabe is ambiguous.More central is a set of values concerning beauty, patience, and fortitude. Physical beauty - a long nose, round head, light skin, and white teeth - is one ideal quality, particularly for men but for women as well. Wodaabe sometimes wear makeup to enhance these attractions.Central cultural institutions are the dances - Geerewol, Worso, and Yakke - held during tribal gatherings in the rainy season. During tribal gatherings, flirtations occur and Teegal marriages are negotiated. In the dances, the men of a lineage engage in a beauty contest judged by three young women from an opposite lineage. These young women are picked as judges by the male tribal elders on the basis of their fortitude and patience. They appraise the men on appearance, charm, and dancing ability.SUGGESTED READINGSCarol Beckwith and Marion Offelin, Nomads of Niger, H.N. Abrams, 1983.Carol Beckwith, "Niger's Wodaabe: People of the Taboo," National Geographic, October 1983.Marguerite Dupire, "The Position of Women in a Pastoral Society" in Women of Tropical Africa, ed. by Denise Paulne, University of California Press, 1982.

LUMUMBA is a gripping epic that dramatizes for the first time the rise and fall of legendary African leader Patrice Lumumba. When the Congo declared its independence from Belgium in 1960, the 36-year-old, self-educated Lumumba became the first Prime Minister of the newly independent state.

⁣This video offers an explanation of the locus of the temporal universe according to the Kôngo religion.
It proves the temporal universe is situated in a clockwise rotating black hole from which it emerges progressively by rotating counterclockwise.

The ideas exposed in this video have been inspired by our book titled BUKÔNGO and available here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NY7ZMCT

BBC Africa Eye uncovered an illegal network that lures women to India from Africa, where they are then forced into sex work to satisfy the demands of the many African men living in Delhi.The women are mostly from Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania and Rwanda.One woman, Grace, who was trafficked from Kenya, agreed to go undercover.

Book your BRONZEVILLE TOURS with HAROLD LUCAS at the Bronzeville Visitor Information Center. Contact Harold Lucas at the office (312) 794-4167 or cell (773) 676-6207....

Recorded Live performance in Azania aka South Afrika featuring our great ancestor/artist/freedom fighter Hugh Masekela playing trumpet and the awesom Mahotella Queens TEARIN' IT U[!

Aldinga Iraqw stick fighting from Tanzania

This is a clip from a speech by our great #PanAfrikan Ancestor - Baba Amos Wilson.

In recent months, a clip of Amos Wilson has been doing the rounds as leaders & advocates of the #ADOS hashtag attempt to use his words to justify negative sentiments towards "Black Immigrants" to the USA.

We are all entitled to our Political Ideology. What we are not entitled to do is distort the legacies of our Ancestors. Our Ancestors deserve to be represented by us, for exactly what they stood for. The deliberate distortion of the legacy of our great #PanAfrikan Ancestor is unfortunate... and it must be corrected.

This clip is an attempt to put the legacy of Amos Wilson in proper context for those who may be new to his work.

⁣Benin Citizenship_ Concrete Steps for Abibifoɔ

62 year old Crawford Peterson was diagnosed with Stage 3 Prostate Cancer. His tumor covered 97% of his prostate. After doing the Herbal Results Anti-Cancer Protocol, his PSA went from 150 to .1. He was recently examined by his doctor and received no evidence of tumor and is in perfect health. This interview tells his story. Go to www.herbalresults.net for products and more info.