Sorry guys! Here is the link to my unit plan on African Literature. Feel free to download any or all of the documents. If you have any issues downloading them, I can also email them. Enjoy!
Here is the link if you want to check out the original art.
The first animal that I found that is endangered in Africa is the mountain gorilla. It lives in East Africa (Rwanda, Uganda & Zaire). It is the largest and rarest of the three subspecies of gorillas at an average of 6 ft. tall and 400-500 lbs. These gorillas also live up to 50 years. Right now, there are only about 650 mountain gorillas in existence.
Another endangered animal in Africa is the rhinoceros. There are 2 species of rhinos in Africa. One is black and the other is white, and both have horns. They range in weight from 750 to 8,000 lbs. and are 4.5 to 6 feet tall. Currently there are 2,400 black rhinos and 7,500 white rhinos. They can live up to 35 to 40 years.
The african wild dog is also endangered. They are about the size of a medium dog and can live up to 10 years. Between 2,000 and 5,000 remain in the wild. They are only found in Africa south of the Sahara. 
100,000 to 200,000 four feet tall chimpanzee's remain in the wild. They can live up to 50 years in the wild and are found in 21 African countries. They prefer to live in dense tropical rainforests and habitat destruction is the greatest threat to them. 
A final endangered animal in Africa is the zebra. There are two species and one of them is endangered. There are only 600-700. They live on mountainous slopes and plateaus and feed off a variety of grasses. 
When I first started reading this book, I was worried it would be a boring read. However, after I stuck it out for a while, it started to get pretty good. Asouf begins to tell his story and the visitors arrive.
As I was looking for pictures of the moufflon, Darius suggested that I look for pictures of moufflon meat, which is what Asouf's dad was killed trying to get. I'm not sure that this looks very appetizing, but I guess if you were living in the desert and were hungry, it would taste good.
I also began to wonder about what the desert looks like in Libya where Asouf lives. I looked up some picture of Libya.
quite disturbing and I think gives a good image of what life is like in Lagos where the main character, Lomba, went to school. I couldn't help thinking that this is the kind of town he lived in. It amazed me, too, that this is similar to the picture I had in my head when he was describing Lagos. 
I did also find pictures of colleges in Lagos. I think I tried to mention in class that the picture of the college I had in my head as I was reading was different from Western; very simple and sparce. The pictures here again kinda represent what I was picturing in my head. The first picture is of Yaba College of Technology in Lagos. 
The next college I found was Freedom Bible College and Seminary. It sounds like they do prison ministry there. One thing that shocked me about this college was the extreme difference in the cost of college. Without textbooks, the cost for an entire Bachelors Degree is only $300!
The second item in the series is an article about oil spills in Nigeria. The article is really interesting and tells the story of the people effected by the spills. It also has a some interesting charts that show where Nigeria stands in the production of oil. According to the chart, Canada is the top producer and Nigeria is 5th, under Mexico, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia. 
The third part of the series is an article about how profitable oil is in the Congo and begins with this picture about the fisherman in the Congo. It is interesting to see how this article connects to what we talked about in class today. The Congolese government actually made money from this deal even though the oil was being sent to the United States. It would be interesting to find out more about the oil policies in different countries and how they differ. Maybe the Congo has a better policy than Nigeria.... 
A final article that I found is about the elections in Zimbabwe from CNN. It has pitures of the current president (on the left) who has led the country for nearly three decades and those running against him: his former finance minister, Simba Makoni (second image on left); and Morgan Tsvangirai (bottom right)of the Movement for Democratic Change. After explaining 
Mugabe's position in Zimbabwe from the time that it was called Rhodesia, the article then continues to talk about how Mugabe plans to rig the election so that he can stay in power until he dies. 
Because I couldn't upload anything from the PDF file, I decided to find another source that shows the impact of AIDS in Africa. I thought this one was good.
As I started thinking about the topic of this blog being about African women and how they are portrayed in Ancestor Stones, there was a certain part of the book that caught my attention again, like the last post, and made me think more about African women and what they deal with."When a person dies our people cry and sing. The drums sound. The house is home to many visitors. When my mother went away there was silence. My father's house was still. The silence slid down the mud walls. Great drops stretching slowly down the eaves, smothering the thoughts that hung in the air. I clotted every crevice. It rose in the back of my throat when I tried to ask about my mother, and threatened to make me retch. It filled the house until we could no longer open our mouths for fear of drowning in it."This quotation really made me consider for the first time how African women felt. I felt that Mariama felt like she wasn't worthy to talk about her mother, not only because she was a child, but also because she was a female. The "father's house" really made me think this. I also think that she wasn't allowed to talk about this because her mother's illness was rare and considered as embarrasing.
So far I really like Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna. I like the different perspectives that each chapter are written from and I'm excited to get to know how the characters fit together and what their story will be. "A big man casts a long shadow and many people build their lives in the shade."
When I began looking for more information on Xala for this class, the first thing that came up on a Google search is the Wikipedia page that tells about the movie of Xala. Talking to another student in the class, we decided that it would be interesting to watch because now we know the content, which we both decided is quite uncommon and would probably make an interesting film.
I thought it fitting to welcome you to learn a little bit about Zimbabwe before I tell you about its anticolonial struggle. The title of this blog is actually what the name Zimbabwe means which is "great house of stone" in the Shona language.
Located in the Southern part of the African continent, 
Zimbabwe is home to many different species of animals including elephants, lions, giraffes and zebras, and is also the where the famous Victoria Falls are located.
A quick history of Zimbabwe is necessary before I tell you about the anticolonial struggle in Zimbabwe. Originally named Zambesia, the name changed in 1895 to Rhodesia because of Cecil Rhodes' colonizing efforts there. The name then changed to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland when the British combined the two colonies in 1953. Shortly after this due to strong African nationalism, the British dissolved the Union and it was divided into 3 separate colonies. 
As I read through the article, "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney, this caught my eye: "Among the Bemba of what was then Northern Rhodesia, children by the age of six could name fifty to sixty species of tree plants without hesitation, but they knew very little about ornamental flowers. The explanation is simply that knowledge of the trees was a necessity in an environment of ‘cut and burn’ agriculture and in a situation where numerous household needs were met by tree products. Flowers, however, were irrelevant to survival."
Do you ever read a story and the descriptions are so vivid that you can picture the scenery and the characters? These are the best stores ever...While it may be hard to sometimes understand the signinficance of what descriptions Conrad decides to include and expound upon, one thing I noticed is that his descriptions of the native Congolese are the best. I think this is essential to accomplish what I think his goal is...to expose the situation of colonization in the Congo."...It was paddled by black fellows. You could see from afar the white of their eyeballs glistening. They shouted, sang; their bodies streamed with persperation; that ad faces like grotesque masks - these chaps; but they had bone, muscle, a wild vitality, an intense energy of movement, that was as natural and true as the surf along their coast. They wanted no excuse for being there. They were a great comfort to look at..."
As I read through Heart of Darkness, I was amazed at the tone of the narrator. He speaks in language that seems to me to reveal the situation in the Congo at the time. The writing is many times written awkwardly, or at least it seems that way to me. It is often unclear exactly what is happening, who is present, and why it is happening.
As I was reading the chapter David and Goliath in King Leopold's Ghost, I was so excited that a hero finally arrived! E. D. Morel appeared to at last give a voice to the Congolese people, a people that lost their voice to a greed-stricken group of Europeans, specifically King Leopold II.
As a soon-to-be teacher, I can't help looking at situations with those eyes. Besides that I just came out of a very passionate class where we were discussing students situations and fostering them....aka, I'm still wound up and Stanley's character has had me thinking for a while.
going to visit "Aunt Mary," when in reality they were going to leave him at a workhouse!
to become a great explorer, successful in his choice of occupation. However, this also came about through lie after lie and disappointment after disappointment. He changed his name countless times and then when he desired to marry (after he had been sexually abused as a child), his fiances would take off on him and marry someone else!
According to a JSTOR article on this topic, the Dutch slave trade in reality only consisted of about 5% of the total Atlantic slave trade and spanned over three periods of time from 1600 to 1800. During the first period, the slave trade transported the most slaves, apparently because the French and the English had not established their own slave trade.
In the beginning, the Dutch used larger, older ships to transport the slaves which resulted in large numbers of slave deaths, however this fact changed once those ships were banned and better ships were implemented to reduce mortality. Not only was the change in the ships responsible for reducing the morality, they also shortened the middle passage.
Yet even in this crazy fight for Africa, the British had their own problems back home. The public was astonished at the inhumanity of the slave trade and had it abolished in 1807. Yet this didn't end the British presence in the slave trade, only private companies. The British government was still involved.
During my first visit to the village of Umuofia, I was struck at the differences in the buildings in the village.
I decided to enter the Meeting Room and was amazed at how detailed it was compared to the appearance of the Meeting Hall from the outside. The Meeting Room has intricate painting on the walls and what I am assuming are gods in the center and corners of the room. It also appe
ars like there is seating the the people who come to meet.
I did not suspect, however, that the ending would occur as it did. Things truly did fall apart for the family of Okonkwo and the Ibo people. Even though he had received help from friends and neighbors to change his life earlier, in the end he made choices that he later regreted and I think it finally hit him that he never would be the successful man he dreamed of, not with 2 murders to his name. 
