Cultural Approach Chart Sub-Saharan Africa

Demographics

70% of the population live in rural areas.

There are about 750 million people in the region.
The population has the highest growth rate in the world.
The population is increasing.
The population decreases from diseases such as AIDS.
Urbanization- people move from rural areas to cities.
Education, jobs, and health care are reasons people move to the city.
Malnutrition.
Overcrowding, poor sanitation, pollution, and traffic are effects of
urbanization.

Political
Most of the countries became
independent after World War II or in
the 1960s.
Politicians are asking people to stop
having children.
Most countries are either
presidential republics or
parliamentary republics.
Presidential republics- the presidents
can gain a lot of power over other
political parties. (Authoritarian)
The Central African Republic, Chad,
Democratic Republic of the Congo
are authoritarian.
Religious
The two most common religions are
Islam and Christianity.
Christians tend to live along the
West Coast because of trade and
colonial exposure to Europeans.
Muslims tend to live in West Africa.
Art, music, and dance are often tied
to the traditional religions.
Traditional religions are polytheistic
and have to do with spiritual
ancestry.

Aesthetic Intellectual
Music and dance. The most widely spoken language is
Kente cloth Swahili. There are more than 50
Masks are found in ritual / traditional million speakers in East Africa.
religious practices. The most common languages in
The Rites of Passage West Africa are
Griots are storytellers who orally tell Hausa and Yoruba.
traditional stories. There are lots of European
Modern writers such as Neil Gaiman languages spoken in Sub-Saharan
have incorporated the Griots stories Africa because of European colonies.
into his work. South Africa has 11 official
languages including English.
French is the official language of
Guinea.
There is a lot of Arabic spoken. (Mali
and Sudan) Chads official language
is Arabic.

Social Economic
70% of Sub-Saharan Africa is rural. Rural Economics- the most common
There are a lot of extended families. jobs are herding and farming. The
There are multiple generations that majority of the farming is