Urbanisation in Africa – a new concern across the continent.
Africa is a kaleidoscope of nations and identities. It is exceptionally colourful and culturally rich. Over one billion people live in fifty four officially recognised, legitimate, sovereign states on the continent. And South Sudan is now the youngest state in Africa when they gained their independence from Sudan in 2011.
Sadly the twentieth century saw mass human migration across the continent, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Millions moved from traditional rural communities to the urban centres that offer a very different cultural lifestyle. The ‘promise’ of a new and exciting life with economic benefits is always the biggest draw card.
Small Towns
It is not just the cities that are alluring and seem irresistible. Small towns, too, across Africa are vital to the livelihood of many of the regions. They are the focus of economic activity with thriving markets of livestock and produce. Markets in these small towns are the souls of the community with the vigorous sale and exchange of goods. Some people travel for days, across many tribal borders, to get to the markets. These urban centres thus bring together many different languages and cultures.
Of course, communication and basic advertising can be difficult due to lack of money and resources. But the trend now is to produce colourful hand-painted signs and murals, which are incredibly striking and creative. These convey creative messages about goods and services on offer.
Each town therefore has a wonderful unique atmosphere.
Traditional Communities
Only a few small traditional communities in some of the more remote parts of the continent have been able to preserve their unique way of life. Few manage to survive as hunter-gatherers without feeling the magnetism of city life.
Tribes like the Batwa pygmies (‘forest people’) of East African have been squeezed off their tribal land. They now find themselves making a life on the outskirts of small towns.
The Khoisan of the southern African Kalahari are finding it challenging to survive in urban centres, which is so far removed from the life they know in the natural environment where they have been for millennia.
Many tribes that hunt to survive have had to turn to town or city living and adapt to a modern lifestyle as the animals they hunt have been pushed off the land, have been overhunted or have become extinct.
Surprisingly, most Africans still live a rural existence, despite the rapid increase of urbanization. But, in the near future most Africans will be city dwellers.
African Urbanisation
Today Africans live in an rapidly-changing world where circumstances constantly propel them into an urban future. Yet there is still often an overriding urge to remain rooted and connected to their heritage, history, tradition and culture in an environment that is completely foreign to them.
With the continent on the move, this is a most fascinating and challenging time for Africa.
Have you heard of Anansi the Trickster in West Africa?
