Afro-Asian Religion, Marriage & Customs
Afro-Asian Studies vocabulary list regarding religion, marriage & customs.
Terms
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- monogamy
- the state or custom of being married to one person
- Nilotic
- people found in he middle eastern part of Africa and along the Nile River who are the result of Negro-Hamitic intermarriage, eg. Watusi, Masai
- race
- a human population whose members breed among themselves and have become distinct from other populations by sharing a number of inherited physical traits.
- nomad
- a person who moves from place to place in search of pasture for cattle or areas for hunting and gathering
- millet
- a very small grain used for food in Africa and Asia
- lobola
- or "bride price" (cattle, food, money, agricultural tools) is given to the bride's family to guarantee that the bride will be treated properly. It also helps compensate the bride's family for the loss of a worker.
- Muslim
- Arabic muslim, literally, one who submits (to God), an adherent of Islam
- extended family
- consists of the nucler group as well as near relatives or even another nuclear family
- Islam
- the religious faith of Muslims including belief in Allah as the sole deity and in Muhammad as his prophet
- endogamy
- marriage within one's social group according to custom.
- subsistence
- means of keeping alive; livelihood
- polyandry
- a form of polygamy which allows a wife to have more than one husband at a time, eg. Ndebele (of South Africa)
- environment
- surroundings
- polygamy
- refers to multiple marriages (more than one wife or husband at a time)
- sorghum
- a tall cereal plant resembling corn. One variety has a sweet juice used for making molasses or syrup, others provide food for livestock either by their grain or as hay, and still others provide material for brushes or brooms.
- steppe
- semi-arid area bordering a desert
- homo habilis
- "skilled man", the term refers to the fossils discovered by Dr. Leakey in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
- nuclear family
- consists of father, mother and children
- anthropology
- the study of man
- molimo
- a long trumpet, usually of wood, used in ritual songs sung by the Mbuti at night. Only males participate during a crisis.
- monotheism
- belief that there is but one God
- ethnology
- a science that deals with the division of human beings into races and their origin, distribution, relations, and characteristics
- patriarchal society
- is dominated by a male figure
- exogamy
- marriage outisde one's social group according to custom.
- acacia
- thorny tree of the grasslands
- Dogon
- cliff dwellers who live in Mali
- matriarchal society
- is dominated by a female figure
- sedentary
- moving little and rarely
- Mbuti
- refers to the Pygamies of the Central Ituri Forest in the Congo Basin
- polygyny
- a form of polygamy which allows a husband to have more than one wife at a time. eg. Ganda (of Uganda)
- tropical rainforest
- jungle
- polytheism
- belief in or worship of more than one god
- baobab
- large, ungainly-looking tree of the savanna; the "upside-down" tree