Time in the Black Experience (Contributions in Afro-American & African Studies)

248 Pages·1994·12.88 MB·English

by  Joseph K. Adjaye

Time in the Black
Experience
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Time in the Black
Experience
Edited by
JOSEPH K. ADJAYE
Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies,
Number 167
Greenwood Press
WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT • LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Time in the Black experience / edited by Joseph K. Adjaye.
p. cm. — (Contributions in Afro-American and African studies,
ISSN 0069-9624 ; no. 167)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-313-29118-7 (alk. paper)
1. Blacks—History. 2. Afro-Americans—History. 3. Blacks—
Social life and customs. 4. Afro-Americans—Social life and
customs. 5. Time—Social aspects—Africa. 6. Time—Social
aspects—America. I. Adjaye, Joseph K. II. Series.
CB235.T56 1994
305.896—dc20 93-35843
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 1994 by Joseph K. Adjaye
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 93-35843
ISBN 0-313-29118-7
ISSN: 0069-9624
First published in 1994
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Copyright Acknowledgments
Chapter 7 is reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press from an ear
lier version that was published in the Journal of African History 29 (1988): 229-44.
For Chapter 10,1 acknowledge the permission of Princeton University Press to repro
duce extracts from Mechal Sobers The World They Made Together: Black and White
Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia (1987), pp. 30-37, 40-43, 64-67.
To the memory of my mother Adwoa Asobo, and to my daughters
Ewurafua Stacie and Maureen, joys past and present
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Figures and Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Time in Africa and Its Diaspora: An Introduction 1
Joseph K. Adjaye
2 Ntangu-Tandu-Kolo: The Bantu-Kongo Concept of Time 17
K. K. Bunseki Fu-Kiau
3 Time, Language, and the Oral Tradition: An African
Perspective 35
Omari H. Kokole
4 Time, Identity, and Historical Consciousness in Akan 55
Joseph K. Adjaye
5 Time and Culture among the Bamana/Mandinka and
Dogon of Mali 79
Kassim Kon6
Vlll Contents
6 Time and Labor in Colonial Africa: The Case of Kenya
and Malawi 97
Alamin Mazrui and Lupenga Mphande
7 "Kafir Time": Preindustrial Temporal Concepts and
Labor Discipline in Nineteenth-Century Colonial Natal 121
Keletso E. Atkins
8 Time and History among a Maroon People: The Aluku 141
Kenneth M. Bilby
9 Jamaican Maroons: Time and Historical Identity 161
Joseph K. Adjaye
10 Early African-American Attitudes toward Time and Work 183
Mechal Sobel
11 Time in the African Diaspora: The Gullah Experience 199
Joseph E. Holloway
Bibliography 213
Index 225
About the Contributors 231
Figures and Tables
FIGURES
2.1 Cosmological Time 23
2.2 Main Stages of Vital Time 25
2.3 Kongo Hourly Time Segmentation System 29
2.4 Luzingw. Time Scroll 32
TABLES
3.1 Meal Times 47
4.1 Asante Day Names 60
4.2 Day Names and Their Attributes 61
4.3 The Asante Calendar 64
4.4 The Fante Calendar 65
4.5 The Asante Adaduanan (40-Day) Calendar:
November 8-December 20,1991 68
5.1 Seasons in Selected West African
Linguistic/Ethnic Groups 87