Status Updates From An African History of Afric...

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar sidetracked me to looking up when the Julian calendar was invented — proposed in 46 BC and put into effect Jan 1, 45 BC — and subsequently learned that the calendar we use currently is not the Julian one but the Gregorian Calendar proposed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII which is kinda interesting!

Reading the span of the Egyptian dynasties— 445 years, 380 years, 800 years—it’s a reminder that our own country, 249 years old currently, is nothing in the grand history of the world. We’ve had this country for next to no time at all. It’s wild to think about.

“Modern-day tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia, where 85 per cent of the Blue Nile flows, are centered on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which opened in 2020 and uses the Blue Nile to provide hydroelectric power, leading to anxiety among Egyptians that this will reduce their own water capacity.”

So war so good. I‘m sold!

“In this way, traditional African religions are often less about the individual and more about the community. Many readers are familiar with the southern African word ubuntu which means “humanity to others” or “I am what I am, because of who we all are”, which captures the essence of Africa’s indigenous beliefs.”

“This practice, called alloparenting by anthropologists, is not unusual in Africa. Among the Kung of Botswana, for instance, each child is looked after by many adults and older children also contribute to the care of the younger ones. One study of the Efe people… infants had an average of 14 alloparents a day by the time they were 18 weeks old.”