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This is the Travel Journal of Andy HoboTraveler.com
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Africa Sanctions the White Man
Lome, Togo West Africa
Monday, May 28, 2007
by Andy of HoboTraveler.com
I am trying to think, how to explain what I do not understand, yet this is the reason to write, to take confusion and transform to clarity.
I think I have discovered by reading about culture in Wikipedia.org the word to remember in Africa.
Sanctions
There is this common aspect of West Africa that I have continually felt, heard, and received from man of the people of Cote d Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Niger, I do not know the other countries.
There is a continual desire by the locals to enforce some sanctions on me, or to bring me into the norm of how they expect me to behave.
Common ones and problem ones:
1. If I ask for a gift of Cadeau you should give.
2. IF I say Va or come, you should come.
The sanction imposed I have learned if, I do not obey is:
- Mockery au Moquerie -
This behavior in the USA is similar as when one child is making fun of another. In the British culture, they often enjoy and continue into adult by a method called.
- Taking the Piss. -
It means to wind up a another person, to make them a little mad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_the_piss
The sanction of mockery imposed daily by people in West Africa is interesting and intriguing, I semi-think the more education and power a person has, the more they do this mocking behavior. It is like a biting action of a big dog to a little dog.
The main problem is a group mockery, and group mocking that takes place can lead to a group hysteria, and violence. There is a desire for the whites to give money or cower.
A common sanction in small tribal village of the world is to throw rocks and stones, the mockery are difficult, especially if you do not understand the language. I have found, they do not want to be mocked or to have me do it better than them. I tend to ignore too well, but then again, I have had training in India, and for sure a person who has traveled in India and shut off another person fast or will go crazy.
CULTURE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture
Quote from Wikipedia.org
Key components of culture
Values
Norms
Institutions
Artifacts
Values comprise ideas about what in life seems important. They guide the rest of the culture. Norms consist of expectations of how people will behave in various situations. Each culture has methods, called sanctions, of enforcing its norms. Sanctions vary with the importance of the norm; norms that a society enforces formally have the status of laws. Institutions are the structures of a society within which values and norms are transmitted. Artifacts—things, or aspects of material culture—derive from a culture's values and norms.
Quote from Wikipedia.org
Africa Sanctions the White Man
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Marabout Does Not Work on Me
Lome, Togo West Africa
Monday, August 13, 2007
Andy of HoboTraveler.com
Marabout n'a pas effet sur moi.
Marabout does not have effect on me.
For what it is worth, a Togolese friend said this to me the other night, sort of an afterthought for her. Marabout is something related to Voodoo, however not Voodoo, more or less powers of Sorcery and Magic, or the dark side.
I think I maybe should feel comforted or relaxed a relief to know that the dark side of Africa does not work on me. The person said it with such clarity, more or less,
- Andy, this magic does not work on you, and you know that. -
I was intrigued, not so interested in my status, because she was right, it does not work on me. I wanted to know who the powers of Africa works on, more or less she says all the African people, then said if a white person goes…
I am going to interpret this less literal so it may make sense.
If you accept the temptation go towards the Marabout, and then it will work on you. More or less the more you pay attention the more it works.
I suppose many a person has their children come home from Africa, or India and other places talking too much. As for me, I know and I have been told.
Marabout n'a pas effet sur moi.
Marabout does not have effect on me.
Voodoo…
Contrary to how you would interpret my words, I do believe what you give power to does have power over you, real or unreal. Nevertheless, for me, I am free and clear.
Marabout Does Not Work on Me
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