Male Circumcision and Initiation in Rural Africa

About the Book

This book not only gives you an idea about male circumcision in rural Africa, but it also gives you a sense of the importance of oral tradition in African societies.From the tale, to the myth while passing by the proverbs and riddles and until the epic narrations, there is always a teaching to pull, a value to instill.The purpose of this book is not to represent oral tradition as the only support of African societies, but to examine the technical innovations adapted to the land and the needs of the humans through discussion and transposition. The modern pedagogue must fear the oral tradition and try to recapture strength and the wealth that it once held, to associate them to his own methods.This Book will also show you that Africa is home to innumerable tribes and ethnic and social groups, some of them very large populations consisting of millions of people and others smaller groups of a few thousands. All these tribes and groups have cultures, which are different; they represent the mosaic of cultural diversity in Africa.

About the Author

Amadou Nouhou Diallo is a former high public servant of the Republic of Guinea-conakry (West Africa). He served in several ministerial departments, notably those of public function and foreign affairs, before being named diplomat in the embassies of the Republic of Guinea-conakry, in the Republic of Mali, the Republic of Burkina Faso, the Republic of Niger, and the Kingdom of Morocco, where his diplomatic career ended in 1986. He has lived in the United States since 1989.

He is also a man familiar with African customs and traditions. In this book, his rich and passionate narrations suggest this well. He affirms with confidence that oral tradition had a precise mission before the advent of the writing in Africa and that during this period—which some wrongly present as merely barbaric—the oral tradition was an important stimulant and a sure vehicle for the culture, for the promotion of the African civilization, which he regrets abruptly stopped developing. He argues that the introduction of writing pushed African oral tradition out of its formerly eminent role.