African Area Studies

Recently, these two white giraffes with the condition known as Leucism were discovered in Kenya. Over the course of years white giraffes have been spotted in only Kenya and Tanzania. They have some pigmentation as babies, but as they become adults they are more white than the light brownish color you usually see on regular giraffes. Kenyans have described these giraffes as not being albino because albinism removes the melanin from skin and animals with Leucism have dark pigmentation underneath the white. Also the fact that these animals have regular colored eyes and not the normal red eyes you see with albinos. Giraffes are not the only animal seen in Africa with Leucism, it ranges from peacocks to lions. there have been even sightings of white alligators, they are known to have good luck. Due to the fact that these type of giraffes are so rare, Kenyans are trying to protect these animals as best as they can but also examine them to differentiate their lives from normally pigmented g

After hearing about the Namibia Genocide for the first time in class it made me want to do a little more research on what happened after the genocide and if people are still discussing it today. I found an article that discusses the whereabouts of the artifacts from the genocide and why they aren't where they should be. Unfortunately remains of the victims were experimented on by a German racist and since then those remains have been placed into a museum in the United States. As reported by some of the tribes that had ancestors that suffered in the genocide, believe that the remains of those in the genocide reside in a museum in New York. Since this discovery the museum has not made a comment on this subject. These remains not only show that men, women, ad children were involved in the genocide but it also shows the work/experiments that were done on the remains. So far Namibia has requested reparations from the genocide from Germany but, Berlin is refusing to pay direct costs.

Sometime Last year I was presented the opportunity to eat Ethiopian food. I forgot the name of the restaurant I went to in San Francisco but they had great Ethiopian food. The way the food was presented reminded me somewhat of Indian food by the looks of some of the items. Also the fact that they give you so much on the plate that it is usually shared between 2-3 people cause it is so much food. When I went, a couple of friends and I shared Gomen which kind of looks like a spinach/ kale dish but it is actually fried up collard greens. It was a little spicy but tasted great with the injera or Ethiopian bread. We had a few other dishes with the meal but I don't remember what they were called. One was a spicy lentil mash, there was another section of spicy lamb, and a spicy beef dish. They were all really great and I hadn't expected so many flavors from all of the different dishes. If you've never had Ethiopian food I encourage you to find a place and go with a few people.

After watching the prince of Egypt and reading about exodus in the bible, It got me to think why were Egyptians being portrayed as Caucasian people in film and in movies that represent the book of exodus. I did a quick google search and was surprised to find out that there is an actual controversy over Egyptians true race. According to Wikipedia this controversy began in the 18th and 19th century. An article in a magazine posted that even though the skin tones of the Egyptians in early paintings match with most African American peoples skin tones their facial features do not match. If you look at the pyramid below you can see that there are features of a person of color. Just as old Egyptian paintings were. The hairstyles in the painting can be perceived as dreadlocks and their features seem to appear fuller signifying their black ancestry. Not to mention that Egypt is in a predominantly black populated country. What do you think? Were the people who brought up this controversy