Discuss what is gained and what is lost as those transformed by the Essay

Discuss what is gained and what is lost as those transformed by the movement of the African diaspora and how they are able to translate their experiences into a new and more vibrant culture - Essay Example There have been several cultures which have risen due to this dispersion, and it has brought about several effects as well; positive and negative. Both the positive negative effects have led to development of unique cultures with traits borrowed from the different societies Africans lived in after dispersion. Failure of slave trade brought about a different form of evil when many expected freedom from oppression. Chinua Achebe in his book Arrow of God shows the results of the entry of colonialists into the community. Captain Winterbottom, a colonialist wanted to show the villagers of Umuaro and Okperi that he was in charge thus, he burnt all their guns (Achebe, 39). After the abolition of slave trade the colonialist tried informal trade which proved quite difficult to achieve, as it became irksome trying to promote equality in trade. This led to direct rule as explained above, and they placed their representatives with army support in their different African constituents. Many fled their small homes due to oppression, and after many countries had gained independence the available land was left to those who sided with the white man rule. This explains the wide gap between the poor and the rich, yet the poor learnt to live in poverty and to struggle to survive and change their status. This gave birth to what is commonly known as ‘ghettos’; a community for those who lived below the poverty line. However civil rights movements and freedom wars eventually led to freedom of many African countries. However the Diaspora did not stop as the new African Diaspora was born. Traffic out of Africa is at a high percentage now than ever before. The earlier Diaspora sparked curiosity on the availability of opportunities in western countries. This has in turn led to brain drain in African countries, and in worse scenarios those left in the African