ASP 401: AFRICAN STUDIES

SAMPLED PAST QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

QUIZ ONE

1. Which countries in Africa are known as Lusophone countries?

A. Countries colonized by Belgium
B. Former German colonies
C. Former colonies of Portugal p. 63
D. Countries once colonized by the Dutch or the Boers

2. What does the principle of “matrilineal puzzle” mean among the Central
Bantu?
A. The father of a child is seen as an outsider with the uterine group p. 54
B. The father controls the life of his children
C. The northern belt practices uterine descent
D. The southern belt practices agnatic descent

3. What is the basis of medicine in indigenous African societies?

A. Magic
B. Herbs
C. Sacrifice
D. Religion p. 76

4. Which of the following is an example of non-centralized society?

A. Nuer
B. Asante pp. 92, 93
C. Ibo
D. Yako

5. What is the main thrust of the Evolutionist School of thought in relation to

culture and society?
A. There is a unilinear form of cultural growth p. 46
B. Simple societies developed out of complex ones
C. Culture grows historically through mutual contact
D. Culture is atomized into elements

6. Which region in Africa has “the cattle complex” as a major component of its
material culture?
A. Southern Africa
B. East Africa p. 50
C. The Horn of Africa
D. The Guinea Coast

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

7. Why is African Studies concerned about the phenomenon of the returnees?
To ____________
A. fulfil the “Back to Africa” Movement p. 5
B. increase the scope of the subject
C. know their contributions to life in Africa
D. assess the impact of African Studies on the global scene

8. Which of the following was an important factor in the late development of

African Studies?
A. Racialism p. 8
B. The Renaissance
C. Shifting African attitude towards race
D. Afrocentrism

9. Why is African Studies against the foisting of humanism of the West on

Africans?
A. Humanism of the West upholds Eurocentric views about Africa p. 18
B. Western humanism is Afrocentric
C. Humanism of the West is intrinsically anti-Christian
D. Humanism of the West is an element of homosexuality

10. Which of the following events brought a new enthusiasm for African Studies
in the 1990’s?
A. The end of the Cold War
B. The collapse of communism
C. Resurgence of democracy p. 27
D. The emergence of newly industrializing nations

11. Which of the following was discovered by Dr. Louis Leakey around Lake
Victoria?
A. Primates
B. Rusinga
C. Fossils
D. Proconsul p. 41

12. Which of the following forms the basis of social organization in African
societies?
A. Unilineal descent p. 114
B. Patrilineal descent
C. Matrilineal descent
D. Complementary filiation

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

13. How is the paternity of a child born out of a polyandry system of marriage
determined?
A. Through DNA test
B. The first man to have sexual intercourse with the woman
C. The man who the child resembles takes ownership
D. The first man to present a flower to the woman p. 125

14. Which African society practices Ghost Marriage?

A. Asante
B. Nuer p. 128
C. Khoikoi
D. Zulu

15. Why are rights of “rem” and “personam” referred to as the underlying
principles of marriage in African societies?
A. They sustain marriage
B. Families of the couple are bound together
C. They protect women
D. They define the roles of consanguine p. 149

16. Under which rule of residence may a couple live in the man’s mother’s
brother’s house?
A. Patrilocal
B. Duolocal
C. Avunculocal p. 132
D. Neolocal

17. Which race was believed to be the oldest to live on the African continent?
A. The Bantu
B. The Hamites
C. Natufian
D. Bushmen p. 42

18. Who, among the following, shaped the conscience of the world and placed
Africa at the center of the global stage?
A. Idi Amin Dada
B. Mobutu Sese Seko
C. Wole Soyinka p. 43
D. Charles Taylor

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

19. Why did Morocco refuse to join other African countries to promote peace and
harmony until recently?
A. Because of Morocco’s long historic ties with Europe
B. Because of the Western Sahara question p. 43
C. Due to disagreement with the principles of the OAU
D. Because of Kwame Nkrumah’s overbearing influence

20. What led to the emergence of the term “conjugal family”?

A. The breakdown of family values
B. The cessation of childbirth as the main consideration for marriage p. 108
C. The lack of interest in marriage
D. The promotion of Western culture

21. Most ethnic groups in North Africa are of what origin?

A. Hamitic p. 65
B. Arabic
C. Jewish
D. Ottoman

22. Why does Wilson think that families in Europe and America are more
extended than those in Africa?
A. Definition of family in the Western world includes pets p. 110
B. People in the West tended to have more broken marriages
C. The incidence of divorce is higher in the West
D. There are many single parents in the West

23. In the Gambian traditional family, whose job is it to produce rice?

A. The woman p. 131
B. The man
C. The children
D. The man’s mother-in-law

24. Which of the following practices in the past ensured that daughters had
access to their father’s estate after the death of the latter?
A. Exogamous marriage
B. Endogamous marriage
C. Cross cousin marriage p. 132
D. Ghost marriage

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

25. What effect did Christian definition of marriage have on African traditional
customary marriage?
A. It promoted customary marriage among Africans
B. It made customary marriage inapplicable p. 150
C. Africa came to embrace dual customary marriage rites
D. Customary marriages were standardized

26. The implication of expanding the scope of African Studies to include African
Diasporan studies is that _____________.
A. Arabs found on the continent of Africa are included in the study
B. it makes it possible for European scholars to participate in the study of Africa
C. the African influence on the world includes the African Diasporan experience
D. it makes African Studies to be multi-disciplinary
p. 3

27. How significant was History in the growth and development of African
Studies?
A. It enabled other disciplines to use their peculiar methods to give a better
understanding of African people
B. History made oral narrative to be accepted as a reliable source for data to
study Africa p. 14
C. By restoring the African past, history created pride in Africans.
D. History made the world aware of the contribution of Africans to the world’s
civilization.

28. In which way did activities of missionaries lead to the late development of
African Studies?
A. Missionaries encouraged Africans to despise everything African p. 9
B. Missionaries encouraged African chiefs and merchants to participate in the
slave trade
C. They promoted Afro-centrism
D. They made African Studies less prominent in the curriculum.

29. What specific role did Jan Vansina and Louis Leakey play in the growth and
development of African Studies?
A. African Studies Association owes its establishment to them.
B. They encouraged African historians to popularize African history.
C. They offered scholarships to individual Africans to study abroad.
D. They made oral tradition a credible source of historical knowledge. p. 14

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

30. Which new dimension has been introduced into African Studies in recent
years?
A. Diasporan studies p. 3
B. Democratization
C. Africa in world affairs
D. Anthropology

31. What is the main objective of African Studies? To _________.

A. find African solutions to African problems p. 18
B. know African people
C. know how Africans achieve independence
D. appreciate African resources

32. Which of the following is a life cycle ritual?

A. Personal ritual p. 74
B. Agricultural ritual
C. Professional ritual
D. Coronation ritual

33. Which of the following movements encouraged many Africans in the

Diaspora to come back to Africa?
A. The Black Movement
B. The Civil Rights Movement
C. The Back to Africa Movement p. 5
D. The Equality Movement

34. Which major event stunted the African personality?

A. The slave trade and imperialism p. 17
B. The introduction of Christianity
C. The introduction of Islam
D. Globalization

35. What do you make of all the varied etymologies of the name Africa?
A. They are not based on facts
B. They are descriptive of the African environment p. 34
C. No concrete evidence was given about the continent
D. They all referred to the greatness of Africa

36. What is the main thesis in the Hamitic theory?

A. Any achievements in Africa are attributable to the Caucasian race p. 37
B. Civilization started from Africa
C. Africans contributed a lot to the development of writing
D. All continents were formed out of Africa
AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE
37. According to Molefe Asante, what event jumpstarted African cultures?
A. The Nile valley
B. The annual flow of the Nile
C. The emergence of the Sudanese empires
D. The discovery of iron smelting p. 39

38. What made it possible for the Sahara to be traversed by caravans with
relative ease? The
A. introduction of camels
B. introduction of horses
C. role of Muslim clerics
D. invasion of North Africa by the Moors

39. From your reading of African societies and cultures, which of the following
do you consider to be the main thrust of the diffusionist school of thought?
A. Culture has grown historically through mutual contact p. 47
B. Culture, in itself, is dynamic
C. There is unilinear from of culture growth
D. Classical evolutionism can be divided into three

40. How many ethnic groups are in Rwanda and Burundi?

A. 1
B. 2
C. 3 p. 64
D. 4

41. Which of the following areas is rich for finding the ancestors of modern
humans? The _______________.
A. Atlas Range of North Africa
B. Great Rift Valley p. 35
C. Saharan Generator
D. Tropical Rainforest Area

42. Politically centralized statelets or chiefdoms are referred to as ________.

A. acephalous
B. centralized stated
C. poly-centralized states
D. polycephalous p. 99

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

43. A lineage is made up of people who trace their descent to a/an ________.
A. consanguine
B. female ancestor
C. known ancestor p. 113
D. unknown ancestor

44. In the African context, what connects the living, the dead and those yet to be
born?
A. A festival
B. Blood
C. Rituals p. 133
D. Sacrifice

45. Which African society practices polyandry?

A. Hereros p. 125
B. Lozi
C. Masai
D. Zulu

46. A situation where a man marries more than one wife is termed ___________.
A. monogamy
B. polyandry
C. polygamy
D. polygyny p. 125

47. Which of the following is an ethnic group in Rwanda?

A. Nilotic
B. Swahili
C. Twa p. 64
D. Zulu

48. Which of the following is the source for a belief in God by Africans?
A. Ancestral veneration
B. People’s reflection on the universe p. 69
C. The idea of God
D. The study of the Cosmos

49. A set form of carrying out a religious action or ceremony is known as

____________.
A. coronation
B. festival
C. ritual p. 74
D. sacrifice
AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE
50. Anthropologists call the process through which cultural traits pass from one
generation to the next as ____________.
A. acculturation
B. acclimatization
C. enculturation p. 81
D. socialization

51. Which of these is a society controlled by an age set system?

A. Lozi
B. Masai p. 92
C. Talensi
D. Tiv

52. The theory which attributes everything of value found in Africa to

Caucasians is known as the ______________.
A. Hamitic theory p. 37
B. Homo sapiens theory
C. Saharan Generator theory
D. The jigsaw puzzle about Africa

53. Which of the following groups of people lived in North Africa prior to the rise
of Islam?
A. Berbers p. 38
B. Egyptians
C. The Caucasians
D. The Sininke

54. Which theory states that complex societies developed out of simple ones?
A. Adriatic theory
B. Diffusionist theory
C. Evolutionist theory p. 46
D. Sociological theory

55. Which of the following is one of the criteria for delineating culture areas?
A. Existence of centralized state
B. Linguistic differences p. 50
C. Location
D. Presence of cattle

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

56. Which of the following languages is most spoken in East Africa?
A. Alumara
B. Khoisan
C. Kiswahili p. 64
D. Zulu

57. What is African Diaspora?

A. It is the African-American community in the USA
B. It refers to Africans in Europe
C. The Americas where Africans are found
D. The regions of the world where Africans are found p. 3

58. What did Rudyard Kipling mean by “the White man’s burden”?
A. It is in the White man’s interest to civilize Africans
B. It is the Black man’s duty to allow the White man to colonize Africa
C. It is the White man’s burden to colonize Africans
D. The White man has the duty to civilize Africans p. 7

59. What effect did the presence of Native Police (Ahenfie Police) have on
traditional authority in the then Gold Coast? It _______________.
A. gave legitimacy to traditional authority
B. protected the British officials
C. restored a sense of pride in traditional authority
D. widened the gap between the chiefs and their subjects p. 10

60. What is the meaning of Afriqiya?

A. Sunny place p. 33
B. River
C. Desert
D. Black continent

61. What was responsible for the new wave of enthusiasm for African Studies
since the 1990’s?
A. The collapse of capitalism
B. The Cold War
C. The Apartheid System
D. Resurgence of multi-party democracy p. 27

62. When was Ahenfie Police established in Ghana?

A. In the pre-colonial times
B. In the First Republic
C. During the early years of independence
D. During the colonial era p. 10
AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE
63. What was the direct result of European misrepresentation of Africa on the
development of African Studies?
A. It promoted African nationalism
B. It projected African image abroad
C. It delayed the emergence of African Studies as an academic discipline
D. Africans became very assertive
p. 8

64. In the African context, a family made up of a man, his wives and all his
children including those whose mothers are no longer in a marital relationship
with the man is known as ____________ family?
A. nuclear
B. extended
C. exogamous
D. composite p. 108

65. Which of the following societies are acephalous?

A. Konkomba p. 93
B. Ga
C. Ewe
D. Asante

66. Which societies in Africa are known as stateless?

A. Those that have centralized authority
B. Those that are uncentralized p. 92
C. Societies without well-defined territory
D. Societies that are nomadic

67. Which of the following constitute the ethnic groups in Rwanda?

A. Tutsi and Huta
B. Hutu, Tutsi and Twa p. 64
C. Hutu, Tutsi and Lozi
D Hutu and Tutsi

68. Which of the following was a Sudanese empire?

A. Sudan
B. Niger
C. Mali p. 7
D. Egypt

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

69. Who espoused the concept of Afro-centricity?
A. W.E.B. Du Bois
B. Molefi Kete Asante p. 5
C. Marcus Garvey
D. George Padmore

70.Which of the following expresses Eurocentric perspective of African Studies?

A. The discipline includes Europe
B. African Studies is the study of Sub-Saharan Africa p. 3
C. African Studies includes Islamic Studies
D. African Studies covers all regions of Africa

71. The partition of Africa started in which year?

A. 1987
B. 1887
C. 1886
D. 1884 p. 19

72. Which of the following is a ritual dance?

A. Yewe
B. Damba p. 84
C. Agbadza
D. Adowa

73. Which of the following is the longest written language in Africa?

A. Swahili
B. Kushite
C. Arabic
D. Amharic p. 39

74. In which year was the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women signed?
A. 1979 p. 144
B. 1978
C. 1977
D. 1976

75. Duolocal as a rule of residence after marriage is common among which of

the following?
A. Talensi
B. Ga p. 132
C. Ewe
D. Dagomba
AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE
76. How significant is the Rift Valley in East Africa to the study of humans?
A. The valley is uninhabitable
B. It is not included in the study of hominids
C. It is important for research into the ancestors of modern humans p. 35
D. It is home to non-hominids and homo sapiens

77. In which year was the African Studies Association formed?

A. 1957 p. 15
B. 1958
C. 1959
D. 1960

79. What does it mean to be Afro-centric?

A. To place Africa and its interests at the center of what one does
B. To despise things African
C. To be critical of Africa
D. To be anti-African

80. Why did racist Europeans seek to portray Africans as uncivilized?

A. To justify the colonization and subjugation of Africans
B. To destroy African civilization
C. To promote African culture
D. To exploit African resources.

81. Which of the following is the mouth piece of the African Studies Association?
The ______________.
A. Journal of African Studies
B. African Studies Review
C. African Studies Journal
D. International African Studies Review

82. What does it mean to say that Africans are being culturally globalized? They
are _____________.
A. embracing eastern cultures
B. culturally conservative
C. losing their identity
D. being naturally chauvinistic

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

83. How significant is the resurgence of democracy in Africa to the development
of African Studies? It has ________.
A. rekindled the interest of researchers in Africa
B. led to competition between the USA and Russia
C. brought Africa’s problems to the fore
D. increased conflicts in Africa

84. Which of the following is important in the in the reconstruction of the

African past?
A. Afro-centricity
B. Afro-pessimism
C. Linguistics
D. Oral tradition

85. What accounts for the disagreements on the exact definition of African
Studies?
A. Conflicts among African scholars
B. The amorphous nature of the discipline
C. The multidisciplinary nature of the discipline
D. The emergence of two different perspectives on the scope of the subject

86. The dictum “the Whiteman’s burden” is attributed to who?

A. J.D. Fage
B. Arnold Toynbee
C. Rudyard Kipling
D. James MacQueen

87. Which of these historians refuted the claim that Africa made no contribution
to world civilization?
A. J.D. Fage
B. Ivor Wilks
C. Basil Davidson
D. George Hegel

88. How does religion play a political role in African societies?

A. It gives legitimacy to rulers
B. Stools and skins are symbols of political authority
C. The religion and politics are bedfellows
D. Rulers perform sacrifices

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

89. What is the “Cold War”?
A. The era of competition and antagonism between the US and Russia
B. The era of international conflicts
C. The era of relative peace in the world
D. The era of Africa’s independence

90. How did the independence of African states contribute to the evolution of
African Studies?
A. Africa became important in diplomatic scheme of things
B. The continent was opened for exploitation
C. The nascent states became vulnerable
D. Africa’s position as a Third World continent inspired a surge for partition

91. Among which group of people in Ghana are indigenous political functions
effected through unilineal groups?
A. Gonja
B. Tallensi
C. Builsa
D. Nzema

92 Which of the following ethnic groups operated a theocratic political system?

A. Ga-Adangbe Tallensi, Guan & Ga-Adangbe
B. Asante
C. Gonja
D. Shama

93. How significant is the concentric approach to family studies?

A. It makes the studies thematic
B. It removes gaps in the analysis
C. It makes the analysis complex
D. The approach makes the analysis diagnostic

94. What necessitated the classification of family into “family of orientation” and
“family of procreation”? The __________.
A. expansion of the family
B. complexity of the family
C. effects of Christianity on the family
D. expansion, and diminishing nature of the family

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

95. What do you find common to all the varied etymologies of the name “Africa”?
A. They all refer to a hot climatic condition in Africa
B. They are all derived from a Greek word
C. They are all descriptive
D. They are all derived from a Latin word

96. Who came out with the thesis that Africa was not only the cradle of
humanity but also the cradle of civilization?
A. Basil Davidson
B. Cheikh Anta Diop
C. Adu Boahen
D. Molefi Asante

97. Which traditional council in Ghana banned child betrothal during the
colonial period?
A. Asanteman Council
B. Akwapem Traditional Council
C. Asogli State
D. Okyeman Council

98. Who composed the song, “Yen ara asaase ni”?

A. Ephraim Amu
B. M.Q. Amlor
C. J.H. Nketia
D. Augustus Adu-Safo

99. When one is overly loyal to one’s ethnic group to the extent that one sees
other ethnic groups as inferior and unimportant, one is said to be ________.
A. ethnocentric
B. tribalistic
C. parochial
D. individualistic

100. Why did Kwame Nkrumah insist on the inclusion of the study of the origin
and cultures of people of African descent in African Studies?
A. To promote Diaspora studies
B. To encourage Africans to learn more about the Americas
C. For cross-fertilization of ideas
D. To promote Afro-centrism

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

101. Why does the focus of African Studies go beyond the African continent? To
___________.
A. promote Diaspora studies
B. encourage Eurocentrism
C. ensure that our students have a wider perspective of issues
D. have a better understanding of the African situation

102. Who, among the following, was a pioneering African historian?

A. Basil Davidson
B. Kl-Zerbo
C. K.A. Busia
D. Ephraim Amu

103. Which of the following is a war dance in an African society?

A. Atsiagbekor
B. Adoa
C. Gobi
D. Lalba

104. Where was the first African Studies Association formed?

A. London
B. Addis Ababa
C. Washington
D. New York

105. What is the effect of the new dimension in African Studies on the
discipline?
A. Increased the scope and definition of the discipline
B. Made the subject difficult to comprehend
C. Focused on Eurocentrism
D. Narrowed the scope of the discipline

106. In which of the following ways did missionaries contribute to the late
development of African Studies?
A. They excluded history from the curriculum
B. They lived in excluded environment
C. The books written by missionaries reflected European culture and values
D. They failed to study African languages

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

107. Which of these historians challenged the stereotype of century-long
stagnation of Africa?
A. J.D. Fage
B. Basil Davidson
C. James MacQueen
D. Arnold Toynbee

108. What necessitated the expansion of the scope of African Studies in recent
years?
A. Afrocentricity
B. The relevance of African Diasporan experience
C. The Back to Africa Movement
D. European perspective on the African Diaspora experience

109. Why is it said that Africanist scholars use scientific approach in the study
of Africa?
A. They conduct experiments on issues affecting Africa
B. They use the rules of scientific methodology
C. They analyze their findings
D. Their findings have scientific basis

110. Why is it important for Africanist scholars not to limit their knowledge to
the continent?
A. Events from outside the continent may help us to understand the African
situation
B. To broaden the scope of the subject
C. To enrich the content of the subject
D. To arouse interest in the subject

111. Why did enrolment in African Studies programs in the US universities

increase phenomenally after the Second World War?
A. Because the Second World War ended and peace was restored
B. Due to the end of colonialism
C. Due to increasing nationalism
D. Due to the US government’s growing funding for the program

112. Why is it wrong in the African concept to say that “deity” is a philosophical
concept?
A. The name by which a deity is called is descriptive of its character
B. Africans are incapable of conceptualizing the concept of “deity”
C. Deity is an abstract concept
D. Names of deities are mere labels

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

113. Why is Assimeng’s use of the phrase “consenting adults” in his definition of
marriage problematic in the African concept?
A. Marriage is between two families
B. Adults take decisions independent of families
C. Families in Africa complicate marriage as an institution
D. Child betrothal still endures in some societies

114. How significant is genitricial rights to a man in marriage?

A. It allows the man to control the family
B. It prevents the woman from claiming the children
C. The man is empowered to claim the children born in the marriage ***
D. The man’s authority over the family in relation to sexual behavior over the
woman is enhanced

115. Ethnic groups are mostly defined in terms of __________.

A. politics
B. culture
C. language
D. traditional area

116. Which African successfully disproved the Hamitic theory?

A. Kwame Nkrumah
B. Anta Diop
C. Molefi Asante ***
D. Nelson Mandela

117. The inability of Europeans to go inland and seize the gold mines of West
Africa or Southern Rhodesia was evident of __________ in those regions.
A. the existence of well-organized Africans
B. the superior military organization of Africans
C. the existence of wild animals
D. harsh climatic conditions

118. From your study of African societies and cultures, what do you consider to
be a major flaw in IMF and World Bank’s prescription for Africa’s economic
problems?
A. They fail to recognize the diversity of African peoples
B. Their financial assistance always comes with conditions
C. The IMF and World Bank are capitalist institutions
D. The IMF and World Bank are Bretton Woods institutions

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

119. Why do African families depict more of composite family rather than
nuclear family?
A. African families are too large
B. Africans have extended families that are difficult to classify
C. African families are potentially polygamous
D. African family systems are ill-defined

120. Why, in the African context, are foster children not considered in reality as
part of the nuclear family?
A. Such children have no blood relations with members of the nuclear family
B. Foster children are most often rebellious
C. Such children cannot be trusted to keep family secrets
D. Foster children are not totally decoupled from their natal families

121. Under what condition, in the African context, can a man become a stranger
in a nuclear family?
A. When the woman’s family refuses to recognize the marriage
B. When the couple belong to a matrilineal society
C. When the extended family in a patrilineal society becomes too extended
D. It happens when all the children produced by the marriages are females

122. The indigenous African family is often organized along the lines of
_______________ groups.
A. kinship and descent
B. kingship and descent
C. descent and exogamous
D. kinship and matrilineal

123. Which of the following ethnic groups in Africa practices polyandry?

A. The Nuer
B. The Ewe
C. The Herero
D. The Kikuyu

124. In the African context, a group of people who trace their descent to an
unknown ancestor form what is known as ____________.
A. lineage (lineage = known ancestor)
B. clan
C. descent group
D. patrilineal group

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

125. In which of the following ethnic groups is sister exchange a crucial part of
marriage arrangement?
A. Tiv
B. Ewe
C. Kikuyu
D. Massai

126. The assertion that complex societies developed out of simple ones was
propounded by which school of thought?
A. Diffusionist
B. Eccentric
C. Evolutionist
D. Herskovits

127. A geographical region made up of a number of relatively interdependent

tribes or groups with similar cultures is known as ___________.
A. cultural trait area
B. area of cultural diffusion
C. cultural element area
D. cultural area

128. In which part of Africa are the Hottentots found?

A. North
B. East
C. Central
D. South

129. The practice in Africa where a man marries more than one wife is known as
____________.
A. polygamy
B. polygyny = one man, more than one wife
C. polyandry = one woman, more than one husband
D. polilocality

130. Which of the following concepts seeks to assert African identity?

A. Eurocentrism
B. Negritude
C. Afro-pessimism
D. Diasporanism

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE

131. Which of these is not a Sudanese Empire?
A. Asante ***
B. Songhai
C. Mali
D. Ghana

132. Which subject laid the foundation for African Studies?

A. Geography
B. History
C. Sociology
D. Anthropology

133. What do critics say is the meaning of Afro-centricity?

A. There is one African culture that all Africans should share
B. African culture is diverse
C. There are commonalities in African culture
D. African Studies is inherently contradictory

134. Why is it important to study history?

A. History repeats itself so we can learn from the repetition
B. Historical events have parallels from which we can draw lessons
C. Historical events are cyclical so we can learn from them
D. History is not contextual so we can learn about the context

135. What was the basis for which Europeans claimed Africans had no history?
A. Africans were primitive
B. Africans were uncivilized
C. Before colonialism, societies in Africa were fragmented
D. Before the advent of Europeans, African societies were non-literates

136. Which of the following countries, until recently, was not a member of the
African Union?
A. Sudan
B. Ethiopia
C. Morocco
D. Namibia

137. In African societies, nuclear families do not constitute an ideal family?

Why?
A. African families are potentially monogamous
B. African families are potentially polygynous
C. Extended families are seen to be potentially ideal
D. Due to the large sizes of the African families
AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE
138. Under what right does the lineage/clan exact certain obligations from its
members?
A. Personam = from its own members
B. Rem = from others who are not members of the clan
C. Descent
D. Filiation

139. How does kinship system direct people’s behavior?

A. By promoting cohesion
B. Approving the act of fostering
C. Prescribing status and roles
D. Integrating members into a lineage/clan

140. The nature of security provided by kinship system depends on the

___________.
A. kinship type
B. size of the kinship group
C. culture of the people
D. inheritance system of the people

141. Apart from the Akan of Ghana, which of the following ethnic groups
practices cross-cousin marriage?
A. Mossi
B. Dagomba
C. Igbo
D. Wolof

DISCLAIMER!!!
UCC as a top-notch educational institution, has loads of questions in its bank and
is well versed in the setting of examination questions. The likelihood of shying away
from past questions and setting totally new questions from the modules is very high,
and candidates are hereby cautioned not to rely ENTIRELY on past questions;
neglecting their modules in the process. Thank you.

FEBRUARY 2022.

AFRICAN STUDIES QUIZ ONE