Fang Tribe of Africa

With the completion of reading "Things Fall Apart" a story about an African tribe and culture has interested me in finding out more about the different tribes in Africa. There are many different tribes in Africa and each have their own unique characteristics.

Here is a link that explains many of the different tribes of Africa.

After reading about the many different tribes of Africa one that really interested me is the Fang Tribe.

The Fang tribe lives in the hot, humid, equatorial rainforests of Gabon. They make up 80% of the Gabonese population. The Fang are have said to have migrated from the northeast centuries ago and have settled here to farm. They are of medium height and have a strong, powerful build. They pride themselves in their physical beauty. The Fang are well known for their guardian sculptures that they attach to wooden boxes That contain bones of their ancestors. They believe that these bones contain the same power of those who they are from.


The Fang tribe lives in forest clearings. Their huts are made of branches, trees, and straw. The huts are used for sleeping and shelter of rain. Most of the day's activities are performed outside of the hut like cooking and making banana paste. The interior of the huts are small and dark and poorly aerated. There is a larger hut in the villages that is built away from the others. This hut is called the House of the Word. Here, men gather to smoke, chat, and discuss issues of the tribe. Women are forbidden to even go towards this hut. The hut houses the most important ancestral bones of the tribe, those of who founded the village.

( it was hard finding a photo of a Fang tribe hut)

The Fang men are hunters and the women are the farmers. Men only do agricultural tasks that require power like burning down some of the forest to clear or plowing the dirt to make a new plot. The women plant and tend to the crops. They also gather fruits and berries, and fish. They take care of the children and educate them while taking care of the huts. They make ceramics and fishing nets.


The Fang tribe, like the Okonkwo's people in "Things Fall Apart" practice polygamy. Each wife has their own hut where her and her sons live. The more wives a man has the more work power he has. The wives are under strict rule of her husband, his male relatives, and her mother in law.

Each tribe has a leader, it is usually that who has a relation to the ancestors that founded the village. The leader also serves as the spiritual leader and is able to communicate with the ancestors of the village. He does this by wearing masks which is important to the Fang artwork.




 Here is a link about the Fang Tribe!