Gestures of African Continent

1. GESTURES
OF
AFRICA

2. Africa is the world's second largest
continent in area. The countries
differ immensely geographically,
politically, socially, economically,
and culturally.
The UN Statistics Division has
subdivided the African continent
into five regions, Northern
Africa, Central or Middle
Africa , Southern Africa, East
Africa, and Western Africa.

3. GESTURE
-A MOVEMENT OF PART OF THE BODY,
ESPECIALLY A HAND OR THE HEAD, TO EXPRESS
AN IDEA OR MEANING.
CONTINENT: AFRICA
REGIONS: WEST AFRICA
NORTH AFRICA
EAST AFRICA
CENTRAL AFRICA
SOUTH AFRICA

4. WEST AFRICA
The West Africa UN sub region includes the following countries:
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria,
Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo.
Spread of Islam in West Africa was through Islamic traders and sailors
Rituals are performed to keep evil forces away from the family or society
wherever charms are kept.

5. WEST AFRICA -CURRENT POPULATION: 390,002,801
– HAS 17 COUNTRIES
SNAP HANDSHAKE
(for greeting)
LEFT THUMBS UP
(using left hand is
disrespectful, similar
to giving the middle
finger)
WAGGING INDEX
FINGER
(means “be careful” or
“attention.”)
TAPPING SHOULDER BY FINGERS
(talking about what
happened a long time ago. )
PURSING LIPS with
SOUND
(means “nothing.”

6. NORTH AFRICA
Northern Africa countries (7) - Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,
and Western Sahara
The current population of Northern Africa is 241,367,345 as of Wednesday, May 15,
2019, based on the latest United Nations estimates.

7. NORTH AFRICA
TIPPING HAT
(“bravo” or
“congratulation.’’
POINTING WITH THE INDEX
FINGER
(considered very rude and
impolite)
CROSS LEGS
( sign of disrespect.)
THE ‘’OK’’
(insulting,
denotes the
evil eye.)
RIGHT HAND
(performing daily
activities)

8. EAST AFRICA
East African countries (19) -
Burundi,Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopi
a, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar,
Malawi,Mauritius, Mozambique,
Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles,
Somalia, Somaliland, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
The current population of Eastern
Africa is 443,790,190 as of
Wednesday, May 15, 2019, based
on the latest United Nations
estimates.

9. EAST AFRICA
LEFT FIST(DOWNWARD)
(emphasize a point in the
conversation, indicate that a bus,
car or restaurant is full. )
WAVE
(getting attention,
acceptable practice.
NOD
(head downwards
means “yes”,head
upwards means “no”.
Stephen Colbert
RIGHT HAND
(noble hand)
RUBBING THUMB
(sign for money)
Pointing down
(Going to far)
PALM UP &
DOWNWARDS
(questioning,apologizing)

10. CENTRAL AFRICA
Central or Middle African countries (9) -
Angola, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Congo Republic -
Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and
São Tomé & Principe.
Central
African Republic Population (LIVE) The
current population of the Central
African Republic is 4,812,678 as of
Saturday, May 11, 2019, based on the
latest United Nations estimates.

11. CENTRAL AFRICA
HAND AND HEAD
(convey both positive and
negative emotions)
POINTING INDEX
FINGER
(impolite)
LEFT HAND
( for personal
hygiene ONLY)
BECKONGING FOR
SOMEONE
(come here)
EYE CONTACT
(looking down and avoid eye
contact to show respect )

12. SOUTH AFRICA
Southern Africa countries
(5) -
Botswana, Lesotho, Na
mibia, South Africa,
and Swaziland
The current population of
South Africa
is 57,899,640 as of
Wednesday, April 3, 2019,
based on the latest United
Nations estimates.

13. SOUTH
AFRICA
MIDDLE FINGER AND WAIVINF
INDEX FINGER
(rude)
HAND GESTURES (Alphabet)
(hand gestures to communicate.)
SHAKES HAND AND SCRATCHES
YOUR PALM
(sex)
EYE CONTACT
(rude)
HOLDING ONE'S HAND
IN A FIST
(enough)TOUCHING ON THE HEAD
(seen as mocking them)

14. REFERENCESEncyclopedia Britannica Africa REGION, AFRICA WRITTEN BY: Michael Brett Brian H.
Warmington Jamil M. Abun-Nasr
United Nations Refugee Agency2013 UNHCR regional operations profile - West Africa
African Development Bank GroupProfile and documents on West Africa
The Ford FoundationProfile on West Africa on web site of this private foundation
established by Edsel and Henry Ford in 1936

15. SYNTHESIS
In Africa, I appreciate the different gestures they have,
it gives enough knowledge and awareness to those
people who wants to visit their country. I enjoy studying
their culture even though I have limited time but I
cherish every moment I am reading every information
they have.