Asadullah Qamar
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Assistant Editor at Pakistan Africa Institute for Development and Research (PAIDAR)
When you step into 2025, the tradition of gift-giving lives on around the world and crosses over all cultural and societal walls. What started as sharing and goodwill has become a complicated business, not only affecting personal relationships but international policy as well. Gifting from its early human survival strategies to contemporary manifestations in philanthropy and political patronage, has been central to how humans interact.
Cultural Adaptations and Historical Trajectory:
The roots of gift-giving can be traced back to ancient Africa, where early human societies used gifting to survive and to keep themselves together. Giving was a deeply ingrained part of societies where people were mainly hunter-gatherers, the act helped forge alliances, maintain social order and help get resources. Even gifts, in the form of cattle or food, acted as a catalyst to cement horizontal ties between equals and vertical bonds to the person of authority laying the groundwork for a complex social grid.
As human societies expanded and diversified, so did the gifting practice. When concepts of charity and communal giving were introduced to Africa, as well as the introduction of Islam and Christianity, brought about a large-scale change. Islamic zakat and Christian Caritas institutionalized giving through their religious teachings and reiterated the importance of giving to the stability of the society and the welfare of the whole community. African societies were disrupted and foreign systems were introduced during the colonial era. But then gifting adapted to this new reality, a tool of resistance and of life. For instance, Harambee — or pulling together — in East Africa, helped communities share resources and make progress together on the educational front in spite of colonial oppression.
Gifting in the contemporary context in Africa:
As we glide into 2025, Africans are again engaging in the art of gifting differently as the continent transforms. The Cold War and postcolonial period between 1960 and early 2000 continued the tradition as new states in Africa grappled with boundaries imposed by colonial powers. Borisov noted that leaders leaned on vertical gifting, where the state used its resources to control tensions within the society. As much as it was helpful in centralization of power, it aggravated patronage structures that are in practice to date.
However, the modern century has bid this tradition adieu and a new style of gifting has emerged in Africa. When people became uncomfortable with the conventional ways of providing support toward development and charity operations in foreign countries, innovations appeared. Others have turned to models of trust-based philanthropy, philanthrocapitalism, and effective giving, all of which value rationality and data to hold organizations accountable for demonstrable impact. These innovations stand out from the one-directional charity model, delegate the power to local communities, and allow people to address social problems.
In addition, diaspora remittance flows as a source of funding for development have assumed even greater significance in Africa. With the focus to tap on domestic resources, the continent has started to cut on aid dependency, in his majesty of locally-driven plans. It is social change because it underlines the emerging process of identifying and empowering from within.
Charity also continues to be one of the important instruments of Africa’s diplomacy abroad. In foreign relations, the gifts that presidents or prime ministers share during a state visit or during multilateral summits are meant to improve relations. This characteristic of open-handedness, as a key instrument of soft power in the Africa Resilience Forum (ARF) demonstrates that gift-giving continues to play a vital role in contemporary diplomatic relations.
Conclusion:
Lessons from Gift-giving in Africa as we look toward the future of 2025. The culture of gifting has a deep-rooted history of being used as a tool to determine the interaction between people and countries, which has not only survived but also has prospered through time and is an essential tool in present-day diplomacy. It will therefore be the task in the future to find how to maintain the novelty of gifting while strengthening the specific cultural characteristics that allow the practice to promote social cohesion, political responsiveness, and development that is perennial.
Africa has a lot to learn from history and today’s uses of gifting, and in turn, use them as a tool to improve the existence of human communities, the governance, and, generally, to work on claiming its position on the world stage. As we begin this new year, we are reminded that the practice of giving, both within our communities and across borders, has the power to bring the continents closer to their desired future—a more generous, interconnected, and sustainable world.
