I'm afraid that time won't permit me to adequately respond to your points. However, with regard to one of the points you made, here are some excerpts from a book that I might suggest for you and others interested in reading.. Yhe information enclosed in brackets [..] are my additions.
"The history of Black Africa is known, without any break in continuity, from the Empire of Ghana {in the third century A.D.}unitl the prsent day, at least as far as the Northern part of the country is concerned....The history of Ghana [West Africa] is known to us in broad outline, thanks to the works of Arab writerss. Ibn-Khaldoun, born in Tunisia in 1332, in his History of the Berbers gives particulars of the Negro empires of Africa and of the migration from North to South of the white races. Ibn-Haoukal of Bagdad who lived in the thenth century and was a traveing merchant who made many notes about the country he passed through; to him we owe 'The Routes And The Kingdoms'. El Bekri, and Arab geographer born in Tangiers in 1302, visited the empire of Mali [West Africa], the capitol of the empire which succeeded that of Ghana in 1240, he wrote "Voyage To The Sudan". Cheikh Anta Diop "The Cultural Unity Of Africa, The Domains of Patriachy and of Matriarchy in Classical Antiquity" {Chicago, Third World Press, 1978; pp 66-67; originally published in 1959}
-snip-
See this Adobe file on Explorations into ancient African http://www.mrdowling.com/zip/609ancafr.pdf
Sorry, for some reason I could not crate a link to this file. However here is one quote on griots:
"West Africa has a great oral tradition. A griot is a learned storyteller, entertainer, and historian. Often a griot will memorize the genealogy, or family history of everyone in a cillage going back centuries. American writer Alex Haley [of 'Roots' fame] met a griot in 1966 that had memorized the entire story of the village of Juffure to a date two centuries in the past when his [Haley's] ancestor was enslaved"
-snip-
Also here is a link to a website that provides further links to other URLS on African explorations
Torctgyd, you wrote in your post above "I wasn't using the terms native or bush in a prejorative manner..I've certainly heard of people being discribed as native New Englander or native New Yorker.."
Let me assure you that I would not think of trying to decide what you were consciously or unconsciously thinking when you [or any one else] writes a post. My comment was provided as an arm chair student of Black culture.
With regard to the use of the terms 'natives' and 'African bush',I still maintain that these terms have become loaded with negative cultural baggage. With specific regard to 'native', using that word as an adjective [as in the examples you gave] is different than using it as a noun.. So if you had said native African or native Ghanaian, or native to Africa [what ever part of speech that is] I would think that such use would not be considered pejorative.