[wanabidii] Be more African

May 25, 2012 went almost unnoticed in Malawi despite the many
ambitious projects that aim at saving what we are slowly losing since
the early missionaries told us that our culture was incompatible with
Christianity therefore if we fol¬lowed our archaic ways, we will be
condemned to the under¬world.

May 25 is significant in many ways. As a historian, it is the day that
symbolises Africa's unity although the proponents of Organisation of
African Unity might be tossing in their graves angered by the rate at
which we are abandoning their dream. They dreamt of a United Africa
that would shape its own economic path, they envisaged a United Africa
that will solve its own problems, they ideated a peace¬ful Africa that
will be founded on rich cultural teachings respecting humanity and not
one disregarding human life.

The leaders of independent Africa at the time did well to found the
Organisation of African Unity. OAU has since been replaced by African
Union. But still, it is more of the same old story; civil strife in
Africa, hunger, disease and corruption.

These ills are easy choices for Western media when they try to
sensationalise the bad that Africa has been for ages. We might love
our Africa but they continue to paint an exaggerated picture of us. If
we are indeed what we are the way they portray us, then we must not
forget who has contributed to our suffering; who has sponsored these
civil wars? Who has aided the rise of corrupt African leaders? Whose
policies have only worsened Africa's economy? These questions might be
debated some day.

The focus now should be African artists and the way they have
portrayed the continent. Africa has been smeared by people who want to
prove that the bad they preach about Africa is true. We have a lot of
good in Africa, the languages we speak are such a treasure. I have
little respect for artists who by abandoning their language, promote
foreign languages yet they

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want their music to be classified as African. The artists' usage of
foreign language might be dictated by the demands of the music market
but they must not reach the point of idolising such languages while
ignoring languages of their ancestors.

Africa has been spoilt by politicians whose policies have done more
harm to the con¬tinent. We need to question the language policies but
at the same time be cautious to avoid the Kiswahilli disaster in
Tanzania.

Is it not shameful that our universities, some have departments of
languages are not doing enough to preserve the dying languages? Since
civilisation –which unfor¬tunately regards African culture as barbaric
or primitive – we have allowed influences of Western culture to dilute
what would better define us in form of music, beliefs, dressing and
more.

The supremacy of Western culture is well-documented. The understanding
that culture is not homogenous, that it contin¬ues to evolve, has left
the modern genera¬tion craving for improvements of what is deemed
archaic by the Westerners. Yet improvement of those archaic beliefs
does not mean copying everything Western.

As we continue to denounce our culture, the result is very obvious; it
is not surpris¬ing that Western education has denigrated what our
forefathers jealously guarded since the days of Christianity -- whose
teachings were incompatible with our way of life.

Since culture continues to evolve, the language that we should hear so
often is preserving our culture or we risk losing everything. The
Western education that we pursue opens our eyes they say, it is not
surprising that once we do enough of that education, we finally view
our customs and traditions as barbaric.

Our hunger for Western education is so much entrenched in our beliefs
that even if cultural activities were to be incorpo¬rated into our
school curriculum, we have sell-outs who prefer high schools for their
children. But what you find in the curriculum of international high
schools is not always relevant.

There is no debating that lan¬guage is part of our culture. We are
raising children who will grow up not knowing zilape, nthano,
mi¬kuluwiko or miyambi. The influence of Western culture is so
deplor¬able that children will grow up not knowing where they came
from.

But can we blame the youth of to¬day? Would you blame the youth if all
we can give them is a Western-style education that only justifies the
backwardness of our culture? We are glad that our children learn about
Western civilisation, medi¬cine, history, astronomy, anthropol¬ogy and
philosophy.

It is therefore sad that educated people have been brainwashed by
Western education and I wonder how much they can offer to pre¬serve
our languages, our traditions, our way of life.

http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php/component/content/article/299-columns/6731-be-more-african-

--
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Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com
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