CHAPTER IV
AFRICAN CULTURAL IDENTITY IN THE CONTEXT
OF GLOBALIZATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND
DANGERS
CHIBUEZE C. UDEANI
INTRODUCTION
Two decades ago capitalism was confined largely to North America, Western
Europe and a handful of developing countries, principally in East Asia.
Collectively these nations entailed approximately 20 percent of the world's
population. Today the world is faced with a new phenomenon -- globalization.
This polysyllabic phenomenon consists of economic, political and social, as well
as cultural and philosophical dimensions. The world today is now on the
threshold of a new global capitalism, one which constitutes not only
opportunities, but deep risks for development. This phenomenon is spreading to
almost 90 percent of the world's population.
The opportunities for development and great risks are found in all
dimensions of globalization. What this phenomenon means for a group of people
depends principally on its role in the process of globalization. For the global
players the positive side seems to outweigh the negative. The reverse is the
case for the global non-players. Looking over Africa one becomes aware that
Africa is not a global player within this phenomenon. A closer look indicates
that the threats confronting her are greater than the obvious opportunities
found within this phenomenon. Hence it is necessary to take a critical look at
the situation of Africa in the face of globalization.
This paper will focus on the cultural-philosophical dimension of
globalization. Specifically, we shall treat the issue of African cultural
identity and the globalization process. First, we will attempt to trace the
development of the African cultural identity to the present day. Secondly, we
will look at the cultural challenges and threats that confront Africa, and the
cultural opportunities for Africa.
AFRICA AND HER CULTURAL IDENTITY
Only one who can say "I" to himself or herself can say
"you" to the others. In a sense, identity is that which makes a person
or a thing, in contrast to others, who or what one is. Identity is an essential
existential constituent of the reality of existents.
For Africans, the issue of cultural identity is of vital importance,
especially in this phase of their development and in the face of presentday
globalization. The marginalization of Africa in today's world calls also for
such a reflection. Though negative, this marginalization offers here an
excellent vantage position for self-reflection. In this process one comes to see
the need to address such question as where we stand in relation to our history
and what is our cultural identity in the face of globalization. How can Africans
strive toward a healthy balance between the positive elements of their own
culture and those of other non-African cultures without losing a healthy
attitude towards their own culture?
"Id" and "Entity"
An etymological-analytical examination of the term "identity"
shows it to consist of two words: "id" and "entity". The
word "id" has two origins -- the Latin origin, which points to
(psyche) "id" and the Greek origin, which points to the Greek word
"idios." Standing alone, this word means one's "own",
"private". This as a suffix takes the forms "ides" --
"son of" and "idos" or "idios" --
"daughter." The word "entity" comes from "ens,"
the present participle of "esse" -- "to be." It
points to an entity as opposite to an attribute and as having objective reality.
In this sense then identity means something with its own/private (idios)
objective reality. In general parlance, it points to the individuality of a
thing or person -- that is, to what a thing or who a person is. Reflecting on
identity, we have seen the emphasis put on "own/private" and "the
objective reality" of a thing in contrast to the attributes. Hence,
identity points to a relation: thinking of "own" or
"private" or "objective reality" presupposes the existence
of another.
Here we are confronted with what could be called the "paradox of
identity": Identity points to the separating, distinguishing and
differentiating aspects of a reality in contrast to other realities; it also
indicates the belongingness and similarity of the realities of a class in
contrast to those of other classes. So in a sense, identity in itself points not
only to a thing or all members of its class, but also to the class-complements
of this reality and to their classes.
Culture
"Culture" could be defined as the sum total of the answers
people give to the questions of life. One can talk of answers because it is
known that human beings pose questions regarding life. It is not only human
beings, however, for life itself poses questions to human beings. The search for
meaning or purpose in life is a question posed by human beings. The challenges
of life can be seen as the questions that life poses. The answers to these are
found in life (e.g., in the natural laws), but human beings must respond also to
questions whose answers are not found in nature.
The answers give by groups of people depend on various factors, for
example, time, space, history etc. Considering the issue of time, the particular
time when a question is posed contributes a lot to the answer. Hence, what is
valid for one moment may not be suitable some moments later.
The place of the questioning, i.e, the context in which it is posed, is
another decisive factor. This helps to explain why various answers are found for
the same question in different regions of the world.
When time and space (location) are put together in the search for an
answer, the results are bound by time and space, which imply changes and
differences. These notwithstanding, one finds not only a certain continuity in
the answers given at different times, but also similarities in the answers found
in different locations. All these similarities point to the role of history as a
factor in the search for and the giving of answers to the different questions of
life. Human beings continuously collect, evaluate, develop, practice and
transfer these answers from one generation to the next and from one region to
the other. This is the way with the different cultures of the world: cultures
are developed nuder different circumstances of time and space. They grow, and as
with any other living thing, death and birth mark the lives of cultures.
Cultural growth should be seen also from a regional perspective, for one may
speak of the spread of culture only from a regional perspective.
African Cultural Identities and Identity
Speaking about African cultural "identity" and
"identities" should not provoke a reaction against unnecessary
repetition or playing with words. African cultural identity, with the emphasis
on the singular form, points to all traits that distinguish Africa and African
from the rest of the world. In this case it includes all those attributes, which
when considered together, make all the rest in relation to Africa a logical
class complement, i.e., non-Africa, non-African.
On the other hand, reflecting on African cultural identity, the plural
form highlights the variety of traits or features that distinguish the different
groups or communities of Africans in Africa or elsewhere from one another.
Traits that distinguish not only Africans and Africa from the rest of the world,
but also Africans among themselves are manifest in such areas as worldview,
politics, language, religion, economy, education, arts, music, literature, etc.
History is also a vital point. As the title of this reflection suggests, we will
focus more on attention on traits that distinguish Africa from the rest, than on
those that demarcate the respective African groups. In other words, we are more
concerned with the African cultural identity than the African cultural
identities. Clearly these two branches are in a sense interwoven, so apparent
deviations from the central line of this reflection will only be made when
necessary.
AFRICAN CULTURAL IDENTITIES WITHIN AFRICAN HISTORY
We shall consider the different cultural identities of Africa mainly in
distinction to the rest of the world in the different epochs of African history.
In other words, we will consider Africa in her cultural identity, as she saw her
cultural self, and Africa with reference to the world, i.e., as she understood
her cultural self, and as the world perceived this cultural self. It is not easy
for an African to speak of Africa in terms of the pre-colonial Africa, colonial
Africa and the neo-colonial Africa. Colonialism was an unfortunate development
in the history of humanity of which Africa has been one of the victims. Hence it
is all the more painful to categorize her and her history mainly from this
negative aspect. But even though this is unfortunate, it is a reality of
history, even though the truth may not have been sweet.
Pre—Colonial Africa
African cultural identity of this phase of history has been differently
portrayed. This difference often indicates the standpoint of the presenters
towards Africa. One can speak of standpoint, rather than view, because this
similarity in views crosses boundaries. Among Africans and non-Africans one
finds those who who share similar standpoints, while having different views. But
because of the truths of history-as-it-took-place -- which is often different
from the history-as-it-has-been-documented -- such points of agreement abound
for all, irrespective of their differences of opinion.
What the African cultural identity of this epoch is for different groups
is more or less an historical matter. Such images of Africa testify to the goals
and methods which those concerned have used in the presentation of Africa in and
through their writings on African history.
Most of what is known today about the African cultural identity of this
period is based on archeological discoveries and history. Those who sympathize
with Africa emphasize the positive aspect of this African cultural identity,
while those that are of the contrary view stress the negative side. Even in the
study of archeological findings and their interpretation -- without denying
their objectivity -- these factors play some important roles. The crucial aspect
of history, especially when the historographical dimension is to be considered
as it is the case here, is to recognize the importance of ideology in the study
and teaching of history in general and African history in particular. The core
of history, after all, is not just the bare facts of what happened, but what is
going on behind the events. This is why even historians and archeologists are
not just chroniclers or antiquarians.1
When we consider what is going on behind the events, we can imagine the
agents behind these events -- the pre-colonial Africans. Considering such events
as the footprints of their agents, it becomes obvious that the identity of
Africa in this period lies in such events. Hence African history plays a crucial
role in the issue of African cultural identity. African cultural identity in
this time may be found in the respective cultural identities of the different
African communities, in their world-views, social arrangements, politics,
religions, economies, education, arts, music, literature and languages.
Reflecting on African cultural identity in terms of the rest of the world
as class-complement at this stage, it is obvious that for Africa for most of the
world did not exist. So one may not even speak accurately of a collective
African cultural identity. If we may speak of it at all, it is the cultural
identity in reference to those non-African with whom she had contacts through
trade, etc. Even then, there were only the identities of particular kingdoms,
dynasties, and the like.
Africa got her collective cultural identity from outside. Such collective
cultural identity, or the consciousness or awareness of it, comes mostly in the
presence of the other, from whom one has to be distinguished or brought into
relationship. A class presupposes a class-complement, and vice versa. So in a
sense, individuation presumes the existence of another. In a way there is a
dependency: identity dependents upon awareness of the fact of individuation.
Since Africa as a whole was not aware of itself as a whole, there is no
"African cultural identity" as such in the pre-colonial period.
The Colonial Africa
What began with the arrival of the first Europeans on the Africa soil,
and developed into the slave trade with aid in Africa, reached its peak in the
enslavement of Africa itself through colonialism.
It is not that Africa saw herself as standing next to another, but the
essence of African cultural identity was attacked and to a large extent
destroyed. Missionary activities in Africa must be mentioned here. What
colonialism accomplished mainly physically and partly psychologically was fully
sealed psychologically and spiritually through missionary activities. What both
achieved, irrespective of the protests of the several African communities, was
the erosion of the foundation of the African cultural identity. The result of
this erosion is the alienation of Africans from themselves and their world.
Every constitutive element of African cultural identity was attacked and almost
completely destroyed. Such elements include the worldviews, politics, social
arrangements, religions, economies, educational systems, arts, music, literature
and languages of the different African communities.
The African individual, himself or herself, was also negatively affected.
The African was attacked, oppressed, exploited, robbed of his/bar self-worth,
reduced to a nobody and hence deformed by an inferiority complex. The
consequences of colonialism and missionary activities include diseases of the
mind and consciousness. If what happens to a person, happens in the mind, the
conclusion here should be obvious.
Colonialism lasted so long in its original form, and continues today in
its divergent forms, because it possessed an overpowering psychological hold on
the minds of the Africans. for centuries Africans were led to believe that they
were an inferior people incapable of development, and that non-Africans,
especially Europeans, intrinsically possessed all that was good and superior. On
the one hand, following generations of exploitation, Europeans actually believed
in the inferiority of Africans. On the other hand, Africans had developed an
ingrained dependence fostered by European/foreign domination.2 As a
result the Africans, being an historically, politically, socially and
economically disinherited and dispossessed group, were forced to develop a
negative self-image.
As a result, in this period of colonialism there developed a
self-understood African cultural identity with two dimensions: One related the
African to his/her fellows, the other to Europeans.
With the traumatic breakdown of the institutions of native culture,
things fell apart. From this period the African understood himself/herself
differently in relation to the Europeans and in relation to fellow Africans.
They also behaves differently towards Europeans and fellow Africans. The other
who stands opposite to oneself is no longer just the other, but the other whose
presence determines who one (the African) is. The values for one's self-image or
identity are now explicitly dependent on who this other is in relation to the
African's perception of the other -- hence the turn difference in relation to
this other, this self -- bifurcation, is a direct result of colonialist
subjugation.3
This colonialist subjugation and consequent cultural identity crisis for
the African are manifest in the issues of language and religion. Basic
importance should be ascribed to the phenomenon of language. Language is an
elements in the African's comprehension of the other and of himself/herself in
relation with this other, for to speak is to exist absolutely for the ether.4
"To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to
grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume
a culture and to support the weight of a civilization."5
Africans like every other colonized people, were confronted with the language of
the colonizer. In the process of colonization the colonized is then made is
elevated above his/her miserable status in proportion to his adoption of the
colonizer's cultural standards. The possession of different languages does not
just mean the possession of different tools; but it means the participation in
different psychological and cultural worlds.
The colonized Africans' use of the language of the colonizer is
regrettable because this required them to subject themselves to the languages of
the colonizers. In this situation, which is under the control of the colonizer,
the mother tongue of the colonized is humiliated and enslaved, without his/her
being conscious of it. In the end, the colonized ends up internalizing it. As
with other such groups this internalization of the standards of judgment of
their colonizers is the most serious affliction suffered by the colonized
Africans.
One of the negative effects of colonialism in Africa is that it precluded
the Africans from participating objectively in their own culture. They were
excluded from social, economic and political decision that deeply affected them
and their environment. In every way they were forced to live isolated from their
time and circumstance. They suffered alienation.
Foreign cultures and identities were impressed upon the Africans.
Recalling our working definition of culture as the sum total of answers a group
gives to the question of life, this means that Africans were forced into a
situation of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. They were forced to
give foreign, inadequate and (in most cases) wrong answers to the indigenous
questions of their life.
Neo-Colonial Africa
The period since the paper-independence of African countries, which is
often referred to as the post-colonial Africa, may be better termed neo-colonial
Africa. This is the period when the colonial seeds sown in Africa began to yield
fruit.
The first generation of Africans in this period had the goal of shaking
off what they had come to see as their inferior, original cultural identity but
found themselves frustrated in their efforts. The sole aim of this generation
was to become European. The only pitiable destiny was to become another -- the
European -- so as to reach a "human level". Having lost their cultural
identity, or having run away from worthless in their eyes. The next aspiration
for them was to become somebody, but not just anybody it was to become human.
For these Africans, to become human was to become European. But they
could not become that at wish because the European had to dictate and sanction
it. In their inferiority they believed it was better to accept the lowest levels
of being human. Of course, they forgot that the Europeans are sealed in their
Europeanness just as the Africans were in their Africanness. This illusion
accompanied many who had to interact with the Europeans -- their servants,
maids, interpreters, luggage carriers, court messengers, converts of the
different missionary groups, and so on. For them, even a low position was a
privilege, a way to a new identity.
Education is an area where the situation shows itself clearly. Many young
Africans believed that acquiring the language and some of the behavioral
patterns of the colonizers would give them not only the benefit of being
European, and hence human, but also of equality with the colonizers. This was
also the case with religious converts -- most joined the different groups just
for this purpose and those who rose higher began to see themselves as pure
European. After all, within such groups they all were addressed as brothers and
sisters. Every new convert had to turn his or her back not only on his/her
former religion but also on his/her world, environment, everything, and accept a
new foreign name.
It was not long, however, before it dawned on them what illusions they
were pursuing. Some had the chance of seeing the Europeans as they really were
within the cultural milieu. But mainly due to the fruitlessness of their efforts
to metamorphose into Europeans and be accorded equality, another phase in the
whole process began.
This contributed, among other things, to the birth of class-consciousness
among those colonized. They were made to realize that even if they have been
accepted as human beings, there existed a hierarchy of classes of human being,
and that their place was in the lowest of all these classes.
This new class-consciousness became the alternative consciousness. It has
now a new identity: an antinomial, collective cultural identity that became a
uniting force for these colonized Africans and with which they stood against the
systems of the colonizers. This class-consciousness manifested itself in the new
antinomial, collective cultural identity, an identity of opposition, constituted
gradually the all-encompassing liberation movements in Africa against the
colonizer. Just as in other such cases, the antinomial, collective cultural
identity -- identity of opposition -- had its own seed of destruction. It grew
and was nurtured from outside circumstance -- in this case the oppressor. It is
an identity whose existence is intrinsically dependent on the other. Once the
other -- the oppressor -- disappears, the oppressed disappear as well.
One of the intentions of these Africans with this collective cultural
identity of opposition was to prove to the other, i.e., non-Africans that
Africans are equal to them. But was that true? It was not an effort geared
towards rediscovering of Africa's own cultural identity, but of imbibing the
standards of the colonizer and using them as a yardstick in their protest.
This antinomial, collective cultural identity of Africa goes a long way
to help us understand the fate of Africa since the apparent disappearance of the
oppressors, or since they disguised themselves and changed their method. The
problem is that the lost child, the African, can no longer find the way home.
This is Africa at crossroads.
This is where the foundation of the next phase of the issue of African
cultural identity was consolidated. This is an important phase in the African
cultural identity crisis. Now that the oppressor apparently had been chased
away, the next question was: how should Africans define their individual selves
in the face of other Africans and non-Africans?
One needs to think thus: as individuals saw themselves unconsciously in
reference to their affiliation with oppressors, class consciousness based on
this principle arose. This became manifest in the demarcation that could be
drawn between those who had to interact with the oppressors and those who
remained distant. Those who dealt with the colonists adopted a language
different from that of their native group. This shows a dislocation, a
separation that is particularly intensified among some groups of Africans. It is
evident in cultural choices. Those who adopt colonial culture wear colonizers'
clothes; they use colonizers' furniture and forms of social intercourse. They
adorn their native language (if they can still speak it) with the colonizers'
expressions. These and other behaviors contribute to a feeling of being
different from those who were distant from colonizers' influence and avoided
equality with the colonizers and their achievements.6
On a collective level the African groups began to see themselves in
relation to other African groups on the basis of the identity of the colonizer,
hence we find such forms of group self-identity as anglophone and franco-phone
Africa. It is not just a matter of description. The bond of affiliation among
them is built in this way. This reflects itself, as already indicated, in the
way most Africans understand their cultural identity in the presence of
non-Africans.
AFRICAN CULTURAL IDENTITY AND GLOBALIZATION
There is a difference between Africans and other colonized groups with
respect to the problem of identity. Arabs came Africa as imperialists from
another continent. They succeeded in integrating the African people who occupied
the area up to the equator into Islam. Even today these so-called
"African-Arabs" are confronted with the problem of cultural identity
in the face of today's western cultural onslaught.
In other parts of Africa the problem of cultural identity seems much more
complex. Before colonialism, African cultural identity was primarily based on
ethnicity. This identity was regionally rooted. As a result of colonialism,
which succeeded in disorganizing this ethnic set-up and all that belongs to it,
there was nothing left on which to found ethnic identity.
From this time up to the present, the different black African groups took
different ways to address themselves to this issue of cultural identity. Most of
the ways sought and applied where those either directly instituted by the
colonizers or indirectly derived from the products of colonization. Efforts
geared towards the total destruction of ethnic attachments and cultural identity
was also made through centralist program directed toward the building of
nations.
Africa is confronted with a dilemma rooted in the dualism of the purpose
of most Africans today. Many would like to modernize Africa or see her made
relevant to the mainstream of the universal culture of human race. For some,
especially the African intellectuals and other elites, the state apparatus and
the incipient "nation" are elevated to sacred symbols, once imported
to Africa by the colonial situation. The same people also wish or strive to
affirm and develop the dignity of their indigenous African tradition symbolized
by language, among other things.
Clearly these new nation-states cannot assume the position of authentic
symbolic referents to African civilization without first embodying values and
insights that are originally and typically African and must be expressed in
African language. Concurrently, African culture cannot be considered
authentically modern unless it embodies the values and insights of the today's
world. In a sense, it must be able to be African and yet non-African.
Globalization is principally all about creating an economic environment
where competition, efficiency and profit can set the tone for economic activity,
rather than facilitate full lives and life-styles. . . . Even though . . . the
process of globalization is . . . natural, the manner in which it is being
carried out is not. Indeed, rather than seeing globalization, we are actually
seeing Americanization of the world economy (and consequently an effort towards
Americanization of global culture).7
This is where the problem or the threat lies for the rest
of the world cultures, especially those that counted among the non-global
players. This is Africa's fate.
One of the threats is that this process will increasingly preclude
Africans from participating objectively, not only in the political decisions
that deeply affect them, but also in their own culture. The imposition of
another foreign culture is inevitable. If a working definition of
"culture" is the sum total of answers which people give to the
questions of life, under globalization, Africans are finding themselves in a
situation that forces them to accept foreigner's answers to their own questions
of life.
Although the main visible trends of globalization are principally
economic, it does not even respect the different economic traditions and
cultures of the world. Globalization is the other way around: it is the
"forceful" implementation of the wisdom of Adam Smith's invisible
hand.
All this has to do with world cultures. Economy, broadly defined, is
shaping global culture. That means that economic leaders in this process have a
much broader set of responsibilities than just the bottom line. But because of
the way economic leaders understand economy within the process of Globalization,
they have not been able to think beyond shareholder values.
Much depends on these economic leaders, for without the right
consciousness the opportunities that abound for the different world cultures --
especially those of global non-players like Africa -- will not easily available.
The economic leaders need to develop a consciousness of global culture.
For her part, Africa must be more committed. Africa needs to realize that
such things as collective, authentic, cultural identity will not be given to her
on a platter from anywhere. The revival of Africa's cultural heritage and its
honest, authentic and functional spirit and institutions must become a practical
goal. Without stopping at this, an honest appraisal and forward movement towards
dialogue with the rest of the world should equally follow. This is a call to
reverse years of negative self-image and replace it with an honest, real,
positive and dynamic cultural identity.8
The areas worth our consideration include both social and the economic
realities. The psychological aspect is also important but should not be seen
alone. This is because effective desalination of the African entails an
immediate recognition of social and economically based. The case of alienation
is the outcome of -- among others things -- a double process: primarily economic
and subsequently the internalization of this state of existence.9
NOTES
1. O.U. Kalu, (Ed.) The History of Christianity in West Africa
(London: Longman, 1980), p. 2.
2. S. Biko, The Testimony of Steve Biko (London: Granada
Publishing, 1978), p. xvii.
3. Fanon Frantz, Black Skin White Masks (New York: Gerove
Weidenfeld, 1967), p. 17.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., p. 17f.
6. Ibid., p. 25.
7. J. Bonfante, et al., "One World Divided. in: Time, July 7,
1997, 38.
8. Biko, p. xviii.
9. Frantz, ibid., p. 11.