Africa Needs To Return Fully To Her Rich Cultural Heritage

Africa Needs To Return Fully To Her Rich Cultural Heritage
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Over the last century, Africa has fought and is fighting bitter wars with the uncompromising winds of colonisation, slave trade, neo-colonisation,  communism, capitalism, poverty, disease, and bad leadership. Although this list is incomplete, it is safe to say that most of them may possibly not have dealt damaging blows to Africa had Africa not allowed itself to be ‘adulterated’ by the West. Despite the big baskets of resources the continent is endowed with – both natural and human, Africa still finds itself in the lowest echelons of development. This has to change and only Africans themselves can make that happen. 

Just like many analysts have pointed out, the simple cure for most of the problems Africans are facing is tied to the ability of Africans to go back to their roots to trace how their forefathers and ancestors solved those problems.

A lot has changed in today’s Africa. Many decades ago, a good majority of Africans were morally upright. Those were the days when pregnancy outside marriage was abominable; when wealth must have sources; when thieves were hanged or severely punished as a deterrence; when the upbringing of a child in the society was a collective responsibility of everyone and when families had actionable value systems. Sadly, Africa has derailed after these values were lost to colonisation, so-called globalisation, civilisation, and today, most of these values that were inherent in the culture of most African nations can only be found in history books.

The truth is that for Africa to make major headway out of its present woods, it must ditch the present trajectory and reconnect to its heritage, and to get this perfectly done will entail associating with elements of its culture that bring pride to its people.

Read Also: Economic Success: Africa Needs Africanism Not Capitalism

Africa is richly blessed with diverse cultures. It is so rich linguistically and culturally to the extent that over 2000 distinct languages are spoken in the continent. By official statistics, Africa is barely 15% of the world’s population however, nearly one-third of the world’s languages are African.

Sadly, despite this rich diversity and culture, Africans have not been able to take cognisance of this wealth. Over 60 years after many African nations became independent from their colonial masters after years of self-determination, many countries in the continent today still struggle noticeably with universal access to primary school education, delivered in local languages. Many African nations have chosen to make the first language of their colonial masters their primary language and their native languages secondary.

The truth is that whichever one may want to look at it, negating its languages and describing them as vernacular is one of the most scandalous issues that has succeeded to hold Africans down despite the number of years they have practiced self-rule.

The negative trend is becoming normalised with every passing day and the drift has been quite pacy. Among many young people in the continent today, ‘Africaness’ appears to be losing steam because, to them, culture is local and Western values are civilised. Millions of young Africans who were born were born in or live in the diaspora, have completely lost touch with their languages and culture. How can Africa develop under these horrible conditions?

What many Africans have failed to realise is that contrary to how they perceive it, language is more than a device for communication. Language is of great significance such that it not only plays pivotal roles in shaping a person’s heritage, but, also amplifies cultural significance, develops unique knowledge, safeguards ancestral memories, and nourishes rich traditions. Perhaps, Africans have forgotten that the language one speaks plays a central role in imprinting the way one’s thought process is shaped while ensuring that the person speaking it has integrity coherence, and then authenticity,

The deviation of Africans away from their tradition has dealt big blows to the general ways of life of the people of the continent. This deviation has ensured that Africans no longer recognise their traditional institutions such as the ones centered on medication and health. Due to the influence of Westernisation, many Africans have abandoned the education and health systems that they were already working on before they went head-to-head with civilisation.

Rather than seek home-grown solutions to the myriad of problems confronting Africa today, Africa remains dependent on the West who have taught Africans to erroneously believe that any homegrown solution was ‘local’ and must not be trusted. This explains why Africans carelessly allowed their institutions to become so inferior and unattractive that no one wants to associate with them.

Before civilisation was introduced into the African psyche, Africans were developing solutions to their health problems. The educational system was not anchored on Westernisation and capitalism. Africans had their religions which ensured that a majority of them had good morals. It is safe to assume that had the West not infiltrated Africa, she would have been a better place, however, this is no time for blame games, hence Africans must start the fixing now by going back to their roots and cultural heritage.

What Africa desperately needs now to kickstart her journey to greatness once again is a change in its people, total mindset reformation, walking the walk of good morals, and good social upbringing. Africans need to come up with a design and resolution that will ensure that all Africans insist on a moral social system that must be launched at infancy for every African child. Africa must change its focus to ensure that social behaviour and human formation are made the most important subject in the curricula of all schools in Africa.

For Africa to sustain this march to greatness, a lot has to happen and a lot of changes have to be made.

Africans must begin to understand that her rich, diverse cultural and natural heritage are very key if their hopes of attaining sustainable development, poverty reduction, building and maintaining peace are ever going to become reality.

The truth is that for Africa to truly assume her rightful position among the comity of nations, Africa and Africans must go back to their roots, so to speak. This might imply that Africa might have to disengage from the rest of the world temporarily to put her house in order first. Regardless of the views anyone has, one point that cannot be debated is that the pre-colonial African economy before it was disrupted by colonialism and imperialism, was vibrant and served Africans better than what is currently obtainable now. Africans must realign their polity with their cultures and tradition.

Africans must pay attention to the fact that they owe it to themselves and perhaps their ancestors to make sure Africa works. Africa must see the light once again and this can only happen effectively when Africans make a U-turn to return to their roots and cultural heritage. This is the truth Africans must ponder on.

Africa Digital News, New York

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