Maravi

Appreciating our cultures, civilizations

Appreciating our cultures, civilizations
By Editor
Friday October 12, 2007 [04:00]

We agree with Nigerian actor Nkem Owoh's observation that we Africans do not seem to appreciate our own culture and civilisation. And it is true that many of us, Africans, are failing to appreciate our own cultural products because we are on a daily basis bombarded with Western cultural products and we have therefore become - to a large extent - dupes of Western culture and values.

But there are reasons for this state of affairs and it largely borders on the question of the political-economy of the entire media and/or film industry.

The truth of the matter today is that our continent is exposed to a bombardment of Western produced cultural products, whether it is news or entertainment.

As Owoh has put it, the African continent is being flooded by foreign products because the Western media or film industry is predominant. We must hasten to say that we are totally opposed to xenophobia but at the same time, we will not accept any form of imperialism.

Much as we should be ready to accept cultural diversity, that should not be done only to the benefit of one particular culture or one particular civilisation at the expense of other cultures or civilisations of the world. And we agree with Owoh when he says:

"We have to begin to appreciate the value of our own culture and civilisation. The Western civilisation has had strong influence on Africans and because of that, you find African investors are being turned down in preference of Western investors. This is because of the perception that we have of recognising people from the Western world as more civilised than us. But we are also civilised in our own way."

Although some people may wish to argue otherwise, the truth is that the global spread of multinational media conglomerates is intimately linked to imperialist histories. And there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to the effect that the flow of cultural products, primary information and entertainment, is in a one-way format. And that flow is largely from the West, especially from the United States, to the rest of the world.

By this manner of flow of information and entertainment, what is left to suffer is the traditional and indigenous local cultures which are not only diluted but basically eroded or even destroyed and what is created are new forms of cultural dependence which are shaped in a manner resembling older imperialist relations of powers. And this is what we mean when we say that the spread of the global media is closely connected to imperialist histories.

As a result of allowing ourselves too much consumption of Western-generated cultural products, we will find that our original and authentic traditions and cultural heritage are being tainted by values imposed from outside by the spread of the Western global media.

But as we have already said, the present state of affairs, where the Third World is consuming more of Western cultural products is primarily the result of the predominance of Western media conglomerate in the industry.

It is all about economics, about who has the means or muscle to produce what, when, where, for who and how. We have to begin to understand that the cultural industry is a significant player in the economics of developed economies such as the United States and these countries take the industry very seriously, not only for cultural purposes but also for the economic value that it adds to their countries.

It is partly because of this reason that some European countries, for instance, have come up with regulations and measures which are aimed at limiting or restricting the flow of United States-generated cultural products into their markets. They are doing this not only to protect local cultures but also to safeguard the local cultural industry and therefore the local economy.

So what we see in most African countries where the distribution of Western-produced cultural products in our countries is almost entirely left in the hands of overseas companies or conglomerates should be seriously checked.

If this is not checked and corrected, we will find that even when we have our own local products of high market value, they may not find themselves on the market because the distributors - such as pay television channels - are from outside our countries and they will always have their own special interests. It may be true that as Africans we may not have the kind of resources - financial or technological - required to produce highly marketable cultural products as compared to those from, for instance, Hollywood.

However, it is also true that as long as highly marketable Western produced movies or films continue to find themselves cheaply and easily in African markets, our cultural industries will continue to lag and remain undeveloped, yet both the Indian movie industry (Bollywood) and the Nigerian movie industry (Nollywood) have demonstrated that it is actually possible for local cultural products to attract the attention of local and international audiences as long as the right things are in place.

In order to make progress in this area, we have to start creating space for our own cultures and civilisations and that can start by first appreciating them and also by ensuring that we create and develop our own resources and try to take advantage of the modern technological advances in order to improve our ways of life, our cultures and our civilisation.

We have to accept the reality that African culture and civilisation has its own roots, wisdom, philosophy, insights and values that largely inform our lives.

And we need to preserve all these not only for sentimental purposes but also because when professionally packaged in the form of cultural products, they have the potential to contribute significantly to our economies and our livelihoods.

We need to safeguard our cultures because essentially we are all products of our own culture. Indeed, culture beats and moulds each one of us into a particular shape. It cannot be doubted that it is culture which makes us think, speak or behave in a particular manner.

Basically, culture defines who we are and we have a duty to protect that which defines us, that which is about our identity, about who we are.

Labels: CULTURE

posted by MrK @ 6:10 PM