By Gabriel E. Idang
Department of Philosophy, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria gabrielidang@yahoo.com
KEY CONCEPTS
Aesthetic; African; change; culture; economic; moral; political; religious; social; values
ABSTRACT
The
main objective of this paper is to examine African culture and values. Since
culture is often seen as the sum total of the peculiarities shared by a people,
a people’s values can be seen as part of their culture. In discussing African
culture and values, we are not presupposing that all African societies have the
same explanation(s) for events, the same language, and same mode of dressing
and so on. Rather, there are underlying similarities shared by many African
societies which, when contrasted with other cultures, reveal a wide gap of
difference. In this paper, we try to show the relevance of African culture and
values to the contemporary society but maintain that these values be critically
assessed, and those found to be inimical to the well-being and holistic
development of the society, be discarded. In this way, African culture and
values can be revaluated, their relevance established and sustained in order to
give credence to authentic African identity.
INTRODUCTION
The culture of a people is what marks them
out distinctively from other human societies in the family of humanity. The
full study of culture in all its vastness and dimensions belongs to the
discipline known as anthropology, which studies human beings and takes time to
examine their characteristics and their relationship to their environments.
Culture, as it is usually understood, entails a totality of traits and
characters that are peculiar to a people to the extent that it marks them out
from other peoples or societies. These peculiar traits go on to include the
people’s language, dressing, music, work, arts, religion, dancing and so on. It
also goes on to include a people’s social norms, taboos and values. Values here
are to be understood as beliefs that are held about what is right and wrong and
what is important in life. A fuller study of values rightly belongs to the
discipline of philosophy. Axiology as a branch of philosophy deals with values
embracing both ethics and aesthetics. This is why philosophical appraisal of African
culture and values is not only apt and timely, but also appropriate. Moreover,
the centrality of the place of values in African culture as a heritage that is
passed down from one generation to another, will be highlighted. We shall try
to illustrate that African culture and values can be appraised from many
dimensions in addition to examining the method of change and the problem of
adjustment in culture. Here we hope to show that while positive dimensions of
our culture ought to be practised and passed on to succeeding generations,
negative dimensions of our culture have to be dropped in order to promote a
more progressive and dynamic society.
Before
we can have an appraisal of African culture and values, it is necessary for us
to have an understanding of the concept of culture and its meaning. This will
help us grapple with the issues we will be dealing with in this paper. Let us
now look at the concept and meaning of culture, as this is fundamental to our
understanding of what African culture is.
THE CONCEPT AND MEANING OF CULTURE
Edward
B. Taylor is reputed as the scholar who first coined and defined culture in his
work Primitive Culture (1871) and reprinted in 1958. Taylor saw culture as that
complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs or
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. This
definition captures the exhaustive nature of culture. One would have expected
that this definition would be a univocal one − but this is not so. In fact, there
are as many definitions of culture as there are scholars who are interested in
the phenomenon. Culture embraces a wide range of human phenomena, material
achievements and norms, beliefs, feelings, manners, morals and so on. It is the
patterned way of life shared by a particular group of people that claim to
share a single origin or descent. In an attempt to capture the exhaustive
nature of culture, Bello (1991: 189) sees it as “the totality of the way of
life evolved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenge of living in
their environment, which gives order and meaning to their social, political,
economic, aesthetic and religious norms thus distinguishing a people from their
neighbours”. Culture serves to distinguish a people from others, and Aziza
(2001: 31) asserts that:
Culture...refers
to the totality of the pattern of behaviour of a particular group of people. It
includes everything that makes them distinct from any other group of people for
instance, their greeting habits, dressing, social norms and taboos, food, songs
and dance patterns, rites of passages from birth, through marriage to death,
traditional occupations, religious as well as philosophical beliefs.
Culture
is passed on from generation to generation. The acquisition of culture is a
result of the socialisation process. Explaining how culture is passed on as a
generational heritage, Fafunwa (1974: 48) writes that:
The
child just grows into and within the cultural heritage of his people. He
imbibes it. Culture, in traditional society, is not taught; it is caught. The
child observes, imbibes and mimics the action of his elders and siblings. He
watches the naming ceremonies, religious services, marriage rituals, funeral
obsequies. He witnesses the coronation of a king or chief, the annual yam
festival, the annual dance and acrobatic displays of guilds and age groups or
his relations in the activities. The child in a traditional society cannot
escape his cultural and physical environments.
This
shows that every human being who grows up in a particular society is likely to
become infused with the culture of that society, whether knowingly or
unknowingly during the process of social interaction. We do not need to have
all the definitions of culture and its defining characteristics for us to
understand the concept and meaning of culture. Even though there are as many
definitions of culture as there are writers, there is an element of similarity
that runs through them all. This singular underlying characteristic is the
attempt to portray and capture culture as the entire or total way of life of a
particular group of people. Etuk (2002: 13) is of the opinion that “an entire
way of life would embody, among other things, what the people think of
themselves and the universe in which they live − their world view − in other
words, how they organise their lives in order to ensure their survival”. It can
be safely stated that there can be no culture without a society. It can also be
said that culture is uniquely human and shared with other people in a society.
Culture is selective in what it absorbs or accepts from other people who do not
belong to a particular cultural group.
Culture
is to be understood as the way of life of a people. This presupposes the fact
that there can be no people without a culture. To claim that there is no
society without a culture would, by implication, mean that such a society has
continued to survive without any form of social organisation or institutions,
norms, beliefs and taboos, and so on; and this kind of assertion is quite
untrue. That is why even some Western scholars who may be tempted to use their
cultural categories in judging other distinctively different people as
“primitive”, often deny that such people have history, religion and even
philosophy; but cannot say that they have no culture.
In
this paper, we shall be dealing with African culture and drawing examples from
Nigerian culture. It is true that based on the consideration of culture as that
which marks a people out from others, groups one can rightly say that there are
many cultures in Africa. Africa is inhabited by various ethnic nationalities
with their different
languages, modes of dressing, eating, dancing and even greeting habits. But in
spite of their various cultures, Africans do share some dominant traits in
their belief systems and have similar values that mark them out from other
peoples of the world. A Nigerian culture, for instance, would be closer to,
say, a Ghanaian culture on certain cultural parameters than it would be to the
Oriental culture of the Eastern world, or the Western culture of Europe. It is
true that culture is universal and that each local or regional manifestation of
it is unique. This element of uniqueness in every culture is often described as
cultural variation. The cultures of traditional African societies, together
with their value systems and beliefs are close, even though they vary slightly
from one another. These slight variations only exist when we compare an African
culture with others. Certainly African cultures differ vastly from the cultures
of other regions or continents. And we believe there is no need to over-labour
this point since there are sufficient similarities to justify our usage of the
term “African culture”. Here we would be sure to find a world of differences
and diversity in beliefs, values and culture generally. Using Nigerian culture
for instance, Antia (2005: 17) writes that “Nigerians always behave differently
from the French, or Chinese, or Americans or Hottentots, because Nigerian
beliefs, values and total thinking are different from those of the French,
Chinese, Americans or the Hottentots”.
Culture
has been classified into its material and non-material aspects. While material
culture refers to the visible tactile objects which man is able to manufacture
for the purposes of human survival; non-material culture comprises of the norms
and mores of the people. While material culture is concrete and takes the form
of artefacts and crafts, non-material culture is abstract but has a very
pervasive influence on the lives of the people of a particular culture. Hence
beliefs about what is good and what is bad, together with norms and taboos, are
all good examples of non-material culture. From the foregoing, it is obvious
that culture is shared since it consists of cherished values or beliefs that
are shared by a group, lineage, and religious sect and so on. Apart from this,
culture is dynamic in the sense that it is continually changing.
Culture
is not static. We are not alone in this observation as Antia (2005: 17) states
that “culture is not fixed and permanent. It is always changed and modified by
man through contacts with and absorption of other peoples’ cultures, a process
known as assimilation”. Etuk (2002: 25) has also observed that “cultures are not
static, they change. Indeed, culture needs to change; which wants to remain
static and resistant to change would not be a living culture”. We can see that
since culture is carried by people and people do change their social patterns
and institutions, beliefs and values and even skills and tools of work, then
culture cannot but be an adaptive system. Once an aspect of culture adjusts or
shifts in response to changes from within or outside the environment, then
other aspects of the culture are affected, whether directly or indirectly. It
is necessary to know that each element of a culture (such as material procedures,
food processing or greeting patterns) is related to the whole system. It is in
this respect that we can see that even a people’s technology is part of their
culture. Idiong (1994: 46) opines that “there are some misconceptions that are
widely held about ‘culture’ as a word. Such misconceptions can and often lead
some persons to have a negative perception of ‘culture’ and all that it stands
for. Such persons raise their eyebrows and suddenly frown at the word ‘culture’
as they in their minds ‘eyes visualise masquerades, idol worshipping,
traditional jamborees and other activities they consider bizarre that go with
culture”. This “misconception”, we believe, does not appear to be widespread
but the posture may have arisen from a partial understanding of the meaning of
culture because as we shall see, culture generally, and African culture in
particular, is like a two-sided coin. It has soul-lifting, glamorous and
positive dimensions even though it is not completely immune from some negative
outcomes. African culture, as Ezedike (2009: 455) writes:
…refers
to the sum total of shared attitudinal inclinations and capabilities, art,
beliefs, moral codes and practices that characterize Africans. It can be
conceived as a continuous, cumulative reservoir containing both material and
non-material elements that are socially transmitted from one generation to
another. African culture, therefore, refers to the whole lot of African
heritage.
We
could see that African culture embraces the totality of the African way of life
in all its forms and ramifications.
THE PLACE OF VALUES IN AFRICAN CULTURE
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The
value of a thing, be it an object or a belief, is normally defined as its
worth. Just as an object is seen to be of a high value that is treasured, our
beliefs about what is right or wrong that are worth being held are equally
treasured. A value can be seen as some point of view or conviction which we can
live with, live by and can even die for. This is why it seems that values
actually permeate every aspect of human life. For instance, we can rightly
speak of religious, political, social, aesthetic, moral, cultural and even
personal values. We have observed elsewhere that there are many types and
classifications of values. As people differ in their conception of reality,
then the values of one individual may be different from those of another. Life
seems to force people to make choices, or to rate things as better or worse as
well as formulate some scale or standard of values. Depending on the way we
perceive things we can praise and blame, declare actions right or wrong or even
declare the scene or objects before us as either beautiful or ugly. Each
person, as we could see, has some sense of values and there is no society
without some value system (Idang 2007: 4).
Whether
we are aware of it or not, the society we live in has ways of daily forcing its
values on us about what is good, right and acceptable. We go on in our daily
lives trying to conform to acceptable ways of behaviour and conduct. Persons
who do not conform to their immediate society’s values are somehow called to
order by
the members of that society. If a man, for instance, did not think it wise to
make honesty a personal value, and it is widely held by his immediate society
that truth telling is a non-negotiable virtue, it would not be long before such
an individual gets into trouble with other members of his society. This shows
that values occupy a central place in a people’s culture. It forms the major
bulwark that sustains a people’s culture, making it more down-to-earth and
real. Elsewhere, we have seen African culture as “all the material and
spiritual values of the African people in the course of history and
characterising the historical stage attained by Africa in her developments”
(Idang 2009: 142). This simply means that there is a peculiar way of life,
approach to issues, values and world views that are typically African.
Based
on cultural considerations, some forms of behaviour, actions and conduct are
approved while others are widely disapproved of. To show the extent of
disapproval that followed the violation of values that should otherwise be held
sacred, the penalty was sometimes very shameful, sometimes extreme. African
culture, with particular reference to the Ibibio people in Akwa Ibom State,
Nigeria, for instance, has zero tolerance for theft. The thief once caught in
the act or convicted, would be stripped naked, his or her body rubbed with
charcoal from head to toe and the object he or she stole would be given to him
or her to carry around the village in broad day light. The sense of personal
shame and the disgrace the thief has brought on himself or herself, family,
relations and friends would be enough to discourage even the most daring thief.
Antia (2005: 17) writes that “what a people hold to be true, right or proper
with regard to those things explains much of the cultural traits by which they
become identified”. What Antia calls “traits” here can as well be called
values; and Etuk (2002: 22) writes that “no group of people can survive without
a set of values which holds them together and guarantees their continued
existence”.
The
concern with values, whether moral or aesthetic, occupies a very wide area in
the discipline of philosophy. To show the fundamental importance of values, it
is regarded as a core area in philosophy, together with knowledge and reality.
When we are dealing with actions that a people see as good or bad, right or
wrong, praise-worthy or blame-worthy, we are dealing with the aspect of value
theory that rightly falls under ethics or moral philosophy. But when we are
dealing with an appraisal of beauty in the arts and crafts of a people, we are
dealing with the aspect of value theory called aesthetics. It does appear that
while material culture can be studied and evaluated under the aesthetic aspect
of value theory, non-material culture can equally be studied and evaluated
under the ethical aspect of value theory. Just as ethics and aesthetics are
twin sisters that form or constitute value theory, the non-material and
material dimensions of a culture together constitute two related aspects that
give a people their unique identity, hence the relationship that exists between
ethics and aesthetics. Having seen the centrality of values to African culture
and any culture for that matter, it can be stated that the values of culture
are what give it uniqueness and identity. Let us now look at African culture
and values.
Having
looked at the concept and meaning of culture and having established the place
of values in a culture, we want to bring this down to the African context. A
culture is an embodiment of different values with all of them closely related
to each other. That is why one can meaningfully talk about social, moral,
religious, political, aesthetic and even economic values of a culture. Let us
now look at these values piece-meal, as this would give us an understanding how
they manifest in an African culture and the importance being attached to them.
SOCIAL VALUES
Social
values can simply be seen as those beliefs and practices that are practised by
any particular society. The society has a way of dictating the beliefs and
practices that are performed either routinely by its members or performed
whenever the occasion demands. Hence, we have festivals, games, sports and
dances that are peculiar to different societies. These activities are carried
out by the society because they are seen to be necessary. Some social values,
especially in African society, cannot exactly be separated from religious,
moral, political values and so on. This is why we can see that in a traditional
African society like in Ibibio land (Nigeria), festivals which were celebrated
often had religious undertones − they ended with sacrifices that were offered
to certain deities on special days in order to attract their goodwill on the
members of the society. Social values are backed by customary laws. They
comprise of those traditional carnivals that a people see as necessary for
their meaningful survival. Let us illustrate with an example: the new yam
festival as practised in Ibibio land has a way of encouraging hard work and
checking famine. It was a thing of shame for any man to buy yams for his family
within the first two to three weeks after the festival. Doing so would expose a
man as being too lazy. These festivals really discipline the society because
nobody is to do anything when it is not time. For instance, new yam could not
be eaten until the new yam festival has been celebrated.
MORAL VALUES
African
culture is embedded in strong moral considerations. It has a system of various
beliefs and customs which every individual ought to keep in order to live long
and to avoid bringing curses on them and others. Adultery, stealing and other
forms of immoral behaviour are strongly discouraged and whenever a suspected
offender denies a charge brought against him, he would be taken to a soothsayer
or made to take an oath for proof of innocence. In Ibibio land for instance,
ukang (ordeal) is very popular as a method of crime detection. The soothsayer
who specialises in it sets a pot of boiling oil, drops a stone into it and asks
the suspects to attempt to retrieve the stone. The guiltless can reach to the
bottom of the pot and retrieve the stone without the hair on his arms getting
burnt. But when the culprit approaches the pot, it rages and boils over in a
manner that even the most daring criminal would hesitate to make an attempt at
retrieving the stone. The fear of being made to go through such ordeal or to be
stripped naked and taken round the community as in the case of stealing,
adequately checks crimes of some sort. African proverbs and wise sayings have a
rich repository of wisdom. The proverbs warn the African against evil conduct
and, according to Mbiti (1977: 8), are “therefore a major source of African
wisdom and a valuable part of African heritage”. African culture has a moral
code that forbids doing harm to a relative, a kinsman, an in-law, a foreigner
and a stranger, except when such a person is involved in an immoral act; and if
that is the case, it is advisable to stay away from such an individual and even
at death, their corpses would not be dignified with a noble burial in a coffin
and grave. Mothers of twins were not welcome and were regarded as the harbinger
of evil, hence unacceptable.
RELIGIOUS VALUES
Religion
in African societies seems to be the fulcrum around which every activity
revolves. Hence religious values are not toyed with. African traditional
religion, wherever it is practised, has some defining characteristics. For
instance, it possesses the concept of a Supreme Being which is invisible and
indigenous. It holds a belief in the existence of the human soul and the soul
does not die with the body. African traditional religion also has the belief
that good and bad spirits do exist and that these spirits are what make
communication with the Supreme Being possible. Above all, it holds a moral sense
of justice and truth and the knowledge of the existence of good and evil (Umoh
2005: 68). African religious values seem to permeate every facet of the life of
the African and the African believes that anything can be imbued with spiritual
significance. The worship of different deities on different days goes on to
show that the African people hold their religious values in high esteem.
Sorcerers and diviners are seen to be mediating between God and man and
interpreting God’s wishes to the mortal. The diviners, sorcerers and
soothsayers help to streamline human behaviour in the society and people are
afraid to commit offences because of the fear of being exposed by the diviners
and sorcerers.
POLITICAL VALUES
The
African society definitely has political institutions with heads of such
institutions as respected individuals. The most significant thing about the
traditional society is that the political hierarchy begins with the family.
Each family has a family head; each village has a village head. From these, we
have clan head and above the clan head, is the paramount ruler. This kind of
political arrangement is observable in the Southern part of Nigeria. Prior to
the coming of Western colonisation and its subsequent subversion of the African
traditional political arrangements, African societies had their council of
chiefs, advisers, cult groups, and so on. It was believed that disloyalty to a
leader was disloyalty to God and the position of leadership was either
hereditary or by conquest. In Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, for instance, even
though the traditional political institution was overwhelmingly totalitarian,
there were still some checks and balances. Any ruler who attempted to usurp
powers was beheaded by the Ekpo cult. Antia (2005: 145) writes that “such checks
and balances were enforced by the existence of secret societies, cults,
societal norms, traditional symbols and objects, various classes of chiefs who
performed different functions on the different aspects of life”. Hence, with
respect to political values, we can see that it is inextricably linked with
religious, social, moral values and so on. It is the political value that a
people hold which makes them accord respect to their political institutions and
leaders.
AESTHETIC VALUES
The
African concept of aesthetics is predicated on the fundamental traditional
belief system which gave vent to the production of the art. Now art is usually
seen as human enterprise concerned with the production of aesthetic objects.
Thus, when a people in their leisure time try to produce or create objects that
they consider admirable, their sense of aesthetic value is brought to bear. If
we see art as being concerned with the production of aesthetic objects, then we
can truly say of African aesthetic value that it is immensely rich. Let us have
an example: the sense of beauty of the Ibibio people is epitomised in their
fattened maidens whom they call mbopo. These fattened maidens are confined to a
room where they are fed with traditional cuisines. The idea behind it is to prepare
the maiden and make her look as good, healthy and beautiful as possible for her
husband. This is usually done before marriage and after child birth. The
Western model of beauty is not like this. It is often pictured as slim-looking
young ladies who move in staggered steps. This shows that the African aesthetic
value and sense of what is beautiful is markedly different. Aesthetic value is
what informs a people’s arts and crafts as it affects their sense of what is
beautiful as opposed to that which is ugly. The aesthetic value of a society
influences the artist in his endeavour to produce aesthetic objects that are
acceptable to the society in which he lives.
ECONOMIC VALUES
Economic
values of the traditional African society are marked by cooperation. The
traditional economy, which is mainly based on farming and fishing, was
co-operative in nature. In Ibibio land, for instance, friends and relatives
would come and assist in doing farm work not because they will be paid but so
that if it happens that they need such assistance in the near future, they
will be sure to find it. Children were seen to provide the main labour force.
That is why a man took pride in having many of them, especially males. The
synergetic nature of the African society is what made two or more individuals
to pool their resources together and uplift each other economically through the
system of contributions called osusu. Apart from this, they even cooperated in
the building of houses and doing other things for their fellow members. When
any of them was in difficulty, all members rallied around and helped him or
her. Hence, we can state without fear of contradiction that the economic values
of the traditional African society such as the Ibibio were founded on hard work
and cooperation.
Having
looked at some of the values that characterise the African culture, it is
important to state here that these values are inextricably bound together and
are to be comprehended in their totality as African cultural values
CULTURAL CHANGE IN AFRICAAND THE PROBLEMS
OF ADJUSTMENT
It is
pertinent to examine some of the changes in culture and the problems of
adjustment. Within this context, “change” means a significant alteration or
marked departure from that which existed before. Invention, discovery and
diffusion are some of the ways by which a culture can change or grow.
Invention, for instance, involves the recombination of existing cultural
elements to fashion new things. Ogbum (1922: 200), on this view, maintains that
“the rate of invention within a society is a function of the size of the
existing culture base”. The culture base or the cultural elements, objects,
traits and knowledge available in all sections of the pre-1600 African society
were limited in types and variation. Thus, few inventions which could
profoundly alter the culture could take place. Most appliances and utensils
used then were made of wood, as metal was not a commonly known cultural element
of the people. For example, a canoe was the only available means of
transportation then. It was wooden in all aspects until recently modified with
motorised propeller and tarpaulin.
Also,
building materials were wooden frameworks, sand and leaves knitted into mats
for roofing. In spite of the introduction of new inventions from other cultures,
most houses are still built in the traditional methods using traditional
materials, probably for economic reasons and sheer conservatism. Again, the
pre-European-contact African pattern of exchange was mainly by barter. The need
for currency did not arise and so none was invented. Trade by barter, sale
without standardised weights and measures and the general non-contractual
pattern of exchange, all went a long way to foster, enhance and sustain social
solidarity. The introduction of currency along with imported material artefacts
generated or at least accentuated acquisitive propensities and profit
orientation among the people, thereby gradually articulating social inequality
based on purely economic criteria. Inventions may be material or social in nature.
Apart
from invention, culture can change and grow through discovery and diffusion.
Discovery, unlike invention, does not involve recombination of traits but the
sharing of knowledge of an existing but yet unknown thing. The importance of
discovery in culture lies in its use and or when it generates certain
challenges to the people, which in turn metamorphose into invention for the
development and survival of the society. Another process which can bring
profound change in the culture of African people is the process of cultural
diffusion (the spread of culture traits from one society into another through
cultural contact). Diffusion entails intentional borrowing of cultural traits
from other societies with which the beneficiary society comes in contact, or an
imposition of cultural traits on one society by a stronger society intending to
assimilate the weaker society.
The
likelihood of reducing the period of culture lag is very much dependent on the
desirability of yielding to change in the non-marital culture, the
compatibility of the anticipated change with the existing culture or its
flexibility, and the nature and magnitude of force available to exact or induce
compliance. However, the desirability of yielding to change in the non-material
culture depends on whether the people perceive the new mode of conduct to be
better than what they were used to.
In
most instances the attractiveness of yielding to change is often mediated and
conditioned by the compatibility of the expected change with existing culture.
A change which calls for the replacement or total abandonment of
pre-established and originally preferred modes of behaviour is less likely to
be accepted than one that is preservative− that is one which either provides
other alternatives and or extends the culture by merely adding new things to
it.
Now,
it should be known that force has its own limits in bringing about change as it
is impossible to spell out every bit of a people’s ways of life and formulate
legislations to cover them. This is actually where the problem of adjustment to
externally induced change has arisen. Most contemporary Africans find it
difficult to adjust between their primitive beliefs in certain aspects of their
culture and the supposedly modern mode of accepted behaviour. For instance, how
does the African explain disasters, deaths, accidents and other misfortunes in
the family? A new convert of the Christian church would run to the church for
explanation and comfort, but if the church’s reaction is not immediate or prompt,
the person may turn, in secret, to the native medicine man for immediate
remedies. If the relief comes, he finds himself having to hold dual allegiance
− one to his new found faith, and the other to his primitive beliefs. This form
of dichotomy goes beyond misfortunes and permeates most aspects of the person’s
life.
Since
values are an integral part of culture and culture is what defines a people’s
identity, then the values that a people hold are what differentiate them from
other people. It does appear that cultures always try to maintain those values
that are necessary for the survival of their people. For the Africans, for
instance, we see that close kinship relations are held at a high premium. The
synergetic nature of the society that allows people to build houses and work on
farms together is directly opposite to the Western individualistic model. In
those “good old days” as some would say it was usual to see a neighbour, friend
or relative correcting an erring child whose parents he knows. This was based
on the true belief that the churning out of a well-behaved child would be to
the benefit of not only the immediate parents, but also the society. In the
same vein, it was believed that if the child turned out to be a failure, it is
not only the immediate family that would bear the brunt: neighbours, friends
and acquaintances could also fall victim of his nuisance. But today, we see
people adopting more and more nuclear family patterns and the individualistic
life style of the West. A friend or neighbour who tries to correct an erring
child will in no time, to his embarrassment, be confronted with the question:
“What is your business?” Kinship ties and love are what characterised the
traditional African culture. It is only love that would make a community, for
instance, to tax themselves through the sale of the products of cash crops like
oil palm and use the proceeds to educationally support a child who is
brilliant. In this respect, the synergetic nature of African culture is what
made the society very amiable.
It is
part of the African world-view to treat the environment in which he finds
himself with respect: The African cooperates with nature and does not try to
conquer it. There were taboos against farming on certain days as a way of
checking the activities of thieves who may want to reap where they never sowed.
It was against the custom to cultivate on certain areas of the community or
even fish on certain streams for some time. This system, whether it was founded
on myth or not, had a way of preserving and conserving nature. Thus, whether
consciously or unconsciously, the society was guaranteed an increase in
agricultural productivity, which was the mainstay of the traditional economy.
Today, with the violation of those customs and myths, we suffer low
agricultural productivity and denuded farmlands because the traditional values
that safe-guarded the land, have been watered-down and we do not have the
technological know-how to replace these beliefs that have been abandoned. A
look at the African reveals that marital rites and practices are usually
carried out in line with the custom of the society concerned. The polygamous
marriage was more preferable; not because the African is naturally polygamous
as some would say, but because it was associated with wealth, power, influence,
social status and the strong African desire to be surrounded by many children
and relations.
Children
were seen as social security and economic assets and parents took pride in
having many of them. A man who marries a woman, expects her to give him
many children and if the woman could not deliver on this duty, it was
sufficient reason, not to divorce, but to take a second or perhaps a third
wife. As a man gets wealthier in farmland and herds of cattle, his children
would provide the workforce. So it was desirable for a woman to keep bearing
children as long as she was fruitful. From this, it is not hard to see why the
first wife would pressurise the husband into taking another wife in order to alleviate
her of some workloads and childbearing. Because of the demand for children,
African women of old would just keep bearing children until perhaps nature
intervened to halt further pregnancies. Apart from this, failure to pressurise
the husband to take another wife would be misinterpreted as selfishness − that
she does not want anyone to share in her husband’s wealth. So she urges her
husband to take another wife to avoid being called bad names. Talbot (1969:
136) has observed that polygamy was considered right because of the civil
conditions concerning child bearing in the traditional society. He writes that
“the custom by which a woman is prevented from being ‘spoilt’ by a too early
pregnancy or through intercourse being tabooed until the child is being weaned
by excessive child bearing is, as a rule, strictly kept among most tribes”.
Childlessness was seen as a curse and the failure to give birth to male
children was blamed on the woman since it was believed that she determines the
sex of the child. Following this, Etuk (2002: 91) writes thus:
In my
part of Africa, the woman bears the brunt of attack for childlessness in
marriage. The male except where he is clearly impotent, is hardly ever
suspected as the cause of infertility. So where there are no children, the
husband will not go for investigation, although medical experts say the male
factor is a lot easier to establish or eliminate. For a man to go for
investigation, is already to point accusing fingers at his manhood and that is
something no proud African male wants to subject himself to.
Beside
this, some societies are still practising the system that if a man dies leaving
behind a young wife and little children, the widow is required by custom to
name someone in the family of the deceased husband for whom she will stay on
and fulfil the life-time obligation that she owes her dead husband. Very rarely
do they stop to wonder about the welfare of the widow and that of the children
left behind by their brother’s demise. These instances show that marriage
practices and the cultural values that are held about them are due and in
urgent need for revision in some African societies. It does appear that while
African culture and values have positive, soul-lifting and humanistic dimensions,
it also has some negative and dehumanising aspects. Prior to the arrival of
Mary Mitchell Slessor (1848-1905) in Africa, ignorance, superstition and
negative values made multiple births to be seen as a harbinger of evil.
Explaining how twins were looked at in those dark days, Udoh (2007: 103) writes
that “one of the twins was said to be genuine, the other, an impostor. By
sharing the same cradle bed together they were both infected and cursed; their
parents were equally guilty of defilement, particularly, the mother”. The birth
of twins was seen as a very bad omen. In order to save the community from the
anger and wrath of the deities, the twins were killed together with their
mothers. Since this custom was stopped by Mary Slessor, multiple births are now
seen as multiple blessings. Members of the public freely make donations to aid
their upkeep. We do not experience any wrath of those deities that demanded the
head of twins today. Twins have grown up to become normal, healthy, respected
and respectable members of our society contributing economically, socially,
morally, politically and intellectually to the development of the African
society.
The
conclusion here is simply that those positive dimensions of our culture − our
synergetic society, our conservation of nature and even our native arts, dances
and games that offer us interesting sources of entertainment and happiness,
should be encouraged given the fact that culture ought to be knowledgeably
innovative and instrumentally beneficial to people in such a way that the society
can move from one level of development to another. Unfortunately, some
traditional practices cannot be demonstrated empirically and such go against
the spirit of globalisation, science and technology. Therefore, negative and
harmful traditional practices that dehumanise people and portray them as
unimproved and backward people without future, should as a matter of urgency be
discarded since culture is an adaptive system together with values that play a
central role in giving the society its uniqueness.
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