Post by Stephen on Jun 13, 2004 22:35:32 GMT -5
The Destruction of African Culture
By Yaya Diallo
The Destruction of African Culture
1. Civilization, Evolution, Emancipation:
The West brought a cancer to our society. Nowadays one hears talk of civilization, evolution and emancipation, but what do these three words mean?
One is civilized who knows the “ways of the whites”: refined bearing, smart language, haughty airs. The highly evolved person laughs at the tradition that he judges old fashioned and full of superstitions. One often hears it said: “One is no longer in the age of ancestor worship.” The individual takes precedence over the community. Each claims to have the right to speak even if conditions do not lend themselves to it. “The old men do not have a monopoly on knowledge; in any case, they have been overtaken by events. They have had their time and should yield their place to the young.” This is how evolution created an intergenerational conflict that became a social scourge. Before, our parents lived as their parents; they spoke the same tongues and languages as them. Today, young people dress another way, speak foreign languages, believe in other values.
Emancipation in Africa means to follow global trends. Young people dress according to imported or local fashions. When a fabric becomes popular, everyone wants to procure it at any price or he is miserable. In music and in dance, it is the “hit parades” of the world that wreak havoc. Thus Reggae music and the easygoing dance that accompanies it are valued throughout the continent. Like everywhere in the world, drugs ravage young people. Today young people choose their future spouses. In cities they display their affection publicly. It is not rare to see two lovers walking hand in hand under the indignant gaze of the elders. Really, times have changed, as the elders say. The young people identify themselves more with movie heroes than with backward and illiterate ancestors.
During my trip to Africa I saw both sides of the coin, the one of the young and the other of the old. In Bamako I talked with young Minianka students. The question was the following: “Why don’t the old and young get along better?” The responses were surprising and really heart-breaking.
Responses:
“I prefer anonymity,” said Mr. A: “As soon as a young person sets foot in school, the old men lose confidence in him. They (the old men) mistrust us, under the pretext that we are no longer interested in tradition. They put us all in the same bag without giving any chance to those of us who want to approach them. The young are at fault, but the old have their share [of the blame].”<br>
Mr. B took the floor:
“They judge us according to our appearance, demeanor, the way we dress and the use of a foreign language. When two young people speak French in the presence of the elders, the latter automatically feel threatened, and yet it is nothing.”<br>
Mr. C:
“Since we came into the world, the elders have never ceased to talk to us about their times. ‘In our day, children were not spoilt and bad students like today. Before, it happened like this … , like that … , etc.’ They (the elders) claim that the world of today is decayed. They brought us into the world and they make us live in absolute despair; their pessimism is disconcerting to us.”<br>
If children are bad students nowadays, there certainly are some people who have not done their duty, and I don’t think these are the young people. Sincerely, they make me angry when I hear them say ‘in our day! … ,’ as if their time is already over. Why do they continue to live with us? They are the first to notice changes. What have they done to put things right? They discourage me. I do my share of things. I am sure that young people are not the only ones responsible for human decay in modern times.
Conclusion:
Can one say that discord between young and old is going to continue? I hope not, or there will be chaos in Africa. Good-bye to oral tradition? Never.
2. Effect of Imported Religions on African Culture:
Often Western civilization is blamed for all of Africa’s ills. I sincerely think that to go no farther than this aspect of the problem exhibits a lack of depth in the analysis of facts. Islam and Christianity are the two mortal enemies of Black African culture. The so-called African traditionalists or “specialists” in African culture in the West never dare to compromise themselves by admitting the negative effects of the two “great religions” because they belong to either one or the other. At a very young age, they learned through the biases of their adoptive religion to scorn, consciously or unconsciously, their own culture. When I read or listen to these specialists, I have the impression that African culture is a thing of the past. Are they speaking to please the West? I think that they anticipated the death of our culture. Their adoptive religion had as its objective the killing of the last savage and they have shouted “mission accomplished!” I doubt that it is. The lines that follow will show you the effects of the two religions.
a. Islam
Islam, according Moslems, is defined in the following way: absolute submission to a single supreme Allah. To be a Moslem, one must have faith in Allah. All the rest, such as the five daily prayers, comes later. I have nothing against this conception of God, but why do Moslems not tolerate African culture? I am going to try to describe Islam as it is lived in Africa, and particularly in Mali. But first of all, I want to make a distinction between Moslems.
(1) Moslems of the Old School
This category includes the descendants of Africans converted to Islam since the beginning of empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhai, etc.) and those who have called themselves Moslem for two to four generations.
Those who have called themselves Moslems for several generations have been cut off from African culture because Islam has forbidden symbols and fetishes. Enemy No. 1 of initiations, they despise what they call barbarous practices. They have no respect for dance and music, particularly those involving drums. Yet in Africa, music and dance form part of life, initiations, birth, marriage, and death. They say in a loud voice, “Those who dance or play are going to go to hell. Moreover, it is as bad to listen or watch as to participate.” The children of these individuals are cut off from everything that is characteristic of Africa. They attend only Koranic schools or madersa. Some follow a master who teaches them the Koran by heart without [them] understanding it. Only after they learn the Koran in Arabic do they begin to memorize the translation.
All these children are excluded from African tradition properly so-called. It has created an Islamic African tradition.
This category of people do not like non-Moslems; they from a [separate] community with the African community. They do not eat with people who do not pray. How can these Africans arrogantly, insolently, scorn the work already completed by our ancestors? Really, is it Allah who has taught Moslems to spit on all that which is non-Moslem? How can the one government radio station transmit only the verses of the Koran every Friday? West Africa has metamorphosed into a Moslem country. The dress, the atmosphere, give us the impression of being in Arab colonies. In large urban centers, it is the Islamicized who make it rain or shine. Even so-called traditional songs have either verses from the Koran or some Arabic expressions. Traditional marriage ceremonies have disappeared, baptisms to the sound of the drums, birth considered as the welcoming of an ancestor, no longer exist. The following first names: Mohammed, Mamadou, Yahia, Ali, etc., are not African names. It is not because Islam accepts polygamy and the African is said to be polygamous by nature that Islam is the ideal religion for Africa. Some Moslems say that Islam has retained something of the African tradition. This is very easy to say, but who can draw up a list of the positive African values tolerated by Moslems?
It occurs to me to pose some questions. Really, do the Arab Moslems consider Africans to be Islamicized? All the more, since certain Arab fanatics think that “Moslem” is synonymous with “Arab.” For the least racist Arab in the world, “Black” = “slave.” This mathematical equation is stuck to his brain by heredity. Do Arab nobles need black slaves to serve them in Paradise in the presence of Allah? He who converts a pagan to Islam is saved in advance. That being the case, are they using the last savages to earn themselves Paradise?
By Yaya Diallo
The Destruction of African Culture
1. Civilization, Evolution, Emancipation:
The West brought a cancer to our society. Nowadays one hears talk of civilization, evolution and emancipation, but what do these three words mean?
One is civilized who knows the “ways of the whites”: refined bearing, smart language, haughty airs. The highly evolved person laughs at the tradition that he judges old fashioned and full of superstitions. One often hears it said: “One is no longer in the age of ancestor worship.” The individual takes precedence over the community. Each claims to have the right to speak even if conditions do not lend themselves to it. “The old men do not have a monopoly on knowledge; in any case, they have been overtaken by events. They have had their time and should yield their place to the young.” This is how evolution created an intergenerational conflict that became a social scourge. Before, our parents lived as their parents; they spoke the same tongues and languages as them. Today, young people dress another way, speak foreign languages, believe in other values.
Emancipation in Africa means to follow global trends. Young people dress according to imported or local fashions. When a fabric becomes popular, everyone wants to procure it at any price or he is miserable. In music and in dance, it is the “hit parades” of the world that wreak havoc. Thus Reggae music and the easygoing dance that accompanies it are valued throughout the continent. Like everywhere in the world, drugs ravage young people. Today young people choose their future spouses. In cities they display their affection publicly. It is not rare to see two lovers walking hand in hand under the indignant gaze of the elders. Really, times have changed, as the elders say. The young people identify themselves more with movie heroes than with backward and illiterate ancestors.
During my trip to Africa I saw both sides of the coin, the one of the young and the other of the old. In Bamako I talked with young Minianka students. The question was the following: “Why don’t the old and young get along better?” The responses were surprising and really heart-breaking.
Responses:
“I prefer anonymity,” said Mr. A: “As soon as a young person sets foot in school, the old men lose confidence in him. They (the old men) mistrust us, under the pretext that we are no longer interested in tradition. They put us all in the same bag without giving any chance to those of us who want to approach them. The young are at fault, but the old have their share [of the blame].”<br>
Mr. B took the floor:
“They judge us according to our appearance, demeanor, the way we dress and the use of a foreign language. When two young people speak French in the presence of the elders, the latter automatically feel threatened, and yet it is nothing.”<br>
Mr. C:
“Since we came into the world, the elders have never ceased to talk to us about their times. ‘In our day, children were not spoilt and bad students like today. Before, it happened like this … , like that … , etc.’ They (the elders) claim that the world of today is decayed. They brought us into the world and they make us live in absolute despair; their pessimism is disconcerting to us.”<br>
If children are bad students nowadays, there certainly are some people who have not done their duty, and I don’t think these are the young people. Sincerely, they make me angry when I hear them say ‘in our day! … ,’ as if their time is already over. Why do they continue to live with us? They are the first to notice changes. What have they done to put things right? They discourage me. I do my share of things. I am sure that young people are not the only ones responsible for human decay in modern times.
Conclusion:
Can one say that discord between young and old is going to continue? I hope not, or there will be chaos in Africa. Good-bye to oral tradition? Never.
2. Effect of Imported Religions on African Culture:
Often Western civilization is blamed for all of Africa’s ills. I sincerely think that to go no farther than this aspect of the problem exhibits a lack of depth in the analysis of facts. Islam and Christianity are the two mortal enemies of Black African culture. The so-called African traditionalists or “specialists” in African culture in the West never dare to compromise themselves by admitting the negative effects of the two “great religions” because they belong to either one or the other. At a very young age, they learned through the biases of their adoptive religion to scorn, consciously or unconsciously, their own culture. When I read or listen to these specialists, I have the impression that African culture is a thing of the past. Are they speaking to please the West? I think that they anticipated the death of our culture. Their adoptive religion had as its objective the killing of the last savage and they have shouted “mission accomplished!” I doubt that it is. The lines that follow will show you the effects of the two religions.
a. Islam
Islam, according Moslems, is defined in the following way: absolute submission to a single supreme Allah. To be a Moslem, one must have faith in Allah. All the rest, such as the five daily prayers, comes later. I have nothing against this conception of God, but why do Moslems not tolerate African culture? I am going to try to describe Islam as it is lived in Africa, and particularly in Mali. But first of all, I want to make a distinction between Moslems.
(1) Moslems of the Old School
This category includes the descendants of Africans converted to Islam since the beginning of empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhai, etc.) and those who have called themselves Moslem for two to four generations.
Those who have called themselves Moslems for several generations have been cut off from African culture because Islam has forbidden symbols and fetishes. Enemy No. 1 of initiations, they despise what they call barbarous practices. They have no respect for dance and music, particularly those involving drums. Yet in Africa, music and dance form part of life, initiations, birth, marriage, and death. They say in a loud voice, “Those who dance or play are going to go to hell. Moreover, it is as bad to listen or watch as to participate.” The children of these individuals are cut off from everything that is characteristic of Africa. They attend only Koranic schools or madersa. Some follow a master who teaches them the Koran by heart without [them] understanding it. Only after they learn the Koran in Arabic do they begin to memorize the translation.
All these children are excluded from African tradition properly so-called. It has created an Islamic African tradition.
This category of people do not like non-Moslems; they from a [separate] community with the African community. They do not eat with people who do not pray. How can these Africans arrogantly, insolently, scorn the work already completed by our ancestors? Really, is it Allah who has taught Moslems to spit on all that which is non-Moslem? How can the one government radio station transmit only the verses of the Koran every Friday? West Africa has metamorphosed into a Moslem country. The dress, the atmosphere, give us the impression of being in Arab colonies. In large urban centers, it is the Islamicized who make it rain or shine. Even so-called traditional songs have either verses from the Koran or some Arabic expressions. Traditional marriage ceremonies have disappeared, baptisms to the sound of the drums, birth considered as the welcoming of an ancestor, no longer exist. The following first names: Mohammed, Mamadou, Yahia, Ali, etc., are not African names. It is not because Islam accepts polygamy and the African is said to be polygamous by nature that Islam is the ideal religion for Africa. Some Moslems say that Islam has retained something of the African tradition. This is very easy to say, but who can draw up a list of the positive African values tolerated by Moslems?
It occurs to me to pose some questions. Really, do the Arab Moslems consider Africans to be Islamicized? All the more, since certain Arab fanatics think that “Moslem” is synonymous with “Arab.” For the least racist Arab in the world, “Black” = “slave.” This mathematical equation is stuck to his brain by heredity. Do Arab nobles need black slaves to serve them in Paradise in the presence of Allah? He who converts a pagan to Islam is saved in advance. That being the case, are they using the last savages to earn themselves Paradise?