The narrative of blind identity
There once was a mother who left her baby girl in the house to siesta during the day as she went to collect some fruit from her neighbour’s house. She stayed there longer than expected as she got carried away chatting with her neighbour. She soon noticed smoke coming from her house and her thoughts rushed to the baby whom she had left in the house. Spectators called the fire fighters who were on their way as this woman rushed to her house to rescue her baby. When the firemen arrived, they warned her not to go into the house because it was too dangerous but the love she had for her baby did not allow her to stay outside as her baby was in the burning house. She ran into the house, through the fire and she managed to rescue the baby. The baby was safe and unharmed, but the mother got burnt.
Years later the baby girl grew up and was in boarding school. It was visiting day, her mother went to visit her, but the girl was ashamed of her mother because she still had the scars from the accident years ago on her face. The girl could not even face her mother and admit to her friends who she was to her because to her she was ‘ugly’. This ‘ugly’ mother was that way because of her. The girl was where she was because of this ‘ugly’ mother, yet she could not accept her in front of her friends. Growing up I heard this story so many times and it recently made me reflect on how we as Africans have lost our identity and culture as a whole. We deny the culture that raised us and makes us African, instead we have accepted the Western ways of life and forgotten about who we are originally.
As Africans we have adopted everything about the Western culture, and it makes one wonder if the generations after us will ever know the real Africa. For instance, we support foreign products more than we do our own; in fact people who tend to purchase local products are seen as more primitive than those who do not. This attitude makes Africans materialistic, forgetting that this comes with unnecessary stress. A comparison between a person who lives in the city and the village confirms the stress that comes with materialism. People in villages maybe be unprivileged, yet they are stress free, because they seem more content than those in cities. Materialism also comes with crime and corruption which hinders development; people crave Western lifestyles which they cannot afford, pushing them to steal.
Dressing is another example of how we have lost our identity as Africans. People prefer to dress in what is trending in the Western world or what international celebrities are wearing, which is different from the African way of dressing, hence the restriction on dressing when around elderly people in the African culture. I do not think modernisation is wrong, but our identity as Africans must not be lost in the name of modernisation.
Erving Goffman, a Canadian-American sociologist has his own theory on how people present themselves in everyday life. His theory states that people behave the way they do according to their audience. He believes that people do things to impress the people that are watching them and make sure to make a good first impression. Other people, according to his theory, become consumed with façade that they put up on to please people; they lose their real identity, convincing themselves they are who they really aren’t. Which to my understanding means the individual may have a weak self-concept, they behave in ways to please the audience that they have at the moment, and end up getting carried away that they forget their true identity. This theory has been proven to be correct in most people’s lives. Moreover, it is very visible in today’s Africa.
It is clear that some African minds are still colonised as we speak. Our colonisers are long gone, yet we still behave like we are under the colonisers; the African attitude portrays colonialism. What we need as Africans is to decolonise our minds, have the belief and know that we can make it and develop on our own if we work together as a continent. Subsequently, to stop depending on Western countries for development because at the end of the day, Africa is used for their development and we are too blind to notice it because other world powers believe they are superior to Africa. Not to say international relations have negative impacts, but being too dependent on them as we are now; looking down on ourselves will not help. We have lost ourselves as Africans, but the change begins with us, as Africans. We should not aim to be like the little girl in the story, we should embrace our identity as Africans, be proud of it, no matter who is there or what other lifestyles are like because trying to fit in may not work as well as it does for the origins.
*Chaavi Ntenda is a third-year student studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Political Studies (Honours) at the University of Namibia.
Years later the baby girl grew up and was in boarding school. It was visiting day, her mother went to visit her, but the girl was ashamed of her mother because she still had the scars from the accident years ago on her face. The girl could not even face her mother and admit to her friends who she was to her because to her she was ‘ugly’. This ‘ugly’ mother was that way because of her. The girl was where she was because of this ‘ugly’ mother, yet she could not accept her in front of her friends. Growing up I heard this story so many times and it recently made me reflect on how we as Africans have lost our identity and culture as a whole. We deny the culture that raised us and makes us African, instead we have accepted the Western ways of life and forgotten about who we are originally.
As Africans we have adopted everything about the Western culture, and it makes one wonder if the generations after us will ever know the real Africa. For instance, we support foreign products more than we do our own; in fact people who tend to purchase local products are seen as more primitive than those who do not. This attitude makes Africans materialistic, forgetting that this comes with unnecessary stress. A comparison between a person who lives in the city and the village confirms the stress that comes with materialism. People in villages maybe be unprivileged, yet they are stress free, because they seem more content than those in cities. Materialism also comes with crime and corruption which hinders development; people crave Western lifestyles which they cannot afford, pushing them to steal.
Dressing is another example of how we have lost our identity as Africans. People prefer to dress in what is trending in the Western world or what international celebrities are wearing, which is different from the African way of dressing, hence the restriction on dressing when around elderly people in the African culture. I do not think modernisation is wrong, but our identity as Africans must not be lost in the name of modernisation.
Erving Goffman, a Canadian-American sociologist has his own theory on how people present themselves in everyday life. His theory states that people behave the way they do according to their audience. He believes that people do things to impress the people that are watching them and make sure to make a good first impression. Other people, according to his theory, become consumed with façade that they put up on to please people; they lose their real identity, convincing themselves they are who they really aren’t. Which to my understanding means the individual may have a weak self-concept, they behave in ways to please the audience that they have at the moment, and end up getting carried away that they forget their true identity. This theory has been proven to be correct in most people’s lives. Moreover, it is very visible in today’s Africa.
It is clear that some African minds are still colonised as we speak. Our colonisers are long gone, yet we still behave like we are under the colonisers; the African attitude portrays colonialism. What we need as Africans is to decolonise our minds, have the belief and know that we can make it and develop on our own if we work together as a continent. Subsequently, to stop depending on Western countries for development because at the end of the day, Africa is used for their development and we are too blind to notice it because other world powers believe they are superior to Africa. Not to say international relations have negative impacts, but being too dependent on them as we are now; looking down on ourselves will not help. We have lost ourselves as Africans, but the change begins with us, as Africans. We should not aim to be like the little girl in the story, we should embrace our identity as Africans, be proud of it, no matter who is there or what other lifestyles are like because trying to fit in may not work as well as it does for the origins.
*Chaavi Ntenda is a third-year student studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Political Studies (Honours) at the University of Namibia.
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