The need to return to our African Roots

Africa is a continent that has of late struggled to identify its own roots. The West has slowly but surely consumed the mind-sets of our people. Therefore, choosing the topic 'Africans let us go back to the roots of our culture' might create a lot of questions to many of us. It may lead to many wishing to know as to why I chose this topic. I did not only choose this topic because I am an African, but because the African culture is one of the cultures that is slowly becoming extinct and will eventually die if we, and the world at large, do not take a step forward to revive it. One of the very proud African scholars, Alik Shahadah said, “If we do not stop the oppression when it is a seed, it will be very hard when it is a tree.”Dear readers, allow me to state that Africa is undoubtedly the victim of what we call cultural imperialism. By definition, cultural imperialism is the domination of one culture over another by a deliberate policy or by economic or technological superiority. The agents of this imperialism are mass media and unfair trade. The consequences of this imperialism are underdevelopment, loss of identity and language, and the destruction of markets (e.g. where traditional African clothes are replaced with Western items). Let me stress and challenge all Africans today reading this article: How often do we put on our beautiful African dresses? Do we really have to wait for events such as weddings, Olufuko or other cultural events to put on our African dresses or to just use our names as a basis to draw ourselves close to the African identity? How can Europeans and other nationalities be proud to put on an African dress if even we Africans do not take pride in who we are?A lot of unethical and immoral behaviour happening today in Africa is a sign that Africans have lost pride in their identity. It is a sign that we have lost the foundation of our culture. Fellow Africans when I say the roots of Africa, I am referring to the originality of Africa, those values that uphold and define African people, either the way they talk, the way they eat, socialise and dance and even the way they dress and look. How many husbands/boyfriends during 1970s were reported to have killed their girlfriend? In fact most of Western drinks make Africans to be involved in all these violent activities. Are the drinks we are taking African drinks? Indeed we are promoting European culture. Isn't it? What percentage of Namibians specifically killed their girlfriend when they were drunk because of Epwaka, Otombo or Kanyatawu, ndevele, kashipembe etc?Allow me to emphasise that the biggest value in African culture is Ubuntu (uunhu womunhu). That means we are just human beings because of others. In the late 60s Africans upheld and believed in the principle of Ubuntu. There was no African who would go to bed hungry while the neighbour or the community at large had food. Indeed this has changed, what percentage of Africans today live in poverty and how many Africans are becoming richer and richer by the day while a bigger percentage wallow in abject poverty? The question is where are we going as Africans? My dear African brothers and sisters, one of the values we have lost as Africans is our language, a true reflection of ourselves. Language is the conveyor belt of culture, yet 32% of the endangered languages are African languages. To speak a language is to engage in a culture (Nehusi). The unique relationship between language and thought and the paradigm positions which grow out of these thought processes are therefore endangered. A good example is from the Chinese people who are being taught in their mother tongue (Mandarin) and their education produces many scientists that even us Africans, who are being taught in English, are using. Just imagine doing an experiment or research in your mother tongue. It is really easy you can imagine. Why are we as Africans afraid to make our own mother tongue a medium of instruction? The reason English is rich is because everyone who speaks it (including us) adds to its legacy. It is no longer a language of English people. Just writing English means we contribute to its expansion and diversity. The problem is the more we use it the richer we make it.Therefore my call is to ensure that as Africans, our children should speak our own mother tongues in our houses. Let me also call on our institutions of higher learning to embark on a policy that will promote African languages. Currently when you want to study in Russia you first you have to be taught Russian. Why can't our institutions do the same? The Philippines have just recently introduced a language policy promoting local languages.In a nutshell, it is imperative for the ministry of education in Namibia to ensure that mother tongues become the medium of instruction from Grade 1 all the way to Grade 12. Let us all take ownership of our culture. Let us go back to the values and roots of Africa. Let the spirit of Ubuntu guide every African in all we do. Together we can make it. *Petrus Ishitile Shiweva holds a BED Honours in upper primary and he also served as HP Unam Campus SRC Deputy President in 2016.

The need to return to our African Roots

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-05-14

Please login to leave a comment

The need to return to our African Roots

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-05-14

Please login to leave a comment

Login