Africa & cultural evolution

[Oju]

AFRICA & CULTURAL EVOLUTION

Evolution of African Culture.by Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, M.D.

With the fast pace of technological development, there is no question that no culture can remain isolated. How do we maintain something African and still try to march in step with advancing science and technology? Some of my enduring yearnings are the questions of just what our modern history would be like if slavery had never entered into our discourse with Europe,and if Islam and Christianity had never encroached into our religious life? Alas, I will never find answers.

We, as modern Africans, are caught on the downswing of our history as a people.We look around us and we see everyone else moving faster than we do. And, it makes us feel bad about ourselves. It is clear to me that in the long history of humanity on this planet, we have not always been at the "bottom" and those who appear to be on "top" today have not always been on top.Unfortunately, we cannot take comfort in any suggestion that in another 2000 years, Africa may be on top of the world in science and technology, whatever that may mean in the year 3999.We live for less than 100 years and would like to see these historical changes in our short lifetimes.

Well, fellow Amanfoo and friends, please get out of the comparison trap.There is no referee in the long game of history and nobody is keeping score. We can only play with the cards that our time in history has dealt us.We can only do our best for ourselves and the humanity that surrounds us in our short lifetimes.As long as we organize as individuals,families, institutions, and nations to solve our problems, we are doing our evolutionary best.

Today we are African, Ghanaian, Asante, Ga, or Dagomba.In the larger scheme of things, what sense does it make to define ourselves as Ghanaians or Africans when these designations are either merely "accidents" of geography or the results of capricious cartography by greedy European colonizers? The essence of our identity is not the geography but what has evolved through our isolation into physical differences, languages,customs, and tradition.It is in the knowledge and spirit of our common ancestry as humans that we celebrate our amazing diversity.

Any thoughtful human should be humbled by knowledge of the fact that 99% of our genes are identical to those of the chimpanzee.With only 1% of our genes defining us as humans, how much do you think we differ, Kikuyu from Luo, Hutu from Tutsi, French from English, or even French from Asante, or Russian from Maori. From a biological viewpoint, we are remarkably similar.The minor differences between us cannot be that important.It does not matter what we wear, what we eat, what music we enjoy, we can still have children with each other, learn each other's language, and generally ablate our cultural differences.

It just so happens that in the current low swing of our history, we have been victimized by others who defined our differences from them as inferior.We should be interested in vigorous defense of our culture because we face cultural annihilation.I believe the instinct to survive is innate in humans, and many people would like both their body and soul to survive together.Culture lies deep in our soul.
When we talk about preserving culture, we are not talking about reviving some chimpanzee recessive gene that will make us lose our ability to learn other people's language.We used to stone infertile women to death.And,let's not forget that it is not so long ago that Europeans were burning "witches" at the stake.If they stopped doing that, why are we not capable of shaping the course of our cultural development? Today we don't stone infertile women to death, menstruating women cook for their husbands and they are not made to live behind the house ("ko afikyire").I don't see modern Ghanaian houses being built with rear attachments to accommodate our menstruating mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters.For whatever the reason that that custom developed, it is no longer necessary today.

On the issue of what we wear, let me answer with two personal stories.

1.When I was graduating from Yale School of Medicine in 1975 (ancient?),I chose to wear kente instead of the western traditional academic robes (cap and gown) at the graduation ceremony. Now, that appeared quite unusual and brought more attention to myself than I needed,but why did I do it?


I was the only Ghanaian in my graduating class and I thought it was more important for me to remind myself and others who will look at pictures taken of our class that day that among that sea of black robes was a single soul from a distant and different culture.That was perhaps the day commemorating the highest academic achievement in my life (up to that time).When I thought about what made that achievement possible, there was no question that my Ghanaian upbringing (including my Prempeh education) had more to do with it than anything else. So, I chose to celebrate the occasion in my culture's finest, a colorful kente. I was fortunate to be at an institution that permitted the making of such a personal statement at such a formal event.

2. A couple of years ago, I was asked to give the freshman address to the newly admitted Yale undergraduates. The title of my address was "Diversity." For this occasion I chose to wear a three piece "agbada." My wife also dressed African.On both of these occasions the clothes were simply symbols.To a Martian who comes to the earth, clothes are only what they really are, pieces of woven material cut and sewn into shapes with holes, buttons, patterns,etc., etc., which humans use to cover their nakedness.But for us earthlings, symbols can carry powerful messages, and clothes can tell a lot about who we are, where we have been, and what we think of ourselves. In the cases cited above, I could have simply done "as the Romans do" and dressed western.It would have brought less curious attention to me at the graduation and I would not have had to endure the endless questions from graduation visitors.


But, if they went home remembering that there was a Ghanaian in the Yale Medical School graduating class maybe, just maybe, they will give a little more respect to the next Ghanaian doctor,teacher, engineer, or gas station attendant they meet, and Kofi Annan would not be an aberration but an affirmation of what they had been exposed to that day at Yale.

I don't dress African everyday. As a doctor in an American hospital, that may bring undue attention to myself and cause unnecessary distraction from the medical mission at hand. However, in Ghana, I could dress African to work everyday and not distract my patients and colleagues from the medical work at hand. In this foreign land, I choose to dress African on those occasions when I feel it is important for me and the audience to remember my heritage.

In speaking to the 1200 Yale freshmen, bright children and future leaders in many fields, on the subject of Diversity, would the message, coming from a person whose name many of them would have passed over as too difficult to pronounce, not be more powerful if it were framed in a picture symbolizing human diversity?
Some of our customs have been described as "primitive," a derogatory label. Hopefully we are no longer sacrificing any humans to bury with our chiefs. Others have done the same things. We still do animal sacrifice though. But, speaking for the Supreme Council of Sheep, does it matter whether you go on the shrine or the butcher's table? "All die be die!"Is the symbolic act of drinking the blood of Jesus at the holy communion not a little "cannibalistic"? (I hope the Christians are not offended; people are touchy when it comes to religion.)


Sometimes we feel embarrassed by what other Africans do, especially when the actions appear as barbaric as the wanton killings in Rwanda or the current chopping off of hands of innocent civilians in the war in Sierra Leone. I don't feel that way any more because, it is a sad truth that Africans do not own the patents on "human on human" cruelty. The instrumentation may be different but the end result is the same, humans causing pain, injury, and death to other human beings.

To the victims, does it matter whether their limbs were chopped off by cutlasses, blown off by land mines planted by unknown "terror farmers," or severed in the explosion of laser-guided smart bombs fired tens of miles away? It is the cruelty that must stop no matter what its technology.The history of those using smart bombs today is littered with the same "barbaric" (you know who were the original Barbarians) behavior that we ofAfrica today may feel embarrassed about. Do you think Americans of Yugoslav origin are embarrassed about what the Serbs are doing? I seriously doubt it. If Prince Johnson brutalizes his people in Liberia, why should I be embarrassed about it? He needs to be dealt with as a bad human being.


In fact, the value of learning about other people and their culture is the realization of the commonality of human behavior. It is that realization that exposes the ultimate emptiness of blindly copying others. Humans are remarkably similar and limited in the range of responses they have. For good or bad, we are humans too.

As we shed "bad" culture we should try to preserve "good" culture. For example, all people love ancestral worship. Americans worship their ancestors through (again, to a Martian visitor) some inscriptions on parchment called The Constitution and make references to "our founding fathers" even if their own ancestors were not related to those who created that document. We Ghanaians worship our ancestors through traditional invocation, frivolously referred to as "pouring libation," and through proverbs always prefaced with "as the elders say." Just as Americans invoke their ancestors to solve modern problems, we can also cite the wisdom of our ancestral elders to solve our modern problems. (Have you seen Amistad, the movie?)

And the wide-angled picture of all human activities, I simply feel that if we as Africans are present, we should be identifiable. I am not an angry Africanist and I don't like to blame others for our problems. It is not necessary for us to reject others in order to show appreciation for our own.I love Africa and many things African and love to promote them. I want all people to feel truly free (as I do) to express themselves in their own light.


I would not advise those of you who work in the corporate world outside Africa to dress African to most business events.The risk for being "penalized" by the conservative, narrow-minded corporate culture may be too high. But, in your dark suit corporate uniform, you do not have to lose yourself; you can still bring something African to boardroom thinking.You can invoke African cultural values such as patience in decision making, humility, and consultation.


In 3999, there may be nothing recognizable as African culture.In our short lifetime, we should enjoy the beauty that the tapestry of African culture can add to humanity.You may buy a kente cloth accented in blue if your favorite color is blue, but you will not value any kente that is all blue. The other colors, like our cultural diversity, together give the colorful kente its true richness. I hope the future of humanity is not one of monotonous European cultural assimilation.


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