1 commentEngaging the old to create the new
Hi again,
Hope the holidays have been kind to you all and you’ve been having fun! I’ve been with my family in an area with no access to the internet and could not come back the day I planned to do so. Thus, this is a delayed posting. However, I assure you the issue(s) it will raise are definitely relevant at this moment and for some time to come.
Ben just got off his soap box, so I’m getting on mine now J The issue I’d like to raise is part of a debate that has been raging on for years and will continue doing so for quite a long time: the issue of culture in changing and ‘globalizing’ societies. The other day I was watching a documentary on Al Jazeera (Satellite TV news channel) and they were covering a story in New Zealand where some government official have labeled a Maori (the indigenous people of NZ) training camp a terrorist camp because some of the activities involve using guns – which is part of teaching Maori ‘warriors’ to aim.
This reminded me of that as young people who are passionate about our countries, our people and where we come from, we also need to focus on how we integrate our indigenous cultures in our lives today. The bottom line is: indigenous people were incredibly resourceful and lived in harmony with the environment (hence they didn’t mess up the ozone layer as much and as fast as we are L) and there are many lessons and skills that can be learned and implemented in our everyday lives.
In SA we’ve included indigenous knowledge systems in our education syllabus and it has already been piloted in several schools, where, for instance, learners engaged the community, through oral interviews and documentation on issues varying from indigenous food or medicine to conflict resolution. This got them to realize that culture doesn’t necessarily mean old and outdated and that their own grandparents are living libraries that can help in coming up with effective and practical solutions to current challenges in their communities.
So, my question to you is this: how do you think we can effectively integrate our diverse cultures in our lives today where most of us live in cosmopolitan cities and unfortunately do look down on our own cultures because the media and sometimes even our own parents didn’t show us that it’s ‘cool enough’ and relevant?
One Response to Engaging the old to create the new
Hi Asania, I quite agree with you on all counts. I am really grateful to my parents for not denying me the privilege of knowing my own culture, I understand and speak my mother tongue and I can read in it as well.
To solve the problem of youths having little or no interest in their roots, i think it has to start from home.
Right from infancy, parents should start communicating with their babies not just in English or whatever their lingua franca may be but more importantly in their native tongue. As the child matures, moonlight stories, folksongs and folklore with moral lessons should be inculcated in the socialization process, in addition they should make traditional clothes for them to wear to school parties and other occasions thus teaching them to be proud of their cultural identity. But they shouldn’t marginalize, they should show by their speech and attitude that other cultures are just as rich and should be viewed as a welcome variety.
Second step is what you are already doing in SA, the schools should start from where the parents have “stopped” and incorporate it in the curriculum. But to prevent it from being boring, they should turn it into an interactive class, whereby the students are assigned research projects, you know, compelling them to go back and find out from parents, relatives, friends, neighbours, the Internet and maybe bring some pictures, a recipe for a delicacy in that culture that could be experimented in the Foods and Nutrition lab and a Culture day once a session when the kids showcase their individual cultures in dress could go a long way in revolutionizing the current trend.