It seems that dependent upon one’s intention and motive, the definition one gives to the word ‘culture’ can either push a people’s capacity to become makers of history or, as is all too commonly experienced, send them to a museum as spectators of history. Many definitions of culture favor the reductionist perspective that sustains the status quo by selectively slicing away events and activities and, above all, commodifying them. With such narrow definitions of culture, it is not surprising that whenever young people from third world assert the power of their culture they are greeted by the cynical refrain: “You mean you want to go back to wearing skins, sticking spears through each other and sleeping on trees?”
Again, the written history of third and fourth world peoples written as it was with questionable intentions – is full of violent interpretations and prejudices that strips away a peoples dignity and humanity. Little is said about the oral history that has narratives that recognizes the richness of a peoples’ culture and affirms the life embracing values that our ancestors evolved by way of nation building and peacemaking. Instead, our ancestors are depicted as nothing more than violent, blood thirsty “natives.” And, if there is any good at all then it is “tribal” and not effective in the “modern” era.
Bantu Steve Biko defined culture as “the society’s composite answer to the varied problems of life.” And more importantly, “we are experiencing new problems everyday and whatever we do adds to the richness of our cultural heritage, as long as it has [humans] as its center.” Indeed, the etymology of the term denotes dynamism and a state of permanent continuous transformation. As, Bennars and Njoroge inform us that “culture” comes from the Latin verb “cultus” which means to cultivate, or more precisely, act upon the land, transforming it for production. “Cultus” involves human action to transform the world, to make the world human. This explains why for indigenous people land is central to their definition of culture and who they are – and who they are not – for as the 2020 activists put it, “each culture explains a particular relationship to the land.”
Broadly speaking, therefore, culture entails human response to three important elements: nature, fellow humans and the world beyond or the supernatural. Through reflection and action, a people – any people – would constantly be in the process of negotiating the evolving culture and challenges that emerge from the three elements. It is this capacity to be makers of culture that differentiates humans from animals. “To make culture,” Augusto Boal notes, “is to invent the world so that it responds to our needs, our desires, and our dream.” And indeed it is the power of cultures that shape our world views in our response to creating change.
In today’s so-called modern era of globalism and universalism we have witnessed humanity evolve a culture that does not enhance life. Culture has lost its dynamism and the power of culture is no longer being felt as a deciding factor in shaping the course of human life. Rather the power of culture has been usurped by the culture of power in almost every part of the world, greed and insecurity has led to consumerism and domination. What we have now is a culture of lies and death propelled by fear and profit. Humanity has turned anti-life. We are now evolving a culture that does not have humans and life at its center. And, as Ali Mazrui would say, the ancestors are angry.
Having experienced and witnessed the methods of hegemonic forces Paulo Freire reminds us that: “cultural invasion always involves a parochial view of reality and the imposition of one’s worldview upon another.” It is not a coincidence, therefore, that all hegemonic powers would have at their heart a cultural project. Domination through culture is subtle but total, less expensive but potent. It slowly dehumanizes as the oppressed are made to believe that they cannot be makers of culture. The 2020 activists correctly observed that “if we do not make our own culture we can be owned even without knowing it.”
