Impact of Globalization on African Culture

Culture is Expressed in Symbols

Culture evolves through and is often expressed by symbols. Symbols allow people to develop complex thoughts and communicate them. For instance, alphabet and numbers are symbolic creations for communication purposes within a cultural milieu. The Egyptians created hieroglyphics form of writing a veritable means of communication within their culture. The same is observable within the context of other groups all over African continent. The Brass industry in ancient Benin was full of cultural symbols that communicated various significant messages to people. Similarly, the Nsibidi symbols were the earliest writings associated with the Empire secret societies of the Efik, Ibibio, and the Igbo societies of Nigeria. Most Africans carvings, clothes and other art works came along with a lot of cultural symbolisms printed, painted or carved into the motif of the work for the purpose of communication.

Culture is Learned

Another key characteristic of culture is the fact that is learned. Understanding and coherence with cultural traits are not innate abilities that people are born with. They are rather cultivated within certain context, in this case, the cultural setting. Culture is acquired through socialization and is therefore not usually inherited but learned. It is passed on from one generation to another. Language has to be learned, habits cultivated and mannerism adopted. Culture is transmitted from parent to children in a process referred to by anthropologists as enculturation or cultural transmission. This process has to occur within the cultural environment to enable the learning process. Learning and adopting the Yoruba or Hausa language and culture requires proximity to Yoruba and Hausa land. This is important in obtaining effective cultural adaptation. Although, it is possible to learn the cultural traits of a foreign culture from outside its cultural milieu, the adaptation is not as effective as that which takes place within the cultural milieu.

Culture can be Transferred and Shared

Certain cultural traits are easily transferred and shared with people of different cultural persuasions. The English language, for instance, is shared cultural traits in Nigeria and several other countries in Africa. Other languages that are shared cultural trace in Africa include the Hausa language, which is widely spoken in most of West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and others. In East Africa, the Swahili Language is a classic example of a shared cultural trait that cuts across several cultural groups. In North Africa, the Arabic language represents a common example of a shared cultural trait that is common among the Maghribian countries and Egypt.

Food and clothing articles also represent dorms of shared cultural traits. In Nigeria for instance, pounded yam and egusi soup has become a shared cultural trait in most of the country. As results of years of cultural interaction, exchange becomes inevitable owing to intermarriages, migrations and urbanization. The agbada or Baban Riga is a clothing article in Nigeria, which also represents a shared cultural trait among the several teaming groups of diverse cultures in the country. This is similar to what the western men’s suite represents in the global context. These are all processes that compel the sharing of cultural traits thus; creating a Supra-culture that binds a loose collection of several cultural groups.

Culture Evolves and Adapts

Culture is not a concept that remains static; it rather adapts and evolves to the prevailing circumstances surrounding it. This is because just like individual’s culture interacts and in the process of this interaction, may undergo some processes of mutations which lead to the emergency of new forms. This is referred to as culture change. When certain cultural traits collide with others in social interaction, they either tend to disappear, adapt or become integrated into the more powerful culture. The killing of twin in southern Nigeria for instance, is a cultural trait that could not survive encroachment of Christian culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. This is a common occurrence in cultural evolution when one culture impacts and replaces aspects of another culture. Marriage practices in most indigenous cultures have adapted to the Christian or Muslim marriage rites. Most African communities have evolved a seamless integration of both cultural rites into a single process that exemplifies cultural adaptation.

Apart from adapting to the overbearing presence of other cultures, the need for environmental adaptation is also crucial. Changing climate and environment also produce profound impact on cultural evolution. Increase desertification, for instance, produces changes in the cultural practices of people living in the border-line areas of the expanding Sahara desert. Their clothing and shelter have to change to fit the weather environmental requirements that are pressing upon them. The same example applies to the change of clothing of an individual from the tropics that migrate to the temperate region in order to survive in his new place of abode [12].

Categories and Type of Culture

Cultural practices vary all over the world. Although they are vast and complex in nature, they can be categorized for the purpose of our understanding and study. These categories are broad, covering a wide range of cultural traits. They include the material and immaterial culture, or tangible or intangible. The immaterial is further sub classified into social and ideological categories.

Social Culture

The Dynamic of social relationships in communities form crucial aspects of their culture. Kingship, marriage, works, economic and political positions are all segments of the social culture of the people. In Africa, the marriage systems and rites are very important aspects of the social culture of ethnic group. The various ceremonies obtainable among different groups are very diverse. The same goes for the political institution of the ethnic groups. The chieftaincy, titled heads, etc., constitutes the social fabric of the people’s culture. Economic positions like guilds form another basic structure of social in African communities. In many African societies, each section of the economic is controlled by such guild for e.g., the blacksmith guild, the bronze casters guild, the potter’s guild, the cloth weaver’s guild, fisher’s guild, the hunter’s guild, the market women’s guild and a host of others.

Ideological Culture

Culturally, unique ways of thinking often unite the people in very distinct ways. This forms a very important part of the culture of the people. The most dominant aspect of ideological culture known to man is that of religion. Ideology, which is the belief, values and ideas of a people, is most latently expressed in their religious persuasions. Indigenous African religions play a very important role in the thinking and world view of Africans in general. Before the onset of Christianity and Islam on the continent, these religions thrived and moulded both the social and material aspects of African culture. Missionary activities brought in Christianity and Islam into the continent and infused new belief systems into African societies. Several communities integrated some of these beliefs into the original indigenous beliefs and created syncretized versions of the belief system. The concept of ancestral worship, for instance, and also Pantheism or a belief in many gods, is very common trait of the ideological culture of African societies.

Meaning and Definitions of Globalizations

The term ‘globalization’ is a highly controversial and contested concept. There is no universal consensus on its conceptual meaning. There are controversies and confusions not only in terms of definitions, but also on whether or not it is a reality or myth in terms of nature, character, depth, historical, components, measurement, and significance. The basis for the varying explanations can be understood when we appreciate that each definitions tends to focus on only a significant feature of the phenomenon. For instance, the chronological account and measurement of globalization from the point of view of those who take globalization to be synonymous with ‘liberalization’ will likely to be different from those who see globalization as ‘universalization’.

At this juncture, it must be well stressed that no one definition can however be dismissed as worthless What should be appreciated is that, whether an individual is conscious of it or not, each definition is informed by a given theoretical paradigm, a given historical context certain normative perspective, defined ideals and specific interests. The challenge however is to have a sense of direction by developing an explicit definition – one that explains how everything fits, which gives focus and internal coherence to an argument and the policies that flow from it. In other words, our task is to present an analytical framework that will make the ‘mass of claims and counter-claims fit into a coherent story Scholte JA [13]. To withstand the test of time, such analytical framework should be capable of providing a thread that will link and explain all the various schools of globalization rather than emphasizing only a perspective.

In a nutshell Scholte categorizes definition of globalization into five broad classifications.

• Globalization as Internalization: By this, we mean evidence of globalization lies in enlarged and growing flows or movement of trade, capital investment, people, messages, information and ideas between countries. In other words, globalization represents a growth of international exchange and interdependence [14].
• Globalization as Liberation: This refers to the process of removing or reducing government-imposed regulatory controls and restrictions on movement of goods, services, capital and people between countries in order to facilitate international economic integration.
• Globalization as Universalization: This refers to the process of the worldwide spread of culture ideas, objects and experiences.
• Globalization as Deterrriorialization: This perspective conceptualizes globalization as a social process or set of processes in which the constraint of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding.
• Globalization as Westernization: Proponents of this idea contend that globalization is essentially Euro centric. They classify globalization in the same category with ‘colonization’ and ‘modernization’, which was presented as forces operating beyond human control that were transforming the world [15].

Maintains that globalization is western imperialism, particularly American imperialism that seeks to impose its hegemony on other subjugated and exploited nation’s threat of economic, political or military coercion. Globalization according to him does not only deepen inequality between the core and the periphery nations, it also seeks to wage unprecedented attacks on the right and welfare of the poor nations.

Globalization can also be seen as the historical process whereby the world is being made into a single place with systematic properties [16]. We can go further to define globalization as a social process in which constraint of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding [17].

Features of Globalization

Globalization is not without some essential features, which surround its feasibility. Such features include liberalization, deregulation of trade, and privatization of public enterprises, mass production of goods and services, improved and reliable information technology which can facilitate easy intercommunication links throughout the globe, globalization of factors of production and level ground for participants.

Liberalization is a process of removing artificial restrictions on production, exchange or use of goods, services and factors of production for firms to globalize. It is sincerely the removal of international boundary barriers to facilitate easy flow of capital around the globe. Since the logic of private enterprise is the drive for profit, the movement of firms and capital across borders in pursuit is inherent in the expansion of firms. Economy activity could not be globalized if rooms were not created for expansion. Liberalization is an avenue for transitional corporations today to expand and break easily boundary barriers of nations of the world. Boundary barriers had been the bane to mobility of immigration and capital flow across nations. With liberalization, transitional corporations become a serving driving force for globalization.

Information technology is actually the mainstream in the modern globalization: the use of internet remarkably distinguishes this global dispensation from that of the past. Information technology plays an important role in building the strength and the growth of nation’s economy; therefore, it is a life-wire that sustains globalization. Indeed, the globalization of technology promotes the globalization of production and finance by spurring the dissemination of information and lowering the cost of linking markets internationally. It has created rapidly rising numbers of global consumers but through the advantage of superiority in Information Technology, the West controls the allocation and consumption of world resources by expanding their markets in developing countries and in the reverse, banned entry of products from these countries to theirs.

The change in the ownership structure of public enterprises to privatization is historic and fundamental to making globalization a reality. The privatization policy in the African countries had indeed attracted capital from developed countries but ironically it disturbed ownership to foreign investors who further impoverish the African continent because their proceeds are never retained in Africa. Globalization is not possible without privatization. No economy can effectively integrate into the global economy without fully privatizing. Privatization provides an enabling environment for keen competition which globalization endangers. Privatization is the bridge thorough which the dividends of globalization can be enjoyed. Privatization is one of the indices of globalizations whose combination and scope is considered new and are changing the way in which the world economy functions.

Advantages of Globalization

Globalization has many advantages. In the first place, it is necessary for the survival of mankind through interaction. It fosters mutual help, mutual love, mutual concern and mutual understanding. For example when there is disaster in any part of the world today, the whole world gets to know about it, and relief begins to come from all over the globe.

It facilitates contact with people in other part of the world and bring people all over the world closer together. It helps to remove prejudice and misunderstanding. For example, the great German philosopher, Hegel, who lived in the 19th century, was ignorant of what was happening in Africa and this ignorance led him to prejudice against Africa. His ignorance and prejudice were expressed in his philosophy of history, that the Absolute had not yet attained self-consciousness in Africa, that Africans were still living barbaric lives, without history or culture, at a time when there were vast empires in Africa, with sophisticated political administration based on indigenous political philosophy. Even in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, there were still Europeans and Americans who thought that Africans lived on trees, and went about naked. No educated man in Europe or America can exhibit such ignorance today, thanks to globalization [18].

• It promotes the growth and development of science and technology, education, sports and tourism.
• It offers enormous potentials to eradicate poverty.
• It enriches the world scientifically, culturally and economically. For instance, Nigeria exchanges her crude oil, cocoa, rubber and raw materials for manufactured items which they cannot produce while exporting other items which they produce in abundance.
• It encourages rapid industrialization.
• It brings unprecedented opportunities to the people throughout the world.
• Access to people and information practically anywhere in the world has become quicker, cheaper, easier.
• Nigerian oil, South African gold and Ivorian cocoa are already traded in global market while people around the African continent access internet indiscriminately.
• It is obvious that many people even in African continent now operate cyber café and phones center for commercial purposes, which by extension, help to reduce unemployment rate.

Now, having said this, we shall now delve into development, what is then is development? The world, it can be said, currently revolves around development. This is because the need for development occupies a primary place in the lives of individuals, groups, nations and states. The desire is always for a people to move closer to development. Those who are farthest from it wish they were closer and consistently strive to be closer to it, while those who are close to it wish there were nothing separating them from development. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the situation has to do with those by whom we sometimes measure development. They are involved, at another level, in the race for further development and this involves discovering new frontiers of development and the process increases, as much as possible, the development gap between themselves and others. In this situation, the term development turns out to be a very vague term. This is because, in our-ever changing world, there are no archetypes of development. Changes that are considered to be developmental today may be considered primitive tomorrow. Also, what is considered to be development in one place may be seen to be an index of retrogression in another. This makes it difficult to articulate a definite concept of development. The vagueness of the term notwithstanding, most people assume that they have a clear idea or, in the very least, an insight into the nature of development.

According to McGurk H [19] development implies not only a change in time, but also change which has direction; development frequently implies advancement or improvement over some more primitive status. In other words, for any change to be developmental, it must be directional, meaning that it must proceed towards a certain end which is an improvement upon an earlier stage. A more elaborate attempt at analyzing development is offered by Ernest Nagel in Harris D [20] who defines development as a sequence of continuous changes eventuating in some outcome. What this boils down to is that a developmental change must be a part of process emanating from the past and gradually building up to the present and the future. Another definition of development is offered by Ogundowole EK [21] which goes thus: development is a broader concept and is multi-dimensional. It may means merely mechanical motion, spatial displacement of object. It may mean forward and backward, sideways; upward and forward movements. maintains that development at the individual level implies increased skill and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility and material being. Moreover,Olusegun Obasanjo and define development as a change or a transformation into a better state. In the existential ontology of development can be understood as the achievement of authentic nationhood, and underdevelopment, the ability of a nation to overcome confidence-crisis. Any nation that refuses or is incapable of building on its tactical givens, cannot be a nation that is free from external determined nation can hardly acquire stature and maturity. A nation without a sound ideological framework of its own to guide social action, a nation that goes about copying every available piece of ideology is vulnerable, and like an edifice without foundation, such a nation easily falls prey to the wind storm of imperialism. Such a nation is nor genuine and misfortunes are explained away in terms of sabotage.

A cursory look has shown that the concepts of culture, globalization and development have been lucidly explained. Each of these concepts has an avalanche of definitions which have equally have been exposed. In a nutshell, it is obvious that the foregoing analysis of culture and development points to the intricate relationship among the three concepts. Not only why does development take place within the ambits of a particular culture, the impetus for a particular development take place within the ambits of a particular culture, the impetus for a particular development trend can be aided or retarded by culture. Given this reality therefore, the questions can be asked: can we use culture to entrench progressive human development, enhance creativity and increase productivity for the common good which in essence is what sustainable development is all about? What challenges do culture and globalization pose to Africa quest for development? Should we abandon our culture for the sake of globalization? Should we continue to borrow ideas and other things from the West? How do we incorporate our culture into development vis-à-vis globalization? And of course, what is the way out? Ali Mazui quoted in Ayo F [22] argues that “Africa as a whole borrowed the wrong things from the West even the wrong components of capitalism”. We borrowed the profit motive but not the entrepreneurial spirit: we borrowed the acquisitive appetites of capitalism, but not the creative risk taking. We are at home with Western gadgets, but are bewildered by Western workshops. We wear the wristwatch but refuse to watch it for the culture punctuality. We have learnt to parade in display, but not to drill in discipline. The West’s consumption patterns have arrived, but not the West’s technique of production. In the same vein, Godwin [23] posits that, “there is need for authentic existence. We should stop copying values that do not fit properly into our system. We do not want to be “African European”. Hence, we need not “fry” our hair or bleach our skins in order to look like Europeans. We should learn how to adapt to our own environment everything has an adaptation to life”.

Besides, Babawale [1] posits that the Chinese sense of moderation is indeed exemplary. Proud as they are of their culture, style, taste and values, they have been making substantial gains from their creativity, exploring their environment and producing and packaging just anything from bamboo through plants, herbs, fish and products, to mention but few. He goes further to say that Malaysia has garnered substantial goodwill from her culture potential so much so that her hospitality industry smells and tastes Malay traditional values. Singapore is yet another good success story. With political economy deeply rooted in Singaporean tradition, productivity of her national reflects greatly in her annual earnings as distinct from and far beyond what is prevalent in countries like Nigeria, and many other reservoirs of global energy resources.

Moreover, Africa should globalized any of her indigenous cultural heritage like China and Japan have done in sports, Jamaica, Music, India film production; it is high time Nigeria woke up from her “cultural slumber”. Africa cultural potentials should be embraced and developed.

Above all, we recall with nostalgia the establishment of the Center for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) via Decree 69 of 1979 shortly after the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC ‘77) to among other things champion the promotion of global understanding and appreciation of Black and African Culture. Although, CBAAC has achieved a lot, however, it should not rest on it oars. Efforts must be made to ensure that our culture is given a wide and special attention it deserves, bearing in the mind that “a man’s ability may be strengthened or increased by his culture”. Its efforts in implanting NIGERIAN culture and traditional values in the minds of Nigerians, at home and abroad to influence their attitude mindset and thought processes must be fought with vigour. The UN cultural orientation project for Africa and other Third World countries meant to promote premodial moral values that has been in a complete state of utter oblivion should be re-awakened. Also, Nigeria should be commended for the formal commissioning of Nigerian Cultural House in Brazil. This will, without doubt, show that Nigeria has finally taken its rightful place in the world cultures. Our clarion call is that other African countries should follow suit.

In summation, we want to state that tough, globalization has some good effects, but this does not mean that Africa should treat her culture with levity, because every culture needs development in order to survive. In the same vein, development can only flourish where it is rooted in the culture and tradition of a country, since it is an all-encompassing process “linked to each other society’s own values and calling for an active participation of individuals and groups who are the authors and the beneficiaries of it.

Impact of Globalization on African Culture

The first danger to guard against in globalization is the loss of one’s cultural identity, and even national identity. Globalization tends to eliminate national and cultural identities. For example, some Europeans countries have refused to do away with their own currencies and replace it with the common European currency, the Euro. They are holding tight to their own currency because it is a symbol of their national identity. Regional or sub-regional common currency is part of the process of globalization. It will eventually get to the level of a common world currency. Will the various nations in the world give up their own currencies, a symbol of their national identities? We know that very soon West African countries will also have a common currency. Will all the countries in Africa agree to give up their own currencies and replace them with the common currency [24].

Another danger in globalization is that it could become a subtle form of neo-colonization. America is already aggressively doing this through the CNN, and through its control over the United Nations Organization (UNO) which she mobilizes to fight her enemies who refuse to submit to her [25].

There is also the danger of the loss of one’s individual identity, the danger of getting submerged in the anonymity of the crowd being pulled along by the force of globalization. The result of this is inauthencity, the individual, having lost him self-identity by submerging himself into the anonymous crowd of globalization, begins to live an inauthentic life. He is no longer himself, he is no longer the person living, and globalization is now living in him. He has become a globalization robot, being carried along by globalization. Globalization is good, but we must embrace it with caution and guard against the dangers inherent in it [26].

Another impact of globalization on African culture is that we lose very easily the beauty of hand woven clothing. Again, another impact of globalization on African culture is sagging of trousers. Also piercing of body parts for the ornamental objects which are equally alien to us in Africa. Similarly, provocative dressing that exposes erogenous parts is equally alien to us in Africa Figure 1.

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