South Africa has come a long way since the end of Apartheid. Africa in general has recently been the subject of sudden economic gains in recent years.
With many African countries celebrating 50 years of independence, recent news of Wal-Mart attempting to gain a foothold in South Africa, seems to indicate that the continent may be catching up with the rest of the modern world. My question is if we should add the word “finally” or “unfortunately” to the claim that Africa is beginning to modernize.
While there are still many cultures on the African continent that practice or at least honor their traditional roots in some way, I see this move toward modernization as further physical dissolve of the old world.
There is nothing wrong with that though. I mean, C’mon, the old world is, well, old. Shamanism and dynastic rule no longer benefit cultures today — my apologies if this is too big a generalization, but these things are what I have learned to be as part of Africa’s history.
There are many positives to the completion of African assimilation into modern soceity, but there are some negatives as well. From an economic, health and political standpoints I see many benefits. A sociological standpoint, however, highlights a negative: We will be losing diversity in world culture.
Africa has been highly influenced by Eurocentric cultures and the Western world, in general for some time now, but the difference is that the native Africans did often not implement these situations. It is important to note that these situations also left the natives oppressed or dead. I’m specifically referring to instances like Afrikaaners, Apartheid and kleptocrasy.
I am hoping this recent move toward modernization is more beneficial to the natives and the good of Africa altogether rather than to the Western world. I guess your definition for “the good of Africa altogether” depends on whether you think events like Wal-Mart buying out South Africa’s Massmart is a good thing. Keep in mind that Wal-Mart is there to take advantage of the growing economy.
Let me go back to the idea of losing cultural diversity with modernization and the possible homogenization of the world. Losing cultural diversity is never good, but sometimes it is inevitable.
In that case, what really matters is how we document the culture in hopes of preserving it in history. I have recently been introduced to the salvage paradigm concept. This notion assumes a leading world power, like those in the Western world, is responsible for preserving the histories of weaker cultures. Why? Apparently, they cannot do it for themselves.
I disagree and for reasons that would not be given justice in this short column. Nevertheless, I will say this: As inhabitants of the modern world, how can we possibly go into a substantially different culture and leave our superiority complex aside? Furthermore, how can we document the entirety of that culture, which often exists in an opposite mindset, in any accurate fashion or even in the context of how they live and not simply as a comparison to how we live? I don’t believe we can ever do such a thing.
So as Africa modernizes and homogenizes, their history will be subject to the salvage paradigm. It will likely be Western-centric minds that document African culture and this modernization. These minds will most likely get it wrong because they are not African minds. But the accounts will still be considered accurate portraits of lifestyles, ideals, and everything else that makes Africa, Africa.
Why not avoid the salvage paradigm and use the histories documented in Africa by Africans as African history? This probably won’t happen because only upon the complete modernization of Africa do I believe their accounts will be considered completely reliable. That’s right, when they are just like us and there is nothing really to salvage besides a reflection of the Western world.
Maximillian Piras is a senior art major and a columnist for the Daily 49er.
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.
