No culture* without education
Week 6 – 8 February 2013
* Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “The term “culture” appeared first in its current sense in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, to connote a process of cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture. In the 19th century, the term developed to refer first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals”.
It is clear that there cannot be any culture without some education to improve knowledge about better living. Only then can culture become the backbone of a community in fulfilling its ideals. Culture is therefore an ongoing process that adjusts itself to the higher demands set by the developing community by change and adaption. In the same way tradition must be flexible enough to allow for changing attitudes within the community.
If tradition stays rigid, there cannot be any mention of any advancement in culture, as tradition has the biggest influence on what we know as culture. By preventing culture to be flexible to adjust to the growing need of the community, a situation is reached where this culture will become redundant and does not bear any recognition amongst the more viable cultures, especially in a multi-cultural state like South Africa.
To enforce one culture upon another already shows a lack in growth of that particular culture because it does not develop further through education. By enforcing it onto other cultures, the total lack of change, or the unwillingness to change, is expressed, not at all productive for nation building.
It is obvious that if unhygienic traditions, that worry your neighbors, are forced upon them, there will be retaliation, especially in the case if it is not allowed in the by-laws of the municipality or the laws governing the country.
Tradition can change through education.
Homophobia and the homophobic laws that are enforced by most African countries, even to the level of introducing death penalty for people caught in any homosexual act, were introduced by law to the African nations by the same colonials, who they detest so much, during the Victorian regime when the death penalty for homosexuals was part of the British Law. Today these same African countries proclaim that the colonials introduced homosexuality to the Africans, as it was never part of their (known) tradition. History however tells another story. A fact to bear in mind is that homophobia never existed in Africa until the arrival of Christianity and Islam on Africa’s soil.
If your tradition, not to be confused with perceptions, bothers your neighbor, think twice before saying: “It is my culture”.