SINCE the dawn of civilization for about two and half million years ago, every society’s growth, survival and continuity depends on among other things, a socio-political system to maintain control and order, a system of communication, through which people exchange ideas, values, beliefs and most importantly culture.
Nigeria is a West African nation, regarded as the giant of Africa, and having over 360 ethnic groups, with over 460 languages. She is the most populous black nation in the world. Nigeria got her independence in 1960 and her republic in 1963, but yet the media, culture, and economy may have lost its taste of independence as they are indirectly dependent to the colonial giants of colonization. The subjective nature of Nigerian economy to the European world, the north Americans, Asia and other world powers may however be compared as little to its media and cultural dependency which may in turn be regarded as cultural imperialism.
The media being regarded as the fourth estate of the realm and being capable of social, economic, political, religious, and cultural change that harness growth and development in any developing nation like Nigeria through its form of communication directed towards development (developmental communication) may have lost its choice of achieving this obligation due to its colonization by other developed nations dramatizing their ego through the screen and pages of indigenous media who were meant to mirror and sustain the socio-cultural philosophy and ideology of its indigenous society (Nigeria).
In sub Saharan Africa, people and culture are inseparable since there is no denial of the fact that what makes any society is its culture; Latin word was derived from “co/ore” which means “practice and cherish”. For a society to be societal it must be cultural; therefore, society and culture are also intertwined. In the same vein, going by the theory of environmental determinism, the culture of any society is largely dictated by its geography. Put another way, there is conspicuous sociological interplay among the concept of culture, nurture and natuye
Further when viewed with sociological panorama, both the macro- and micro-sooiological tentacles, which subsume the entirety of social institutions, are determined by culture; an all- including sociological and anthropological concept that is ineluctable for the existence and functionality of any social group. Culture of a society is a way of life of its members; the collection of ideas and habits which they learn, share and transmit from generation to generation. Indeed culture is a design for living held by members of a particular society.
The culture of a people is their identity as it affords them due recognition. It is their underlying distinguishing factor from other peoples and cultures. In fact, all societies across the globe have various divergent cultures which they cherish and practice nevertheless, no two cultures, when juxtaposed are absolutely identical as attested by ethnographers. In order for a society to operate functionally and effectively, they must ensure and maintain strict and constant adherence to the various components of their culture.
If, as Tylor asserted, “culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, customs, laws and other capabilities which are learned, shared by men as members of society, and transmitted from one generation to another”. Any laxity, lassitude, and levity exhibited by its custodians would result in rapid erosion and disappearance of uniqueness of the people and their culture. Since the genesis of culture, is as old as man himself, without it, man is reduced to an animal. Culture therefore has two essential qualities: first, it is learned and second it is shared.
Culture is essential to our humanness. It contains a set of ready made definitions each of us reshapes very little in dealing with social situations. In other words, culture provides a kind of blueprint or map for relating with others. Consider how you find your way in social life. How do you know how to act in a gathering, with a stranger, in a funeral, naming ceremony, towards a person who smiles, leers or swears at you? Your culture supplies you with broad, standardized, pre-fabricated answers, and formulas or recipes for dealing with each of these situations. Not surprisingly, if we know a person’s culture, we can understand and even predict a good deal of his or her behavior.
Cultural imperialism is a situation where there is spread of western popular culture to the rest of the world. “Imperialism” further assumes that western institutions have been introduced in a context of western political and economic dominance and as a result, both intentional “we’re superior” and unintentional “we’re just helping”, adopting western culture more generally becomes an important way of reaping the political and economic benefits of collaboration with people already associated with those western institutions. An example could be any western agencies promoting democracy/good governance/structural adjustment etc with the assumption that it is already done correctly in the home country of the people promoting this. Imperialism seeks to break down by force if needed, barriers to economic competition so the stronger nation can dominate local markets and sell its products/culture.
The culture of a people is their identity as it affords them due recognition. There is a positive relationship between social forces such as colonialism, westernization and erosion of cultural values.
The culture our fore fathers have upheld in years past is dying rapidly and we left our hands in fold to let it die, while we embrace another culture that we don’t even know its origin. The universal nature of culture should thrive for cultural life.
Arguments have risen from several schools of thought to the problems causing these trends. Critical research and meticulous analysis have been made towards answering the curious question. The complex nature of culture is that no two different customs that have diverse interest can exist side by side without clashes.
Culture has so many characteristics like universality, uniformity, but where the “cat entered the bag” is on the principle of ‘transmission’. Transmission deals with transmitting culture from one person to another which involves norms, values, beliefs, mode of dressing, eating style, language, in fact entire way of life. But those we learn from may have learnt it from those who have westernized our beloved and cherished culture.
Our religious life is now experiencing kulturkampf because the ‘Christlike’ now sees our culture as evil. The question is “do they even realize that what they are practicing another man’s culture?”
The truth is that if we don’t give Ceaser what belongs to him I wonder and ponder how can we give God his. The earlier we realize that we are living in an illusion the better. It can be categorically state that our problem lies in our hands because we don’t value what is ours instead cherish another.
Statistics declared that 72% of Nigerian parents do not teach their wards the norms and values of Nigerian society. We say that our beloved culture is dying off and we didn’t just fold our hands to watch it die but we hastened the death. The question is how many of the Nigerian citizens are ready to uphold the culture.
The interrelated nature of cultural institutions can also be seen in the effects of changing roles for Nigerian women since the mid 21st century. As they have moved into the work force outside the home, it has given them financial independence and has and has altered traditional roles within the family. Men are less essential as bread winners and less accepted as patriarchs. They have begun to take on more children rearing and other domestic household responsibilities previously defined as “women’s work”. Divorce has become an economically variable alternative for women in unhappy marriages. There also has been a marked decrease in frequency of mother-child interaction. Nigerian children have increasingly risen by non-family in child care centers and schools.
Culture and the natural environment are interrelated in complex ways. By early 1960’s, it was evident to some anthropologists that cultures do not exist in isolation.
One reason people differ in their behavior is that there are different cultures. Culture reflects the ideas and meanings we share and everything that is human made. In evolutionary terms, culture gives us a tremendous vantage over other organism. It is our social legacy.
The Nigerian various media should in uplifting its culture, establish programs that will enable Nigerians to revive their cultural spirits. Such programs include: cultural enlightenment program, debate program to discuss and analyze the values inherent to Nigerian culture, the media should uphold and sustain the philosophy and ideology of Nigeria culture as embedded in the objective of broadcast media in the NBC code of 1972.
To ensure fulfillment of the above, one would, first and foremost, recommend that, on the level of individuals, everyone is attached to any culture be culturally conscious and alerted to his or her identity and its uniqueness. In other words, culture is inseparable from people and should therefore be cherished and relished.
Further, the social institutions such as the family which shoulders the responsibility of procreation and orientation of new ones should not be loose in its function of socialization, the agents of which should be closely monitored. Rather, they should be made to internalize the values and virtues, which are in tandem with the family’s cultural dictates so as to ensure behavioral sameness and ideological similarity.
On the part of the government, political power should be utilized to encourage cultural
peoples, regardless of their tribal divergence, to develop interest in promoting and market their cultural uniqueness and potency, which could be of socio-economic advantage. This is to bring to bear the maxim that “there is unity in diversity.” Nothing makes the diversity other than culture. In other words, every culture has its own peculiarities and idiosyncrasies that make it stand out. Also, students whose priority is African languages study should be put on scholarship.
Finally, it can be unarguably stated that no culture is better than another. The so-called
superior or dominant ones on the global scene are only fortunate. Forceful imposition of a people’s cultural lifestyle on another is strongly discouraged in the light of cultural relativism.
