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OMNES : The Journal of multicultural society
[ Article ]
OMNES: The Journal of Multicultural Society - Vol. 9, No. 2, pp.26-44
ISSN: 2093-5498 (Print)
Print publication date 31 Jul 2019
Received 01 Nov 2018 Revised 15 May 2019 Accepted 27 May 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14431/omnes.2019.07.9.2.26

African Culture and the Gains of Cultural Inclusivity in the Age of Globalization

Abidemi Olufemi Adebayo
Redeemer’s University, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper advances the reason for an inclusive review of what constitutes African culture in view of the impact of globalization on the continent of Africa. Culture is a significant aspect of the African social system. It is the platform for asserting Africanity. The paper is motivated by George Herbert Mead’s theory of symbolic interactionism whose core concern is mutual inclusivity. African culture has undergone different stages of modification. What constituted African culture in the 19th century, for example, is not what constitutes it in the present day. The paper, therefore, argues the need for African culture to embrace and co-exist with the Western contact which globalization has occasioned. Such inclusivity is capable of making the continent of Africa affirm its Africanness and as such, its relevance on the global stage. A historical periodization of the culture’s evolution is undertaken, resulting in the emergence of such categories as primitive African culture, traditional African culture and contemporary African culture. Also, the paper laments the inherent contradiction in the present-day African cultural practices whereby Africans live by Western values in their realities but condemn the West according to the principle of nationalism. Following this, it is proposed that African culture should liberalize and permit the indispensable visiting Western worldview to co-exist with it. African spiritualism, arts and ethics are identified as the most enduring of all the elements of African culture, needed for Africa’s technology, iconic identity, and rectitude, respectively.

Keywords:

culture, Africanity, social system, spiritualism, globalization

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Biographical Note

Adebayo Abidemi Olufemi (Ph.D.) teaches African Literature in the Department of English, Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, Nigeria. His areas of interest include African culture, popular culture in digital literature, and literary stylistics. E-mail: femishakespeare@yahoo.com