(Proposed) Text of Lecture at Leipzig High School 2009about a week ago I received an e-mail from your teacher, but I will not read it to you, since this would eat up most of the time available to us…
I should have asked Mr. Klimmt:"how many semesters do we have to deal with the issues raised in your mail ? "also: I had to completely change the content of my lecture. this being so, I feel free to invite Mr. Klimmt to be my assistant by writing all the terms contained in what we call a 'glossar' on the blackboard or the flip-chart, for later digestion… that's HIS job for today, but: as compensation or consolation I shall leave you a CD or DVD with lots of scripts by African authors and 'seff' also for Mrs. Grunwald's impressive collection: YES!
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and now to the Vorgaben' given to me by Mr. Klimmt …How come I came to Africa - in the first place ?
As a journalist
- Borromäus-Bibliothek and missionary novels deep in the Eifel
- Koblenz as French garrison town and Algerian Liberation war
- fiery African speakers at Hyde Park Corner
- scholarship in 1962 and 1963
- one-year scholarship 1965-1966 and year at U.I:, Ibadan, Nigeria
And: how come I came to know one Wole Soyinka so early?
Year at U.I. and Mbari Mbayo Club
What kind of country is Nigeria?
Three times as big as Germany Diversity of
- geographical zones, from the tropical rain-forest to the Sahel in the North
- ethnic groups, religionsAnd also diversity in the intensity of colonial penetration and response to it :A country divided: direct and INDIRECT rule!!! explain! Diversity and daily life. As a response to climate etc.since early seventies a victim of theresource curse- ever heard of?
Nigerians also changed the'Oil Boom' to 'OIL DOOM' Politics controlled by KLEPTOCRACY in civilian and in mufti Nigeria and GB? - not important
That relationship replaced by many others Nigeria and colonialism - only important for the primitive ones… Nigerians and the English language:
- one of its masters is SOYINKA
and others are Ken Saro and the members of the younger generation: Chris Abani, Ben Okri, Adichie etc. "The empire writes back!" - ever heard of??? why does Soyinka and why do others write in English - no question for them! It is their language: Taban quote! (quotes on IDENTITY ) why not write in Yoruba, Igbo or TIV = some do! more than 100 million Do speak Hausa, some 40 million Yoruba and Igbo (that's more than Flemish…) many are multi-lingualwriters and Europe??? not so important any longer what is ‚African'? (see: Wole on Wenger and Fela) let me take a little detour again…
almost exactly a year ago some people in the Munich headquarters of the GOETHE-Institut asked me to do a one-day workshop with some new recruits on the subject of Inter-Culturality And I must admit that I had a bad feeling right form the start…
- which proved right : I was a total failure!!! so some students said, quote: "Meuer may be an excellent choice when it comes to organize seminars and workshops in Africa, but when it comes to teach us about inter-culturality he is zero." I DIDN'T get their logic!!! at some point during that day I quoted from a fat study by Prof. Stoll of the Germersheim school for translators on "Die Interkulturalität afrikanischer Literatur", on page 335 Prof. Stoll quotes the eminent black US scholar Skip Gates (one of Wole' students!) on Soyinka: "As Shakespeare used Denmark, as Brecht used Chikago, Soyinka uses the Yoruba world as a setting for cosmic conflict andnever as an argument for the existence of African culture."
And I asked myself with a quote from SWR II im Januar 2008: "Was fangen wir nun damit an?" Welchen ‚Erkenntniszuwachs' können wir damit erzielen? "Simply that down there in Africa we are faced with inter-cultural citizens of the world (WELTBÜRGER) who do not care very much about ‚African Culture' -Because they simply LIVE it… Like for example the student of the German language and artist from Ghana Bernard Akoi-Jackson, who only two days earlier had been at my place for dinner. Telling him about the task given to me by GOETHE I asked him "welche Rollenspiele mit welchen Afrikanern ich denn da in München spielen solle'? whereupon Bernard simply answered: "Afrikaner sind auch nur Menschen." Sum total: they - the Africans - are, the better ones are children of the world Best example to be found in SOYINKA's long-poem - SAMARKAND and other markets I have seen: the MARKET as a TOPOS! read from it! Taban and poem - from my lecture what is CULTURE? there and HERE! I was asked that question three years ago by some Nigerian friends, and here is my answer (my attempt to give an answer to that question): Talking about CULTURE or what? (Excerpts from a Lecture at Lagos Book Fair, Sept 18th, 2006) A provocation? YES!
In German papers both Culture and the Arts, as well as CIVILIZATION figure on the pages of theFEUILLETON (from the French 'feuilles', or 'bonnes feuilles', or leaves - the original word - pages, which used to be distributed in the French Literary Salons…) okay, then we talk about CULTURE first of all an excursion into HISTORY…when did CULTURE start on this globe? with the early engravers of GRAFFITTI on stones and in caves in the Sahara, the Kalahari desert, and in Mesopotamia - which is today's unfortunate Irakalso the CROMAGNON caves in Southern France I almost forgot the SAN people in Southern Africa, a minority people very much threatened by so-called 'development' - which means the exclusion of that people, even their extinction, some call it also GENOCIDE or ETHNOCIDE, in Botswana and Namibia... or did CULTURE startwith the first guy who told the other guy a STORY, as the comedian Peter Ustinov used to say: we in Africa call that our very own art form, known as: O R A T U R E. Or may when that 'first Man or WOMAN sang a song to his fellow man/woman? So here we have LITERATURE, or rather ORATURE, PAINTING (the ARTS?), and MUSIC - almost all arty manifestations, expressions. now that was more or less SPONTANEOUS, where as What we call CULTURE (or HIGH culture, HOCHKULTUR?)
- OPERA, BALLET, THEATRE, PAINTING, SCULPTURE)
as we imagine it today were really born after AGRI-CULTURE was invented in… and this again in MESOPOTAMIA = today's IRAK!!!
(NO: not only there but in many centres!) With the mastery of WATER= irrigated agri-CULTURE Which allowed man and woman to produce a surplus and freed some peasants from daily work in the fields and allowed them to engage in the 'useless' field of… the … ARTS,Those early farmers did PRODUCEAnd were NOT not living on or off a RENT economy - like OIL, GAS (like in Nigeria or Angola) or COLTAN (like in the eastern Congo), which are simply extracted from the ground… with no value added... and so on in history with- European FEUDALISM and the court artists, the BARDS or SÄNGER (or the GRIOTS in Malinke culture)
- the MEDICI and other Italian feudal over-lords, the Fuggers in Germany (rich traders and/or bankers) in Germany as SPONSORS of CULTURE,
- the feudal overlords in the Netherlands and Spain, the French Courtthen the European Bourgeoisie which - with industrialisation in the 19th - sponsored artistsand then:
a. the modern nation-state and
b. Capitalists - as sponsors
ad a. the STATE: more often than not was not really conducive to the blossoming of independent creative CULTURE,The worst examples being NAZI Art and SOCIALIST REALISM, Spain of Franco, Italy of Mussolini etc.today in democratic European societies it is different: what we have isindependent sponsorship
ad b. Capitalism did do it in the 19the century remember that even Karl Marx was sponsored by the (textile?) capitalist ENGELS! (both were Germans, the one a Protestant, the other a poor Jew, who lived in exile in Paris and London) and today Bosch, Volkswagen, Siemens , Mercedes, SAP, Würth and most others do it.
There is even a word for it: CORPORATE CULTURAL IDENITYi.e.: PR and Image-Making The question then is:
a. how much is the German or the Nigerian state doing? (see Biodun Jeyifo)
b. how much are rich individual Nigerians or Nigerian companies doing? What are the members of Nigeria's CIVIL SOCIETY doing?
Ad a. WHAT is the state sponsoring? Is the state trying to influence CONTENT or is the state leaving this to independent bodies - to CIVIL SOCIETY Basically for ME: Is the official 'culture concept' (if there is any …) forward- or backward-looking? backward : the cliché of the always… "GLORIOUS African past… "which has long since been demystified by writers like Soyinka, but also Ayi Kwei Arma, Yambo Oulogem and many others "Dance of the Forests"??? (already in 1960!) that piece was promptly 'dis-commanded' as the command performance play for Independencewas that already a sign of things to come??? is the African Stateready to allow controversial artistic expression?
ad b. same questions as far as private sponsorship is concerned or is it meant to further personal aggrandisement? OGAISM? BIG-MANISM) (which I see every day on the ARTS pages of Nigerian newspapers - where ARTS pages do exist, at all!!!) Poor Chinua Achebe cannot defend himself the sanctification by some Igbo Ogas, who most probably haven't even read him…. more of this later… if you wish… when talking about CULTURE in the Nigerian context what are we really talking about? do we mean NIGERIAN or AFRICAN culture? (see Biodun Jeyifo's brilliant lecture, delivered at the ANA meeting, and re-printed in the GUARDIAN last Friday!!!) somehow the wider PAN-AFRICAN world perspective seems to have gotten lost in narrow PAROCHIALISM- and in the stupidifying reality shows on TV - with which Black Africa is being flooded from SOUTH Africa… of all places!, after the earlier waves of Telenovelas from BRAZIL… no matter which one, we must always be aware
that both are of necessity CONSTRUCTS (see M. Solarin!) Since the "national" given is artificial - as is the African Nation State, created at the 1884 Berlin Congo Conference, after all 1 It is very much artificial in Germany, TOOO!…
(Germany having defined herself for several centuries as - only ??? - a KULTURNATION, since, unlike Britain or France, she did not become a NATION-State till 1871 - germany thus being "the late nation" Now if Germany is an artifical creation, though united by a common language, (which is NOT the case in all African states, with the exception of Somalia!
And what does poor Somalia prove???) then African nation-states - more or less created as geographical entities by Europeans - only 13 years later, at the Berlin Congo Conference in 1884!!! are all CONSTRUCTs… (only one recent exception: Eritrea created in 1993) all ethnically more or less (!) homogeneous, but what does that mean??? We must first accept: The ARTIFICIALNESS of the NATION That's a reality, which must be admitted! For a start! but that artificialness could be, must be seen as an inspiring challenge and a chance, since it gives us the opportunity to do with it what we want, UNLESS… We hark back on the ever-so-boring manifestations of AFRICAN culture as the Urhobo - or any other - dancers; boat races etc. etc. which have their justification in their own right -Like the hip-slapping Bavarian Schuhplattler at the Munich Oktoberfest… but is this 'LIVING' German culture? NO! WE do have such manifestations in Europe too, but we consider them more as FOLKLORE Somebody also called it FAKE-loremany years ago... like when the young maiden at FESTAC, doing their fertility dance, were made to wear bras (forced upon them by some fundamentalist nit-wits !) whereas normally they would have to show off what they got… but then the two invading 'WORLD' religions saw to it that… European-Arab constipation ruled supreme… There seems to be hope, however, when even the retired Anglican bishop now sings the praise of Yoruba culture and IFA, see "This Day" of Saturday 9th, 2006!) The 'people' are entitled to dance as they always did, strum the CORA as they always did, But then ALI FARKA TOURE and Oumou Sangare have made something else out of it, just as did FELA(see: Soyinka on Susanne Wenger, as attached)
Have you ever seen the Nigerian government export FELA??? or Wole Soyinka for that matter… as a 'representative of vibrant Nigerian Culture' … No: rather Ben Enwonwu and his Shango - it hurts nobody And neither FELA nor WOLE asked for it: they made their impression on the world scene on their own: by their CREATIVITY and their INDEPENDENCE… Although when WOLE did get that prize almost everybody
- who had NEVER read a line from his books,
- and who had all too often decried him as 'negative'did or wanted to jump on the bandwagon: OGAism! Full stop! We have to develop criteria for what we considervibrant, lively, dynamic CULTURE Born out of the megalopoli of Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Kano, Maiduguri and a hinterland which is the 'urbanised village' where Nollywood, the internet and the SMS reign supreme. (beware: only criteria for our critical judgement, but NOT to prescribe to the CREATORS!!!) We are, though most people are not ready to admit it, all people with multiple IDENTITIES, constantly evolving… YOU perhaps even more than US OYINGBOS The Camerounian writer Francis Bebey in a lecture in Germany many years ago once asked that rhetorical question: "You toubabs (white people) know your Goethe, Beethoven and Picasso. But I as an African I know Shango, the Orisha, Chaka, the Cora and the xolophone on top. Now tell me: WHO is the richer then?! "
(see also: CRISISGROUP REPORT on Nigeria, July 19, 2006, or Mathew Hassan Kuka, Secretary-General of the Nigerian Catholic Church, in the GUARDIAN in September 2006: "Every Nigerian carries an excess luggage of identity, in: "Ethnic identities are not a natural given; its (Nigeria's) ethnic identities are historical constructions with political value", page 2) But conservative politicians world-wide are always clamouring for what our German conservatives (Mrs. Merkel) are calling the need for a LEITKULTUR (no canon, coming from the catholic church) Translated: a canon or catalogue of cultural values, mores, customs, traditions said to be "genuine German" Ones, to be defended against the new citizens or the 'invading hordes' from beyond our borders, especially so today, when we are faced with the reality of
a. some 5 million Muslim Turks - who have settled in Germany and have been there for three generations now,
b. the new immigrants from even further afield: the Maghreb and the Machreck, Irak, Iran, Bangladesh; Sri Lanka, Latin and Central America. With the 'major threat' perceived as the one coming from the Islamic world - all the more so thanks to G.W. Bush and his 'crusade'. No: we don't need not LEITKULTUR!All we need is a firm commitment to the ideals that provide the founding rocks of our democracy and our civil society: culture- the ideals of the French and American revolutions;
- the Declaration of Human Rights as embodied in the UN Charta
- including Human rights for 51 percent of the globe's population: that is WOMEN!
- the ideals of Africa's liberators: from the early Negritudinists through Kenyatta, the anthropologist; Amilcar Cabral, Agostinho Neto, Nelson Mandela to Camara Laye, Ngugi, Soyinka (the list is endless) but CHINWEIZU surely does NOT belong here! That's good enough, and theneverybody can worship, sing and dance, and cook as he/she likes
- in Germany and elsewhere, But, please: EVERYWHERE!!! And not the destruction of Bhudda figures in Afghanistan or MOREMI figures in Yorubaland, (see Soyinka script on the Fundamentalists) Or the exclusion of PHARAONIC culture in presentday
Islamic EGYPT!!!! Poor Cheick Anta DIOP of Senegal, who pretended he could prove that PHARAONIC was black… And, please no more: "Ghana go home!" in Africa either! So what do you REALLY WANT??? As your own CULTURE at the beginning of the 3rd Millenium??? as reflected in your own newspapers - and as seen in our German newspapers- or as in the list of questions as mailed to me by Jahman…
"What is culture ?" I can do it, though I have some difficulty here, since to me it looked a bit too much like a "HOW TO…" but may be I am wrong…
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let me be very frank with you: after 47 years in and out of Africa I am no longer interested in promoting 'African identity', ' African personality' or what have you…
nor are the more intelligent and more creative African writers, musician and artists!!! what I am really worried about is all this nonsensical talking or bla-bla about 'IDENTITY' - no matter what color !you can find the answer to all that in AMARTYA SEN's ' "Die Identätsfalle - warum es keinen Krieg der Kulturen gibt" or better in the original version: "The illusion of destiny"or 'tiefer gehängt', as we Germans say… take:
a. Zuckmayr and
b. unser Stammbaum by the Bläck Föös
Ad a:
UNSERE STAMMBAUM
Ich wor ne stolze Römer, kom met Caesar's Legion,
un ich ben ene Franzus, kom mem Napoleon.
Ich ben Buur, Schreiner, Fescher, Bettler un Edelmann,
Sänger un Gaukler, su fing alles aan.Refrain:
Su simmer all he hinjekumme,
mir sprechen hück all dieselve Sproch.
Mir han dodurch su vill jewonne.
Mir sin wie mer sin, mir Jecke am Rhing.
Dat es jet, wo mer stolz drop sin.Ich ben us Palermo, braat Spaghettis für üch met.
Un ich, ich wor ne Pimock, hück laach ich met üch met.
Ich ben Grieche, Türke, Jude, Moslem un Buddhist,
mir all, mir sin nur Minsche, vür'm Herjott simmer jlichRefrainDe janze Welt, su süht et us,
es bei uns he zo Besök.
Minsche us alle Länder
stonn met uns hück aan d'r Thek.
M'r gläuv, m'r es en Ankara, Tokio oder Madrid,
doch se schwade all wie mir
un söke he ihr Glöck.Refrain
nach oben
Ich war ein stolzer Römer, kam mit Caesar's Legion,
und ich bin ein Franzose, kam mit Napoleon.
Ich bin Bauer, Schreiner, Fischer, Bettler und Edelmann,
Sänger und Gaukler, so fing alles an.Refrain:
So sind wir alle hier hingekommen,
wir sprechen heute alle dieselbe Sprache.
Wir haben dadurch so viel gewonnen.
Wir sind wie wir sind, wir Jecken am Rhein.
Das ist was, wo wir stolz drauf sind.Ich bin aus Palermo, brachte Spaghettis für euch mit.
Und ich war ein Pimock, heute lach' ich mit euch mit.
Ich bin Grieche, Türke, Jude, Moslem und Buddhist,
wir alle, wir sind nur Menschen, vorm Herrgott sind wir gleich.RefrainDie ganze Welt, so sieht es aus,
ist bei uns hier zu Besuch.
Menschen aus allen Ländern
trifft man hier an jeder Ecke.
Man glaubt, man ist in Ankara, Tokio oder Madrid,
doch sie reden alle wie wir
und suchen hier ihr Glück.
Refrain
Bläck FÖÖSS
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And for those of you who really want to go deeper into the matter…
Tribute to Susanne Wenger
Wole Soyinka January 19, 2009 11:00
Years before Fela Anikulapo was tagged with the media ascription, Susanne Wenger, later to be known as Adunni Olorisa, was the original, quintessential abami eda of the Nigerian art scene, but most particularly of the Yoruba cultural community. Her passage of revelation was quite uncomplicated. My favourite summation of her experience: she came, she saw and was conquered. An internal, as yet undefined spiritual quest, too personal for outsiders to understand, had come to fulfillment, and there was no turning back. I glimpsed this phase of illumination at our very first meeting, all the way back in the early sixties.
Thinking of Fela at the time of Suzanne's passing comes to me quite naturally, quite apart from the fact that I did try to induce Fela to visit Osun on a few occasions, confident that he might thereby deepen his affinity to the Yoruba world. There were quite a few similarities - and contrasts - between her and my cousin, who came to be known even more widely as abami eda. Both created their own worlds - communalistic in temper, internally regulated, and defended with a passion. Both were ardent promoters of Yoruba culture, although, in Fela's case, he had a generally permissive cultural amalgam that went by the name 'African culture'.
There, perhaps, the convergence ends. Susanne's cultural space was a space of tranquility and meditation that transmitted a unique aura. She hated showmanship, and was somewhat reproachful of Fela's treatment of a shared resource, her eyes being always tuned inwards, communing wih her private Muse in a secretive zone filled with images, with intimations of godhead, constantly homing in on what would be the guiding passage from her history and cultural antecedents to this world that reached out to her so compulsively. She found that passage in the depths of Osun, and Osun became, not merely her physical, creative retreat, but her spiritual refuge and inspiration. Let this be clearly stated; Suzanne Wenger never attempted nor pretended to be Yoruba. Even in her very last interviews, she took pains to stress this. She was European, Austrian, yet a being of the universal spirit who found the truths of existence not in Europe, nor Austria, but in a place she had never heard of until brought thither in the most ordinary of circumstances. Yet she recognized that space at once, intuitively, unquestioning. Austria lost an artist., Oshogbo gained one, a spiritual seeker and guide, community leader - despite herself - and creative mentor all in one. No community imbued with any cultural pride and self-confidence in its authentic heritage, yet with an openness to the offerings of external insights, could ask for more. The symbiotic relationship could proceed, at its own pace, and unfettered. There is a lesson in this for all of us, viewed conversely. There is nothing strange in Africans, with their wealth of spiritual and cultural resources, seeking or voluntarily embracing spiritual affinities anywhere - from Rome to Mecca, from Jerusalem to Canterbury. It is when these latter-day converts assume the mantle of Absolute, Incontrovertible Truths to the extent that they affect to despise other Truths, destroy their icons, mutilate their heritage and embark on orgies of intolerance, even to a homicidal extent, that they declare themselves subhuman, and earn the righteous wrath of other claimants to the altar of spiritual verities. Susanne Wenger, re-named Adunni Olorisa, mapped out the path of tolerance, of spiritual ecumenism, the choice of being true to oneself yet accommodative of others. All she demanded, indeed insisted upon, was the sanctity of the spiritual space of her adoptive community. Let the warring dacoits of foreign deities take note, and place a check on their fanaticisms and bigotries. Believe and worship what you will, but let others also believe, and worship in their chosen mode.
What the Africans took to, and continues to thrive within nations such as Brazil, Cuba, Columbia and other Caribbean communities on island and landmass, Adunni-Osun found by accident - or guidance - in its original home, the abode of the orisa. She dedicated her life to enhancing a preserve that spoke meaningfully to her, enabling a community of creative minds and hands in various genres, protecting, exploring and expressing outwardly the eternal essence of its sacred grove with the reverence of the imaginative spirit. Such creative devotion does not fail to renew the spiritual dimension that lies at the heart of all religions, by whatever names they are called, and whatever their claims to world status in the directory of religions.
Adunni-Osun is how integrated she surfaces in my recall of her. She conveyed a variety of emotions, lessons, unresolved intimations to many, black, white, or bronze, from within the Nigerian nation space and from far distant lands, not excepting even tourists for whom she had little toleration.. For all however, this irreducible mantra, epitomized by the career of a questing stranger who came, saw, and was conquered: "Go to the orisa, learn from the orisa, and be wise."
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And a word onCULTURE and GLOBALISATION (from a lecture to Culture Reporters in Nigeria - 2006) The latter of which MUST interest you - in your profession! as inspired by two newspaper articles:
a. an advert in the London ECONOMIST, June 24th, 2006, and
b. an article in the NYT of March 6th, 2006, as printed in the sz SUPPLEMENT The advert has two messages "Culture is the real power of globalisation" meaning: It IS… but then the last line states: "UNDERSTANDING culture is the key to successful globalisation" and in between the advert says: that "Vlerick.. right at the heart of Europe, in Belgium… is the best place to study…with the emphasis on qualitative, original and entrepreneurial thinking in a… truly multiculrural environment.Interact with our worldwide network of alumni and discover how culture can be the real power of globalisation. (CAN BE!) .
We provide the environment to engage with and learn from participants from all over the world in an ambiance of respect for this great diversity. "You have guessed it:- it is an advert for a university, which - unheard of twenty years ago! - is advertising its 'product' world-wide, - and is doing so in the ECONOMIST! For a university...
- in a smallish European country,
- which is really diverse, with three languages spoken: French, Dutch and German,
- which has long be said it would break up because of its tribal divide - very real in December 2007; after the man who was supposed to form a national government, has given up after six months of trying... ,
- but which also houses the EU and NATO headquarters
- thus - because being situated in the heart of Europe
is truly multi-cultural,
with Germany, Holland and France (and Britain across the channel) only being a few miles away!!!
… diversity…So CULTURE does sell
-
(compare this with the sales slogan by a representative of one of the new Laender in East Germany - to attract US, Indian, Japanese, Arab investments:
Semper Oper and all the rest! And then the article in the English language supplement of the NYT, which is also being printed by papers in France, Spain, Italy etc… as a free extra… I jump right into to the middle of that article where it says: "It turns out that it's hard to change the destinies of nations and individuals just by pulling economic levers. Over the past few decades, America has transfered large amounts of money to Africa to build factories and spur economic development. None of this has worked. As the economists Raghuram Rajan and Arvind Subramanian demonstrated, there is no correlation between aid and growth. "Where then is the real problem, one is tempted to ask?And the author answers that question right in the title of his contribution: "QUESTIONS OF CULTURE" Meaning… that Africans, for example, don't have the right kind of culture… or could it be that the NORTH/West did NOT understand that African culture, when it go engaged in Africa? We shall come to that in a moment, after we have done away with DAVID BROOK's nonsensical, false statement that "America has transferred large amounts of money to Africa to build factories and spur economic development…"
It is patently FALSE:
a. since America did NOT transfer large sums…IN FACT THE SUMS WERE RATHER SMALL compared to other 'transferers' (like Europe, the World Bank and others!) and
b. America did NOT 'transfer large sums' "to build factories"- if at all it is US companies that have invested, but we call those INVESTMENTS! and
c. the sums meant "to spur economic development" were
- rather smallish,
- very often spent on useless projects;
- in which half or more of the money was spent on so-called US experts.So, now we have done away with this nonsense and we can come back to the issue of CULTURE proper, and I shall sumup some of Mr. BROOKS main arguments… Argument One: "Once, not that long ago, economics was the queen of the social sciences. Human beings were assumed to be profit-maximizing creatures, trending toward reasonableness. As societies grew richer and more modern, it was assumed, they would become more secular. As people became better educated, primitive passions, like tribalism and nationalism would fade away and global institutions would rise to take their place. As communication technology improved there would be greater cooperation and understanding…None of these suppositions turned out to be true. "Argument TWO: "Communication technology hasn't brought people closer together; it has led to greater cultural segmentation, across the world and (…MINE!) even within the US. Education hasn't made people more moderate and independent-minded.
…
All of this has thrown a certain sort of materialistic vision into crisis. We now know that global economic and technological forces do not gradually erode local cultures and values. Instead, cultures and values shape economic development. Moreover, as people are empowered by greater wealth and education, cultural differences become more pronounced, not less, as different groups chase different visions of the good life, and react in aggressive ways to perceived slights to their cultural dignity. (see SOYINKA on Palestine and Dignity!) Economics which assumes people are basically reasonable (WHAT REASONABLENESS???) and respond straight- forwardly to incentives(???), is no longer queen of the social sciences. The events of the past years have thrown us back to the murky realms of theology, sociology, anthropology and history. "QUESTION: (MURKY as COMPARED to the REASONABLENESS of ECONOMICS? That is Anerican IDEOLOGY!!!) Question to Mr. BROOKS: does he hereby mean the born-again attitude of Mr. G.W. Bush and his 'evil empire' terminology?
Does he mean the bush-fire-like spreading of American fundamentalism, above all in Africa, but also in Latin America and the Philippines - by the horders of born-again preachers whom you meet in planes and in public places all over Africa???) Let's continue with Mr. BROOKS: "Even economists know this, and are migrating to more behaviouralist and … CULTURAL approaches.… Alan Greenspan said that he once assumed that capitalism was "human nature". But after watching the collapse of the Russian economy, he had come to consider it was "not human nature at all, but culture." Mr. BROOKS then asks a number of questions among them: "How do I fulfil my yearnings for righteousness? What is possible and what is impossible?". To which he answers: "The answers to these questions are wildly diverse, and once worldviews have been absorbed (from childhood days…), they produce wildly different levels and types of social and… cultural capital. East Asians and Jews, for example, seem to thrive commercially wherever they settle. "And that's where Africa, as quoted in the beginning comes in…He then also describes the mess in the US, and states that "a million experiments to restructure schools and bureaucracies in the US"… have not produced any results, And why? "But students who lack cultural and social capital because they did not come from intact, organized families continue to fall further and further behind - unless they come into contact with some great mentor who can not only teach, but also changes values and behaviour." ME: what a load of US individualistic BULLSHIT. The author simply forgetting to ask why there are fewer and fewer 'intact, organized families' when the income of the average American middle class family has fallen by some 30 percent in the last 30 years - forcing both partners to work or the father to have two to three Jobs at the same time!It is simply Individualist, moralistic, protestant bullshit - like foe example in that 'giant nation' Nigeria, when people place their hope on that MENTOR, When the Bushs, Cheneys, Rumsfelds, Condoleezas and others represent the interest of the CHEVRONS, Halliburtons and other crooks - who have been over-charging the US Defence Department ever since the start of the war in IRAK? WHERE ARE THE MENTORS? May be America needs a Nelson Mandela or a Wole SOYINKA? And Mr. BROOKS to sum up: "It all amounts to this: events have forced different questions on us. If the big contest of the twentieth century was between planned and free market economies, the big question of the next century will be understanding how CULTURES change and be changed (DOES THAT INCLUDE HOW POSSIBLY US CULTURE MIGHT BE CHANGED???), how social and cultural capital can be nurtured and developed, how desctructive cultural conflict can be turned to healthy cultural competition. People who think about global development are ahead of the rest of us in thinking about these matters."
And what does Mr. BROOKS come up with???…. I recommend rival anthologies: "Culture Matters," edited by Lawrence Harrison and … Samuel Huntingdon, and "Culture and Public Action", "edited by Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton. But the rest of us will catch up soon."
I, FOR ONE, DOUBT IT AFTER THIS ARTICLE… |
