Everyday&People

On the Culture Edict.
Cultures will clash. An event that can only be expected with the onslaught of the about-to-get-tiresome g-word: globalization.

When a man and a woman marry, there are the pains of adjustment that come with eating soup of a different customary blend and constituency, and of submitting to a different authority and approved expense rate – and this is just within the clan! You can guess that crossing the Niger to select a mate only multiplies the adjustment index – ranging from the rituals following childbirth to the execution of a dead man’s will.

Marriage may not be viewed as a bona fide agent of globalization in the strictest of sense since, supposedly, it is only love that will have a Birom woman prepare snails for, not just her man, but her children. However, there’s the common denominator to every culture and style of living: money.

Though in accord with the common saying that the best gifts of life are free… Joy and Pain, and Sorrow and Laughter; Money has proven to be a prime facilitator of the outcome. The faith factor is sure, do not misunderstand me. But as … said, “money pays our preachers and prints our Bibles”.

Money, however, is not our “beef” right now. It’s the Nigerian Culture – or the "Undefined-ness" thereof. There’s been a lot of noise and confusion with regard to what our culture is and how we should comport ourselves at home and in the eyes of the international community. There’s been “beef” over “national pride” and cultural show in “dress sense”, “patriotism” et al.

To be continued

Teris. 23 October, 2009.
Read the original version here.