Culture Article

Difficulty of Documenting African Culture

Julia Stewart wrote that, “Over many centuries African people have produced an abundance of proverbs, legends, fables, riddles, superstitions, songs, poetry, stories and quotes. Only a fraction of this creative treasure has been captured in print… Most of it remains unrecorded as it continues to be passed from generation to generation”. The passing down of the treasure is by word of mouth, making human interaction a key in providing accurate documentation for writing books on African culture.

Years of colonization, imperialism, slavery and of recent neo-colonization by some Western countries have made it impossible to forge a relationship of trust between Western Researchers and Indigenes to provide documentation on African cultures, that is not viewed by Africans as tainted with bias and Western insensibilities. Somehow, we have to revive the culture that was deconstructed by Europeans to erect structures that facilitated exploitations, which today brings resentment and distrust between the two worlds.

Africa must have thousands of cultures, each with her version of translation and interpretation of proverbs, legends, fables, riddles, superstitions, songs, poetry, stories and quotes. Some Western countries were interested in resources extraction over documenting or preserving the heritage and culture of the indigenes. Every year that passes, it is increasingly difficult to reconstruct the life of the indigenes before the partition of Africa.

A school of thought believes that France’s colonization and imperialism in Africa was very successful in breaking down African cultures making it easy to exploit the indigenes. The school argues that France understood the complexities of indigenous cultures and adapted a technique that was based on training selected indigenes in France to be used as agents of exploitation in Africa. France used them to deconstruct the old ways and erected Administrative units to govern the indigenes through handpicked African stooges. No matter how controversial this statement appears, it accurately defines French role in Africa, and neo-colonization of today. Many Africans are still bleeding and fighting to have their own identity. The return to their old ways appears to be impossible – making it harder to document what existed before deconstruction.

Documenting indigenous African culture requires a lot more than understanding a few spoken words in an African dialect. It is more of understanding the lifestyles of the indigenes that are not confused from outside. Paul Zoungrana wrote that, “Beyond refusal of all exterior domination is the urge to reconnect in a deep way with Africa’s cultural heritage, which has been far too long misunderstood and rejected. Far from being a superficial or folkloric attempt to bring back to life some of the traditions or practices of our ancestors, it is a matter of constructing a new African society, whose identity is not confused from outside”.

Given the turbulent history between Western Imperialists and African indigenes, it appears Africans who speak and understand the language must start the process of reconstructing the old ways since the process is based on human interaction. There is little or no record on the lifestyles of the indigenes before colonization and the partition of Africa. There is some documentation by the West but Africans consider it as altered by western insensibilities or doled out of half-truths in an attempt to cover-up western atrocities in Africa.

It is not a coincidence that major books that truly and accurately document indigenous African cultures are written by Africans who have lived with the indigenes, and studied in the West. African cultures are a way of life passed down unconsciously from generation to generation by word of mouth. For a Western Researcher to understand and document the culture accurately, he or she must be willing to walk into an African village naked and without any assumptions. Only then could the researcher comprehend how the culture is received by the indigenes and how it’s perceived. The Researchers must demonstrate to the indigenes a human side that is different from enslavement, colonization, and imperialism.

Only of recent have African writers began the process of documenting African cultures. There is still a long ways to go. I believe that as more Africans publish more books on African culture, there would come a time when the books are worthy enough to lie atop those that preceded and worthy enough to form a base for documenting those that will follow.