by Thokozile Gurganious

Created on: October 07, 2010   Last Updated: October 08, 2010

Whoever coined this topic did a good job. I have for a long time been worried about the state of Africans and their culture, but for fear of being labeled “politically incorrect”  among African circles, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I did not ask for this topic, but I am glad to have found it and I shall make sure my pen does a good job.

The dominant culture in every society tends to be that of the “haves” -those who are rich, famous and powerful. White culture is dominant in the world today because white people have been able to dominate, conquer and subjugate other people and exploit their resources. The white man dominates the world economically and that is why his culture dominates the world too. Economic dominance gives cultural dominance, and culture includes religion, language, food and many other things. This does not mean that western culture (the white man’s culture) is superior. Indeed a lot of health, social and other societal ills today are the direct results of western culture. No other culture has as much junk food as western culture.  The doughnuts are delicious, the thin and crunchy fries are finger licking good, and the heavily flour coated chicken takes good. The western menu of junk food is endless. However, the delicious taste of the western junk food is very deceiving. Packed in this delicious food are poisonous chemicals, loads and loads of fat and calories, and a lot of cholesterol. Indeed western culture has declared war on African culture, and unfortunately, the African defenses have been caught completely unaware.

1. The onslaught on African languages - from Nairobi to Johannesburg, African languages are in ruins and rubbles from attack from English and other western languages. I witnessed a mother in Nairobi handing a birthday gift to her four year old daughter. The little girl eagerly unwrapped the gift as her mother watched her. The gift was her favorite toy that she had so much wanted. She had not dreamed that her mother would buy it for her. The child gasped for air as she saw the toy. She held her chest with one hand, has eyes wide open. I thought she was fainting!

“Mathee!  Check, check…ni vile mimi na laika.” (Mother! Check! Check! It’s just what I like)

“Fathee a li nunulia wewe,” (father bought it for you)  the mom said as she held the almost fainting child.

Four out of the seven words used by the child in her sentence were English.

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