TRANSITION INTO ‘MANHOOD’ THE MAASAI WAY IS UNDER ATTACK THANKS TO CULTURAL IMPERIALIZATION

 Left Maasai junior warriors roasting beef meat and right a barbecued sandwich from Macdonald food store 

Seer, soothsayer or visionary are the names given to the people who decide when it’s the right time for the tribe’s initiation age-group rituals, The rituals elevate generations to new levels of seniority. Ultimately the oldest relinquish all power and retire to become highly respected wise men.

Each level is characterized by a name e.g. the two fighting cadres- the youngest and fittest of the generations and the most elite; junior and senior warriors, are known as il-moran. They are bound to each other by a lifelong oath administered during the initiation ceremonies when they are ushered into manhood. The passage from childhood to junior warrior is marked by circumcision.

The ceremony takes place every twelve to fifteen years, according to the movement of the stars and planets in the southern skies. The initiate is prepared for the ceremony by his mother, who shaves his head. He is bathed with milk as a blessing to cover for what he is about to face. On the material day his bond partner’s hold his legs apart as the circumciser goes about his business. No matter how intense the pain, the initiate must never flinch, not even tremor of an eyelid must indicate discomfort, for the same would bring disgrace upon himself, his family and his clan. The cut takes a minute, the initiations lasts a month. During this time the initiates roam the bush in black robes shooting down birds with blunt arrowheads tipped with resin gum. The initiates are forbidden to marry during these period, after which the prettiest of the uncircumcised maidens, known as entito , are theirs to enjoy but not to make pregnant.

 The second stage of a man’ elevation from warrior into junior elder is marked by a four-to five day-long inside a specially built enclosure. What goes on inside the’ theatre’ is finalized by a ceremony where the enclosure is set on fire which razes to the ground.  One of the activities in the closure include the age-mates choosing a leader among themselves; a man of flawless physique and outstanding moral character. Their choice is confirmed by the chief laibon, and the leader, olutono is invited to choose a wife, followed by the other members.

Sadly this rich culture full of colour is coming into an end. Clan elders have been persuaded by the government to abandon the warrior system for it is considered to   contribute to retarding of development . Really?

PART 8. CONCLUSION: NEW MEDIA AND CULTURE IMPERIALISATION

In conclusion, the West must revise its conception of development. Economic growth without social and cultural justice cannot be our idea of development. It is imperative that development is measured in terms of the quality of human life, which can be reflected in, for example, better education, health and life expectancy for every single member of society. This is only possible if men and women are equally empowered, in theory and in practice. And the West has a crucial role to play in this process. Anything that falls short of restoring peoples' dignity, sense of identity, continuity and security should never be accepted. Africa needs to learn to respect the dissenting voice of its own people. And at the same time, the West needs to take heed to the saying of the African people "that you cannot manage or know the affairs of the house of your neighbour."

I believe that cultural imperialism could be a good thing if we are able to filter and adopt good ideas that are useful to us. Our culture is always evolving-for better or for worst would be dependent on the culture that judges at that point of time. If there is a good habit, such as clearing your table and tray after eating, to pick up, why not? (Evidently, Americanisation has yet to fully invade our Singapore culture, considering the fact that at IKEA, despite having a sign of “Please clear your table and tray”, there are still many trays littering the tables.)

With the advent of technology, we are able to gain more knowledge of what we, humans, deserve and have the rights to. As such, the government has but limited rights to censor contents-much less a culture- of a country. At the end of the day, it is up to us, media consumers to choose what values we should embrace and what we should not, based on what our own culture deems as appropriate.

PART 7. NEW MEDIA, CULTURE IMPERIALISM AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

As Wiki would express it that ..... Digital divide is the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology, and those that don't or have restricted access. This technology can include the telephone, television, personal computers and the Internet. It is unfortunate that the "globalization theory" of the New Media assumes that all players, men and women, rich and poor, will be affected equally. Furthermore, it also assumes that international trade opportunities open up equally to small scale firms, infant industries and the giant transnational corporations and cartels.

However the seven years of globalization indicate otherwise because international trade is also to do with people's livelihoods and their most basic social and economic rights. For millions of Africa's poorest people, trade is part of daily life, and a crucial determinant of welfare. When a people's social and economic rights and patterns are affected, their culture is overall affected too. Trade which is built on the unacceptable levels of social inequities to vulnerable communities and groups, or causes global ecological or environmental damage and disregards our obligations to future generations is not conducive to sustainable development. 

SEE ALSO... The Most Advanced Nation Is not left behind in Digital Divide

CONT..... PART 8. CONCLUSION: NEW MEDIA AND CULTURE IMPERIALISATION

PART 6. NEO-LIBERALISATION, DEMOCRACY AND THE NEW MEDIA

The conventional academic wisdom in the liberal Africa tradition is that democracy, confined to competitive democracy is at variance with African traditions or out with the needs of African countries at all stages of history especially the 19^th and 20^th Century and it is also in the 21^st Century. This makes democracy unsuitable for and unattainable in Africa. Democracy in Africa was therefore held to be a myth and not to belong to Africa.

Most Western writes have acknowledged that freedom was a custom unknown to the African people warning that the white man has to be modest not to export  a system of government that only suit himself but which the Media especially the New Media has succeeded in preaching to the Africans.

Real democracy is not intrinsically alien to African culture or un-African and in many cultural systems in Africa but it belonged to the Western. The above account should also not justify the human rights violation in Africa as has been happening in most countries and here again the new media has championed in guiding on the human rights and pointing out of any violation.

The future of real democracy in African way lies with the emergency of the new media where cities are able to updated in the current events and news of countries political system and this convergence of the new media should help the Africans to be the ones concerned about finding solutions to their own problems, instead of waiting for Western culture liberalization in decline with problem that comes with democracy. Africans should strive to have Africa at heart and this should not be mistaken to be blackness.

The redesign of the socio-economic and political landscape described above has impacted constitutional democracy across Africa. The neo-liberal dispensation has deliberately curtailed democracy to the limited undertaking of regularly scheduled elections. While the election of leaders and public representatives is an indispensible feature of the Western culture, it cannot be well established within the African culture. Yet a carefully grafted participatory politics, reinforced by ideological ratiolization is a new constant diet to the Africans fed by the new media tools.

The demise of competitive political choices from the west is being imported to Africa and this is carefully orchestrated effort to marginalized and disenfranchise the electorate from politics. Among the tools used to redesign a hollow West democratic practice is the funding of political parties by the multinational corporations. The sole mission of these entities is to control the political agenda regardless of political party in office.

SEE ALSO.... Impact of Media on the Quality of Democracy

The media and especially the new media triumphs in supporting this strategy by diverting attentions from policy and focusing voter’s attentions to the candidates’ quality. Voters and up endorsing an image not a platform.

Democracy is an expression of the nation-state. It is an expression of the role and power of individual citizens inside those states. An expression of their ability to engage in national choices to set direction of the nation on internal and external matter. However in the age of neo-liberal globalization the state has been rendered structurally incapable of effectively promoting the public good by the power tools of the new media.

Humankind may have had more bloodthirsty eras, but none was as filled with images of violence as the present. We are awash in a tide of violence representations such as the world has never seen. Images of equity choreographed brutality drench our homes and social spaces

CONT... PART 7. NEW MEDIA, CULTURE IMPERIALISM AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

PART 5. NEW MEDIA AND AGRIBUSINESS IMPERIALISM

Africa food crops have been the fundamental source of food and nutrition for indigenous communities since time immemorial providing food security for the local people. However with the introduction of genetically modified crops, the traditional crops have been largely marginalized and excluded by modern conventional agribusiness practices hence their value as food sources have declined as they have been superseded by commercialized hybrid food crop variety. This has been accompanied by stigmatization of the western food by labeling the African food as the food for the poor and their commercialization as inferior crops. This marginalization of Traditional African crops by the West has been acquired in many parts of Africa within farming activities.

More Lookout........ Agribusiness on Lenses

Traditional crops are generally considered minor crops however most of the newly introduced Western food crops are not adapted to the local condition and require high inputs of agrochemicals such as fertilizers, mechanization and water supply.

In advent of adverse environmental conditions and lack of inputs modern or imported cash crops have left Africans vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition due to crop failure as evidenced in Kisii/Rift Valley where traditional /indigenous food crops have emerged prominently as a source of community resilience to food insecurity.

CONT.... PART 6. NEO-LIBERALISATION, DEMOCRACY AND THE NEW MEDIA

PART 4: New Media, Culture Imperialsm and the Lessons from Greater Asian Countries

Globalization is threatening survival itself, by robbing millions of their right to life and by creating a political climate in which negative identities thrive. Human rights have a task of focusing on the right of the human species to survive in peace with the rest of each other and the rest of the earth family. Without our collective will and our courageous intentions we must cure not the symptoms of insecurity but the root cause.

China should therefore learn that with open space for new media as Africa has done has benefited her in having a close link with social life both in a material and spiritual sense. Its collective nature, its mercy sidedness and its progressive stages of being looked for by the world as a business partner or hub to the extent of silent economic war between the trading/destinations continents. The above have been made so possible in Africa through the giving of free space for the new media.

READ ALSO: China and the New Media restrictions

 In Singapore, evidences of Americanisation, one form of cultural imperialism, can be observed from our lifestyle, coffee choices (Starbucks decaf latte vs. Kopi-O siu dai), and even our choice of words- where did you learn to use English profanities? Until the age of mass electronic communications, most cultural forms were local or national.

Cultural indoctrination was carried out mainly through educational institutions. Considering the fact that most media products we consume are exports of America, the lifestyle and ideas broadcasted are basically American-based. The Singapore government had introduced censorship schemes to movies and shows to ensure that the young and easily impressionable do not pick up what the Singapore culture considers as the ‘wrong’ behavior or thought.

READ ALSO: Singapore Scholars Critisize US Focus

CONT...... PART 5:  New Media and Agribusiness Imperialism

PART 3: EFFECTS OF NEW MEDIA AND GENDER EQUITY

Another factor to consider on culture impregnation is the attempts to transform in-equitable gender relationship in the African culture in the context of globalization better neo-globalization in economic, political and social structures. The level at which New Media has stimulated a global consciousness has led to a significantly heightened awareness of the experiences of others. As result neo-liberal globalization is as much a culture as it is an economic process.

READ ALSO: Culture, Gender and Development in Africa

What is interesting about the gender equality is that the past originated outside of Africa. Today we are seeing greater simultaneity in that initiatives are also originating from within the continent which has empowered African women to participate in nation equally in nation building unlike the native African culture which did not have any value or regards to African women and always reserved them places in the kitchen and being the beast of society.

In a case in Algeria, according to Meredith Tax, “gender-based censorship has taken the form of an explicit war on women, as Islamist militants have targeted women, particularly educated, “modern” ones and women journalists, for rape and murder. While the militants make war on women out of policy, government death squads disguised as militants do so to discredit the Islamists, or simply because they can. Young girls are killed merely for going to school, and more than 200 women writers and journalists have been murdered since 1983.”

On a more advantageous sphere, Africa, women have mostly been involved in farming, in employment as civil servants, and in industry. They have also been involved in small-scale entrepreneurships. No doubt, these sectors have been severely affected by the introduction of trade liberalization. Women on this continent contribute the most critical factor in agricultural production and agriculture.

Yet liberalization has failed to ensure the availability of credit, agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and insecticides at affordable prices. The marketing of their produce has been thrown in the hands of businessmen whose sole objective is profit maximisation. The result - food security in Africa is highly threatened. Women constitute majority of the communal farmers in Africa. In rural areas the impact has been so serious that rural urban migration has increased to unfortunate proportions. This in turn has led to the increase of squatters in urban areas and crime which affects mostly women and children.

  CONT...... PART 4: New Media, Culture Imperialsm and the Lessons from Greater Asian Countries