Reawakening African Cultural Practices towards Global Harmony: Role of Kinship
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Date
2014-06
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Publisher
American Research Institute for Policy Development
Abstract
It is almost impossible to conceive of a people without culture for this would mean
that such people do not experience or have any knowledge about the world. Culture
determines the perspective or purview through which the world around a people is
understood. It shapes their values, practices, behaviours, beliefs, attitudes,
perceptions, and conduct. There are variations in the way Africans view the world
but within these variations, several common themes are evidently visible giving
room for unity in diversity. Some of these themes include the notions of
motherhood, respect for constituted authority, belief in the sanctity of human life,
life in the hereafter, dignity in labour, moral uprightness, need for inter-subjective
living, and close-knittedness with nature. The goal of this paper is bipartite in
nature. It argues on the one hand that these cultural practices which are deeply
rooted in African worldview, when extended globally would contribute to global
harmony. On the other hand, it observes at the same time that this present age and
civilisation have lost touch with the cultural practices that are fundamental to the
unity and harmony of Africa and by extension, the world, hence, the need for a
reawakening of African cultural practices that are germane to global harmony. The
paper intends to achieve this by cashing in on the numerous values in the practice of
kinship in Africa that encourage shared values and discourage cultural prejudices as
kinship is conceived to extend beyond one’s immediate family to the community
and embracing the whole of humanity. However, in a paper of this length, one
cannot obviously fully explore how each of the aforementioned themes will
influence global harmony. Consequently, focus is here only directed on a few.
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Keywords
Kinship, African Culture, Motherhood, Inter-subjectivity, Global harmony