Tribal marks in a suit

Tribal Marks in a Suit…

So today, on my way out, I saw a man with all these heavy tribal marks that you’ll be looking for the person’s face; I can’t even place the tribe. The funny part was that, he was wearing a suit, a short-sleeved suit. So this image captured my attention, and I was just staring at the man, analysing everything I could about him. Looking at his tribal marks, one could tell that he was a strong cultural man who was rigid in his cultural beliefs and practices. But then, putting on a suit which is a western (foreign) outfit was the contrast I was trying to balance while staring at this man. And that is how I got this topic, lol. Trying to analyse this man, my thoughts soon landed on how globalization has almost erased our culture. Probably the man was in search for a greener pasture, or maybe where he worked, he was asked to put on a suit. My drive now is that, globalization has robbed us of our beautiful culture, making us believe that our culture is no good, not contemporary and not something to promote development. Although with many valid points, it has been proven that our culture is a great limitation to growth and development, but on a larger scale, this globalization is taking away our identity as a people, and that is a great problem.

Cultural beliefs like, ‘female children should not go to school, most of our local laws and processes on how things should be done, or conflicts resolved, the excesses of our bridal prices and lists of items, etc’; I agree, are practices that limit development. Given our global society today, and with the level of development that our country has attained, all these practices only stir up conflicts and clashes of opinions. We are exposed to more technology than the primitive years, and a lot of awareness has been created which is accessed by everyone, even the female children. Now everyone now has a sense of equality, whether man or woman. Today, women have great dreams and their contributions are globally recognised and acknowledged. Although, we still find some of our relatives who are bent on preserving this dry aspect of our culture.

Certain aspects of our culture like our various languages, our native food, way of dressing (not the very ancient ones ooh, that one can barely move freely; but like sewing beautiful styles with our traditional materials), etiquette (most of them don’t fall out of trend), traditional music, and many more beautiful aspects of our culture that will remind us who we are and where we’re coming from; our roots, should be constantly encouraged. Just like myself, I’m struggling everyday to perfect my spoken English, whereas I don’t know anything in my native dialect – at least I know ‘good morning’, lol.

We focus more on fully globalizing and fitting in perfectly, that we have slowly ignored our culture; most of them are even dead. I’ve been thinking lately; that the more we give attention to this globalization issue, believing that only the western way is good and efficient for growth and development, it readily subjects us to more indirect domination. This is because, we always have to look up to them for principles and perspectives, since we have buried our culture and we have nothing (no root) to return to. I believe that this is a major factor of underdevelopment in our country, because we have now lost our identity and are now looking for one we consider to be better globally. We forget that because those people know who they are; they have an identity, they found it and developed it, and are constantly making new ways to broadcast it to the entire world. Knowing who you are and having an identity gives you power and confidence. Take China for example; in all the smallest ways they can, they try to promote their culture through their products. This is because they have found strength, confidence, and purpose in who they are (their identity).

It is commonly said that you have to believe in yourself first before others can believe in you. You have to believe in yourself first before you can grow and deliver value to others. I don’t need to put on a suit before you know that I’m educated or I can contribute to the growth of my country. Globalization is good, especially for our growth, but there should be exceptions for the beautiful, ever trending aspects of our culture. You know whenever we’re going to school; our parents always tell us, ‘remember where you’re coming from, and remember whose child you are.’ This is because knowing your identity is very important and when everything around you seems to be going haywire, you can always find strength, hope and purpose in who you are. You can always push forth because you know what you have in you to deliver. Hence, we need to remind our beloved country of its identity and its importance.

I might be rigid or limited in my views, so let's talk Nigeria... What's your view???