The Spread of Western Culture Threatens Local Cultures

The Spread of Western Culture Threatens Local Cultures

The aggressive spread of market economics and communication technologies often under the

control of Western multinationals brings new challenges to local cultures and values in Africa and

other non-Western societies. Sometimes it seems as if a tidal wave of the worst Western culture is

creeping across the globe like a giant strawberry milkshake oozing over the planet, with a flavor

that is distinctly sweet, sickly and manifestly homogenous.

Suddenly, people all over Africa and the rest of the non-Westernized regions of the world,

appear to be imbibing materialistic and individualistic values previously associated with Western

culture. What explains this apparently abrupt Westernization? One major reason is the structural

change in the world economy: globalization and the flood of goods dumped in poor countries that

are

marketed

by

mass

seductive

advertising

which

is

obviously

superficial

but

nonetheless

successful in creating fresh desires in peoples of traditional societies.

Undermining Non-Western Cultures

Starting in the sixteenth century, Western adventurers made a conscious effort to undermine

the cultural heritage of various peoples around the world; this has been accomplished by imposing

Western religion and cultural practices on those with a different way of life.

Justified initially as a civilizing mission and subsequently dubbed modernization, in practice

it was wholesale Westernization with very little room for any viable middle ground. For instance,

in the 19th century, Abeokuta (a town in West Africa), inspired by its Western educated former

slaves, responded to the challenges of these pervasive foreign influences with a unique form of

defensive

modernization

and

reform

which

eventually

crumbled

under

the

weight

of

the

overwhelming

imperial

British

power.

Accordingly,

until

the

late

twentieth

century,

it

was

assumed

that

development

for

the

colonized

peoples

must

involve

a

denial

of

their

history,

a

rejection of their cultural heritage and the adoption of Western cultural practices.

The effect of this policy in the case of Africa, as Professor, Andah once noted, was untold

damage to the African psyche,

myths and lies about them as being primitive, history-less, mindless, cursed, lazy, inherently evil

and corrupt, third world, underdeveloped.

Cultural Disorientation

In short, today, African culture has been decimated. More importantly, colonialism paved the

way for today’s cul

tural globalization by leaving the colonized in a state of cultural disorientation

and consequently vulnerable to continuing cultural invasion. This disorientation manifests itself in

one or two extreme forms:

1. exaggerated attachment to an often reinvented past in the name of tradition and culture;

or

2. attempts at wholesale adoption of anything and everything foreign.

It may sound extreme but academic language studies have proven that particular aspects of

culture can and do disappear forever; even optimistic estimates suggest that as many as 90 percent

of the world’s languages will disappear in the next century.

While an important feature of globalization today is its de-Westernization, the reality is that

in

many

important

respects,

Western

culture

(some

would

say

American

culture)

remains

the

domineering

force

in

the

world

today.

Western

culture

fuels

globalization

today

and,

as

it

did

during

the

age

of

imperialism

and

colonization,

helps

to

reinforce

the

hegemony

of

the

West.

Information

technology,

as

the

driving

force

of

economic

globalization,

has

also

become

a

real