the african cultural heritage

261 Pages·2012·4 MB·English

THE AFRICAN CULTURAL HERITAGE:
OECULT URAT ION, TRANSFORMATION AND
DEVELOPMENT
BY
TSOABISI PAKISO ENSLEY TONDI
NOVEMBER 2004
THE AFRICAN CULTURAL HERITAGE:
OECUL TURA TION, TRANSFORMATION AND
DEVELOPMENT
By
Tsoabisi Pakiso Ensley Tondi
B. Th. (UD-W). M.A (UNIN)
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of
Humanities, School of Religion and Culture, at the
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Promoter: Professor J.A Smit
The problem is not the existence of the culture but the
need to acknowledge it, examine it and change
aspects of it that prevent its members from realising
their full potential.
Mamphela Ramphele (1995)
. ~.j"/ 1/"
DEC LARAT ION
THE REGISTRAR (ACADEMIC)
UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL, WESTVILLE
CAMPUS
Dear Sir,
I, Tsoabisi Pakiso Ensley T ondi, hereby declare that the
dissertation entitled
"THE CULTURAL HERITAGE: DECULTURATION,
TRANSFORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT"
is the result of my own investigation and research and that it
has not been submitted in part or full for any other degree or
to any other university.
_~Ll~;
T.P.E Tondi Date
Registration Number: 8524183
11
A BSTRACf
This study begins by highlighting the fact that after identifying the causes of defects in
the socio-economic development of Africa and its populace African scholars argue for
the re-centering of African cultwal heritage as a strategy for (re)-construction and socio
economic development. In fact, the alienation and marginalization of African cultural
values and traditions by the designs of colonialism and apartheid have resulted in the
distortion and disorientation of some of the most fundamental aspects of the culture of the
colonized. Undeniably, this phenomenon contributed immensely to the situation of
'tmderdevelopment' in Africa
Culturally, people were prevented from engaging the Emopean culture(s) on their own
tenm. Economically - because the African cultural heritage was degraded to the level of
the 'savage', the 'primitive', 'Wlcivilized' and even the level of the 'superstitious' or
'mystical' compared to the 'logical' found in the Western cultural thought and behaviour
- African people(s) were mostly prevented from participating in the development of the
continent.
More importantly, given the present unfolding scenario of the African leaders' dream for
an African centmy - manifested in the transformation of the Organization of African
Union into the African Union (AU) (during the week of the 9 to 12 July 2001) and the
vision and mission of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) -juxtaposing
this ideal to the pressures globalisation process exerts on the African continent, this study
III
seeks to identify essential elements of African Cultural Heritage that (if reclaimed and
redefined) can contribute towards the transformation and development of (South) Africa
and its people. The two critical questions here are: (a) Against the backdrop of Africa's
economic disposition, what is the way forward for the continent to extricate itself from
the quagmire of poverty, disease and instability? (b) Is Pan-Africanism the solution to the
African crisis in the 2IIt century and the globalizing world?
The African Renaissance discomse (as a new Pan-Africanism vision in the 2IIt century
and a philosophical framework for (re)-construction and development) is central to this
study, precisely because no nation that was uprooted from its souJ can be able to recover
whoUy and progress without basing its socio-economic development plans on its own
cultural identity and self-knowledge.
It is hoped that this study will form part of existing critical resource material concerning
the legacy of underdevelopment, and the constructive proposals and strategies critical in
the socio-economic (re)-construction and development of Africa in the context of
g1obalisation and its marginal ising tendencies and practices against the countries of the
South.
IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the period that I engaged in researching and writing this dissertation I incurred
many debts:
First and foremost I am greatly indebted to God Almighty, and badimo ba heso, Bo
M1chamanga
This work would not have been possible without the financial assistance from the NRF
and the University ofKwaZulu-Natai.
My appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor, Prof J.A Smit - thank you for your
Ubuntu.
ProfSM Thulare (my boss and senior coUeague) for aU the support and encouragement,
and Mr Nkareng "Bro John" Thulo (my colleague and true brother) - yes, if I did not
have people like you as colleagues it would have been impossible for me to make it in the
context of my work at the CUT.
Dr Gomolemo Mokae for making it clear to me ~ "it is not about prestige, but the
obligation to contest the intellectual space.
The St. Andrew's - Khotsong, congregation of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in
Southern Africa, Bataung, Bakwena, Dikgoja and others, I must give more thanks, we
have made it again.
Ms Vuyelwa "Mavee" Nxamagele for assisting me with typing of the final product -
Ndiyabolela!
My two special friends and brothers in Christ the Rev Dr M R Raphesu and Mr. Tshepo
Ndlow - you kept on asking me: "Kgane 0 fetsa neng MpediT We have made it - yes,
"Poo go bewa ya kgomo, ya motho ya epeya"
I also want to thank aU the people who gave freely of their time when I interviewed them
for this study.
FinaUy, I thank everybody who participated in this study and those who contributed in
their special way.
v
DEDICATION
This piece of inteUectuai and emotional endeavour is dedicated to:
My wife, Mokidi "Ma-Nonlwluleko," and our two daughters, Nonlwluleko
Mamphela and Tawonga. "Bo-Ausi, you have no reason not to be Towers in your
life."
AND
My brothers and their families, Leblohonolo (Andy), Tsietsi, Sedika (Charles),
Madala and Kbathauo (Greenie). My sisters, Ntsoaki, Dieketseng and Mamokete.
GOD IS GOOD!
VI
CONTENTS
Page
DECLARATION .......... , ........... , ... , ...................................... , ................. , '.1.
ABSTARACT ........................................................................................ ~l
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................... , .... IV
DEDICATION ........................................................................................
~
CONTENTS ................... , ............................................................... , ....... VI
CHAPTER ONE ...................................................................................... 1
RESEARCH DESIGN AND DEFITION OF KEY CONCEPTS
1.1 Introduction ................................................... ....................... 1
1.2 The motivation for this study ...................................................... 3
1.3 The aims of the study .............. , ................................................4
1.4 Previous research undertaken in this area ............... '" ..................... 5
1. 5 Hypothesis ........................................................................... 6
1.6 Procedwe and design of investigation ............................................ 7
1. 6.1 Kind of study. ............................................................... 7
1.6.2 Selection of the sample ..................... '" .............. , ............ 7
1.6.3 Research tools ....... , ........................................... '" ........ 7
1. 7 Limitations of the study ............................................................ 9
1.8 Definition of key concepts ........................... .............................. 9
1.8.1 African Cultural Heritage. ........................... '" ........ , ......... 9
1. 8. 2 Deculturation .............................................................. 10
1.8.3 Transformation process .................................................. 10
1.8.4 Development .............................................................. 11
1.8.5 Underdevelopment ....................................................... 11
1.8.6 African Renaissance ............... '" .................................... 12
1.8.7 Globalisation .............................................................. 12
1.9 Conclusion .................... , ................................. '" ................ 13
CHAP'fER TWO ............... '" .................................................................. 14
DECULTURATION AND UNDERRDEVELOPMENT PROCESSES OF TIlE
AFRICAN PERSONALITY
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................ 14
2.2 The meaning and content of the concept of the African personality and the
Western conception of being .................................................... 16
2.2.1 The concept of the African personality and the UbuntuIBotho
philosophy .................. " ...................................................... 17
2.3 Colonialism, Western cultural imperialism and the deculturation of the
African personality .................. '" ...........................................2 2
2.3.1 The Western Capitalist system and the erosion of the Indigenous
Econonty ..................................... " ............ '" ............ 24
VII
2.3.1.1 A historical and socio-economic analysis of the evolution of
dependency and underdevelopment in Africa ............ : .................... ~6
2.3.2 The European Christian missionary enterpnse and the SOCIO
cultural processes of subjugation and distortion of the African
personality ................................................................................................ 29
2.3.2.1 European cultural imperialism's ideological use of religion in the
deculturation of the African personality ............. , ......................... 31
2.4 Apartheid ideology, the Afrikaner's ideas of cultural purity and
sovereignty ......................................................................... 33
2.5 Conclusion ......................................................................... 35
CHAP1'ER TIIREE ........................................ ············· ............................ 38
PAN-AFRICAN THOUGHT AND PRACTICE
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................ 38
3.2 A brief survey of factors that contributed to the development of Pan-
African concepts .................................................................. 40
3.2.1 The slave trade and the experience of slavery ....................... 41
3.2.2 European colonisation of Africa ....................................... 43
3.2.3 Western racism ........................................................... 44
3.3 The meaning and content of Pan-African thought and practice. ... , ...... .45
3.3.1 The broader meaning of Pan-African thought and practice. ......... 51
3.3.2 The narrower meaning of Pan-African thought and practice. ..... ..53
3.4 The fust Pan-African conference and its significance in the ideological
development of the Pan-African thought and practice. ..................... .53
3.5 The role that W.E.B Du Bois played in shaping Pan-African thought and
practice after 1900 ..... , ........................................................... 56
3.5.1 The Du Boisan Congresses between 1919 and 1927. .............. .58
3.6 The Fifth Pan-African Congress and the role that George Padmore played
to resuscitate the Pan-African idea. ................................... '" ...... 60
3.6.1 The results of the Fifth Pan-African Congress and their
implications for the continental African's quest .............................. 63
3.7 The Second Phase of the Pan-African idea and the first two Accra
Conferences of 1958 ................................. '" .......................... 65
3.7.1 The transplantation of the Pan-Africanism movement in
Africa ............................................................................... 66
3.8 The meaning of the notion of the African Personality or Negritude
conception ..................... " ................................................... 69
3.9 Conclusion ............ '" .......................................................... 70
CHAP1'ER FOUR. .................................................................................. 72
POST- INDEPENDENCE IDEOLOGICAL DISCOUSE IN AFRICA
4.1 Introduction ....................................... '" .................. '" ... '" ... 72
4.2 Some crucial leaders in the Pan-African movement who emerged in the
late 1950s and their Ideologies. ...... '" .................................... '" .7 5