Westernization African Culture and the Western Influence

Westernization

African culture and the Western influence

Every community has it peculiar culture and norms that identify it and sets it apart from the remaining cultures. There are native cultures that the Africans were accustomed to and adored them as their noble way of life. However, there came the intrusion of the Western culture from Europe that grossly interfered with the African culture is several aspects. There was a massive "decentering" of cultures among the Africans and the consequences of these mass "decentering" are felt to date in very significant ways.

The 'decentering' of the culture and the cultural ways among the Africans was a peculiar one in the entire world, this is because Africa as a continent was ambushed by the European powers that were at that time and sub-divided it and shared it out among themselves in the form of colonies. The scramble was so intense that some European powers went to war with each other trying to get a piece of Africa in the mid to late nineteenth century.

Bearing the fact that there were diverse powers from Europe who came into Africa, it meant that diverse and divergent cultures descended upon Africa as well. There was introduction of cultures that were upheld by the British, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Belgium and Spanish backgrounds (Ehiedu E.G. Iweriebor, 2011). This was quite a variegated cultural infestation that befell Africa.

This was the duration when there was a lot of industrialization going on in Europe and due to the industrial revolution that presented a great demand for raw materials, the European powers therefore decided to venture into Africa for these raw materials. As they explored and exploited the raw materials from Africa, they consequently spread their culture and way of life as well as the effects of industrialization that was going on back at home.

One of the most central aspects of the intrusion of the Western culture was the disruption of the family systems in Africa. The African family culture was structured around an extended family and close ties in general. With the introduction of the western lifestyle, the relationships became selective and people continually dropped the extended family relationships as everyone turned to self for everything. The subsistence farming which was greatly supported by the communal lifestyle got eroded by the modernization in this industrialization period as many people in the urban areas concentrated on working in industries hence creating a lot of pressure on the food produced at the villages (Kua Jonathan, 2010). This was probably the biggest 'decentering' of culture that Africa suffered during this period of time.

Education system also became more westernized in this century where the academics were more inclined towards science and scientific discoveries. This saw a shift from religious studies that dealt with theology, to scientific questioning of the religious standpoints. Education system became more and more inclined towards the west where emphasis on empiricism engulfed all the spheres of education and logical arguments and philosophies were given more priority over the religious beliefs.

Westernization also brought about secularization, where there was a radical shift from superstition to science. Anything ranging from the weather to the worst disasters to epidemics was no longer explained by approach to God/deities but through science. God and religion continually became a personal matter in this century and individualism fast replaced the communal orientation. People started doing what was in their best interest and not the interest of the community. These vast transitions that caused instability in the social system can be seen in the poems of Baudelaire who was a poet at this transitional time that confused many. He was one of the many disaffected and alienated students of a society that was under the pressure of transition, he was split between romanticism and emerging realism in his writing about 'modernite' (Art History Unstaffed, 2011).

It was also during this century that the European power stepped out to prove their power politically, and with the aim of expanding their presumed civilization they conquered foreign land and had vast colonies. They imposed a political, economic and cultural colonization across the African continent. This was an ultimate destruction of the rule system and African native governance and replacing it with a foreign system of government. They were out to get the raw materials that could fuel their quest for civilization so that the entire Europe can be a modern society, hence used the means of governance that could fit them and enable them access to the raw materials.

The other unfortunate thing that westernization saw into fruition is the breakout of wars. This was facilitated by the radical and fast changes in the society, the corrosion of the religious commitment and the ethical norms and the broken family system that previously existed among the African society due to migration to the urban centers. With such a loosely knit society, there were rampant conflicts and even international wars that erupted between countries trying to resist the influence of the other or disagreeing on principles, no wonder they even christened some conflicts as English Civil war to indicate that it was a war that was geared towards civilization (Fred W. Rigs, 1999).

During the 18th Century, there was still a great deal of shipping of Africans to the U.S.A. To be used as labor in the farms. The slave traders chose the most energetic and well built young men from the society and made away with them. This therefore left the villages remaining behind without enough energetic men who could assist in building the economy of the village. This was one of the very initial impoverishment that the Western interaction with Africa imposed on Africa.