Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular, have so many cultural and traditional practices that are not only ancient but also amazingly diverse and imaginative. They continue to attract the attention of scholars, historians, and academic gurus who specialize in anthropology, linguistics, and other areas of study. With the advance of globalization, African culture has started to attract the attention of commercial or business enterprises.
Like language, cultures anywhere in the world may display different levels of growth and development, but they share one common factor, which is their inherent ‘functional equality’ in the sense that the culture of the Zulus in South Africa is equal to the culture of the most developed country in the world. This is also considered an indication of the common origin and destiny of humanity in general.
Generally speaking, culture is defined as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group or as the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time that is known as popular culture.” Of course, culture is such a broad subject or notion that it is defined in many ways by many scholars. Culture is also defined as “the set of patterns of human activity within a society or social group.
Almost all scholars and researchers do not agree on a single definition of culture. A number of researchers or students maintain that “Culture is how we act, think and behave based on the shred values of our society. It is how we understand symbols from language to hand gestures. It is everywhere and we continually develop and define culture on a daily basis.” For some experts, the best definition of culture is “The beliefs, behaviors, values, and forms shared by a particular group of people.”
Cultures have their own dynamics and they change through time in accordance with the changing realities of human communities. Cultures change with changes in the economic, social, political, and psychological conditions of human societies. The above definition explains that culture refers to the set of shared beliefs, values, behaviors, and customs that define a group of people. It is also an essential part of human society.
In the modern world, cultures are not confined to national borders. When cultures grow in influence, they tend to spill over to other national territories and people beyond their national borders. And when cultures become too influential and capture the imagination of many people around the borders, they become global cultures. This process usually takes place either naturally and without the influence of internal or external actors or consciously as commercial items for export to other countries.
The global commoditization of cultures must be the highest stage of cultural growth and development. As we know, there are many countries around the world that are exporting their cultures and traditions to the rest of the world both as commercial items or as simply as sources of enjoyment. American culture in the 20th century is a good example of such a process.
The American way of life, dressings, and speaking, as expressed in American movies and music have been spreading throughout the world not as a temporary fad but as an object of choice. When we say that the 20th century was the American century we speak not only in terms of military or economic influence but primarily as cultural influence. In other words, this is what we call these days “American soft power”.
Is this phenomenon exclusively confined to America? No, Europe is also another global cultural influence. Europe as a continent has its own cultural identities that are the common features of culture shard by individual European nations. We often speak of the popularity of German beer, British sports, and more particularly British football or British education, Italian pasta, or French couture or clothing. These cultural items are not only confined to local consumption. They are shared by other people outside the European national and cultural borders. They have indeed become important items for export to the world, as people anywhere in the world have become fond of consuming these items.
Every country has something to offer the world because cultures and traditions do not exist in isolation from one another. People who live in a given geographical area are bound to share cultures that are common to a given region. What is geographically referred to as East Africa is a geographical reality stretching from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, with Djibouti in the north and Somalia in the southern tip. Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda are also part of this region. More than geography, the people living in this region share cultures, traditions, languages, lifestyles, and history.
The Somalis living in Ethiopia and Djibouti may occupy different national territories, but they share the same cultural and traditional lives as reflected in their foods, beverages, clothing, way of speaking, and language in general. These countries are not culturally homogeneous but diverse. Historically, this process of cultural interpenetration or symbiosis is promoted or encouraged by commerce, warfare, or occupation, or by peaceful means such as voluntary cultural exchanges.
What is African culture? Does Africa have a common culture? The answer to this question is yes. “African culture refers to the life world of African communities encompassing their social structure, ideas, and creative expressions.” When we talk about African music, African dressing, African art, or African cinema, we refer to cultural traits specific to the continent and its people in general. Africans have a common culture because they are a people united by their traditions, norms, values and cultures that emphasize, among other things, common day-to-day practice as manifested in their belief systems, ritual practices and preferences.
Over 3000 different ethnic groups are speaking more than 2100 different languages in all of Africa. The people therefore practice a variety religion, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and other traditional belief system following their ethnic or tribal origins. Scholars identify at least six important areas of African cultural manifestation such as language, social practices, moral and ethical principles, forms of expression, capabilities, and habits that are common to Africans everywhere across the continent.
Although most of Africa’s cultures are traditional and confined to local consumption, some of them have managed to develop rapidly due to contact with relatively more advanced cultures. The 21st century being a century of accelerated globalization, African culture, particularly in music and cinema, has spilled over the national borders to reach the global marketplace.
Africa has become an exporter of its music whether this music is produced in Ethiopia, Nigeria or Morocco. Although African music originated from within the continent, it grew and developed following its contacts with other music genres mainly from America. The same can be said about African cinema and African literature which are enjoying global audiences.
It is a well-established fact that Nigerian cinema or the film industry “is the largest in Africa in terms of volume, number of annual films, revenues and popularity.” Another feature of Nigerian cinema is that “it is the second largest industry in the world”. This makes us proud rather than envious because Nigerian cinema is also African cinema, and we have to learn for it to develop another African cinema in the continent.
On the other hand, Ethiopian cinema, which started a long time ago but stagnated for long decades before it recently gained momentum, is relatively less developed than Nigerian, South African, Egyptian, or Cameroonian cinema if we look at the metrics used for comparison. Ethiopia is, like many African countries, rich not only in its oral traditions but also in its written storytelling because the country developed its own script many centuries ago. Unfortunately, Ethiopian filmmakers have not yet turned to these vast sources of inspiration to produce films based on Ethiopian folk tales or written traditional stories that reflect the wisdom, resilience, struggles, and hopes of its people.
The subject matter of this article is the potential for the commoditization, export, or commercialization of African cultures in the global marketplace. As an example of this process, Ethiopia can be cited as a country that has started to enter the cultural export market with its traditional music and dances, with its rites and rituals, namely its coffee rituals or ceremonies, as well as its food culture, resulting in the spread of its famous injera, which is defined as “a circular, thin, and spongy bread made of teff, the staple grain in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has also started to export its traditional dresses that enjoy high demand among tourists and Ethiopians in the Diaspora. This is an encouraging beginning and a commendable attempt to bring Ethiopian cultural and traditional products to the world. A long journey starts with a single step. With proper attention from all those involved in exploring the possibilities of exporting Ethiopian cultural and traditional practices, there is no reason why Ethiopia will not offer to the world not only coffee but its coffee ceremony that should be registered in UNESCO’s list of tangible cultural items worth of a place worthy of global consumption.
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2024
