Culture talk
Over the weekend I had a talk with some friends about what life must have been like for people our age, 100 years ago. We wondered what was different, not just in terms of infrastructure and the several freedoms we enjoy today, but also about our culture. What would they have thought of how the Zimbabwean culture has evolved and the point at which it now is?
Culture is by definition: “An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning. The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution.” (Wikipedia)
This definition implies the need for a societal effort to store and share this acquired knowledge and belief systems. This in itself is now much harder to achieve, as many parts of the modern Zimbabwean society are no longer enjoy the communal living of old. Some knowledge that was once shared in a communal setting is now passed on more privately, or not at all. I feel that, it is in personalizing and becoming private about some aspects of our culture that we are losing the plot. It is definitely among the reasons I feel I know as little about my culture. I mean, do you think much privacy existed back then?
Some would then argue the culture is ever changing, and that this is just one of the many adaptations Zimbabwean culture has made. After all, the very essence of cultural development is firmly rooted in continually linking already acquired knowledge, with new ideas for its modification. Despite truth of this statement, it still saddens me to think about how much knowledge has been lost along the way, as that past knowledge seems not to have stood the test of time.
The link between culture and language is one that cannot be ignored. Many view language as the verbal manifestation of culture. And even though the majority of human communication is non-verbal, language, is another way cultural practices and values are passed on. Zimbabwe has 5 regularly spoken languages, namely, Shona, Ndebele, English, Kalanga and Tonga. It would be interesting to know how much these languages have evolved over the last century, and if indeed, we would even understand each other, if given the opportunity. If a man of woman from Rhodesia 100 years ago were to go into the Harare CBD right now and merely ask for directions in Chizezuru, would they understand them? Are we too far gone or is there still resemblance with our ancestors from colonial times?