Global Connections Yahav Avraham-Katz 5/9/13 Tradition vs.

Western Culture In Africa As time goes on the world becomes more modern. We see it all the time. New technology comes out and we progress. However, sometimes we have to wonder if it is for the best. In many places in Africa there is the battle of Tradition vs. Western Culture. We saw this happen many times in the texts we read and movies we watched. Although, the three that I am going to focus on is the book So Long A Letter by Mariama Ba, the movie Keita, and the book The Dark Child, by Camara Laye. I am going to start off with So Long a Letter. The story follows Rama, a Muslim woman living in Senegal. She faces many challenges throughout her life and writes about them in the letters that the book consists of. Throughout the book she shares her struggles with traditional Muslim customs and modern customs. One of the first things we learn is that her and her husband went against regular Muslim customs and married for love. She also attended school and had her own job, which were both very unusual things for her to do in her culture. One of the most interesting parts is when Ramas sisters-in law talk about how jealous they are of her that she gets to have a maid. What they did not understand was that Rama went to work everyday. She was not sitting around doing nothing all day, she was out teaching. This is a very modern concept that her more traditional sisters-in law did not seem to fully understand. She also mentioned how she would end having to

redo the things that the maid messed up. This was a great example of the tradition and the modern coming together not just with her sisters-in law but also the fact that she would go out and do modern day woman activities such as going to work, but then she would come back and do the traditional jobs of making dinner and cleaning the house. Another great example from this text is when Ramas friend Assatou divorces her husband after he takes a second wife. Assatou like Rama married her husband, Mawdo, for love, and was not accepted by his family. Even though their families did not want them to be together, they fought for their love, which is where the major aspect of globalization plays a part. Divorce was very unusual and went against their traditions. However, Assatou does believe in polygamy and chooses to choose the more modern approach of leaving and supporting her family on her own. When a similar thing happens to Rama she approaches it differently. While she too does not like polygamy she chooses to not divorce her husband, Modou, though she is extremely hurt. However, she does end up taking over the household and taking on the typical male role. She ordered everything for her family and takes care of them. This book while it focused on how globalization affected modern day ideals vs. more traditional beliefs generally focused on these aspects in how they affected woman. It is a great example how globalization was affecting women in Africa and what they thought they deserved. Globalization showed them that things could be different and showed them how. They started taking steps to doing what made them

happy and what they thought was right. While it differed between the two women it affected both of them in some way. The movie Keita is about young boy, Mabo, who lives an ordinary life in the capital city of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou. He attends a good school and is very smart. However, one day Djeliba Kouyate, a griot comes to tell him the story of his ancestor Sundjata Keita. This movie was a great example of modern and traditional life coming together. Mabo lives in this big modern city living a normal life, while Djeliba comes from a more traditional village, and goes to teach Mabo of his history, which is a very traditional activity. One of the biggest aspects of the tradition vs. modernity came when we saw the flashbacks to Sundjata Keita. It showed him in the 13th century and showed the traditional activities they did at that time. You saw the old clothing, old houses, and old villages. Then it would go back to the present, and you would see how globalization affects Africa and how much more modern it was then. While Mabo gets wrapped up in this story his schooling starts to suffer. Instead of focusing on his school work he gets obsessed with his story, and even starts skipping school. While his father approves of him hearing this story and thinks it would good for him to learn the traditional things, his mother gets angry and wants Djeliba to leave. She thinks that his schooling is more important. By the end of the movie Mabo realizes that he needs to balance the two things, but he realizes that are both important to him. The schooling situation was one of the most prominent times that you saw the battle between modernity and tradition. You had the young modern teacher

talking about subjects such as when Christopher Columbus founded America, which is a very big sign of globalization. Then on the other hand you had the older griot Djeliba talking about their peoples history. These two characters were big symbols of the new and old, modern and tradition. We also saw them fighting about what they thought was right and more important, which seems to represent the constant battle in Africa. However, we saw this battle of modernity and tradition in terms of education before. In The Dark Child Camara Laye has to face the tough decision of leaving his country to get better schooling. While his father wants him to go get schooling his mother wants him to stay. Although, it is interesting since his story is the complete opposite of Mabos in Keita. Camara comes from the traditional background and moves towards a modern background while Mabo does the opposite. It is also interesting that the mothers and fathers have opposing opinions in each story. One time you really see the old and new coming together is when Camaras mother redoes his room. While he is still living in a traditional hut, she adds more modern European style accessories. In her own way she was telling him that she accepted him going away, though she did want to him to lose his traditions. Though she would rather him be with her, she understand that he can get a better education elsewhere. This aspect shows globalization because she is bringing in the more western aspects to their traditional lifestyle. Through these three sources we see how tradition vs. modernity plays a big role in many different situations. It seems to be a constant dilemma in everything that we looked at this semester. Though, due to globalization, it is always going to

happen. Globalization will always make places more modern and will make them want to move away from their traditional ways. You also see the major aspects of the older generations trying to influence the younger generations to keep their traditions. In a way globalization has caused the battle between the old African and the new Africa. While I do believe that some of this modernity is benefitting Africa with their education and medicinal programs, it would be sad for them to lose all of their tradition. Africa is so culturally rich and diverse and has so much to offer. Hopefully globalization does not force it out.