fellis: ^You could have given a straight forward reply.

You are correct, I could have, sorry I did not

In every country in the world, except USA and England, they talk their mothertounge and learn that in school, and learn english as well.
I do agree that it is important to keep your original language, but I also feel it is important to learn english, as it is today the only language that millions of people speak on top of their motherlanguage.

Hmmm......it is okay to borrow food and money from other countries especially non-African countrues but hold on to the ounce of culture you have left

Contradiction if you ask me.

If all Africans were speaking their tongue instead if English...Spanish...French.....and remember there are over hundred of languages and dialects....would you guys understand and communicate effectively with each other? Tell the truth.

At some point....you guys have to find a middle ground to work together instead if tribal and civic wars in who is better than who upmanship.

Mrs.Chima:
Hmmm......it is okay to borrow food and money from other countries especially non-African countrues but hold on to the ounce of culture you have left

Contradiction if you ask me.

If you really believe that African countries borrow food from non-African countries then you are mistaken and again brainwashed by Western media.

I have seen the Maure in Mauritania/Mali help one another by exporting food from Mali to Mauritania (they are neighbours) or Nigeria helping Niger with food, however Westerners who claim they are helping are just flat out lying. Africans are just too proud to ever let themselves borrow from outsiders. In East Africa as far as food goes, (Ethiopia, Somalia, etc.) I am not too sure if the West Aids them or not.

However, in West Africa, if a Westerner says they help Africans with food, then that's a lie. Like I said previously, and if you watched that video on Ali Farka Toure you will see that 80 - 85% of people in the great nation of Mali are Farmers while the other 15% or so (Fulani, Touareg) are nomads. They are very self-sufficient and do not need help.

Mrs.Chima:
If all Africans were speaking their tongue instead if English...Spanish...French.....and remember there are over hundred of languages and dialects....would you guys understand and communicate effectively with each other? Tell the truth.

At some point....you guys have to find a middle ground to work together instead if tribal and civic wars in who is better than who upmanship.

First and foremost, we are not tribes, we are ethnic groups. Fulani is an Ethnic group, Hausa is an ethnic group, Igbo is an ethnic group, and so on.

Before the Europeans came to Africa to colonize it, Africa as a continent (especially the West African region) was doing quite fine w/o those languages. Most Africans got along quite well too as there was often trade done between ethnic groups who DID NOT speak the same language.

The Songhai had been trading with the Hausa for centuries, the Fulani with the Touareg and Bamakan, the Yoruba with the Songhai and so on. They were all getting along Yet they spoke different languages. The one thing this trade encouraged were peaceful activities between these ethnic groups, and the encouragement of learning the different languages. For example, some Songhai would learn Hausa and vice versa so that they could better communicate with their Sahelian brothers/sisters. Intermarriage between the ethnic groups would occur to tie stronger bonds between them. The group most notorious for intermarrying was mine, the Fulani (who married the Bamakan, Hausa, Touareg, Serer, Wolof, Soninke, etc. etc.)

dont care as long as I don't do it

suyu: dont care as long as I don't do it

And Suyu brother, I agree with you. I just want to urge other Africans to not do it.

Fulaman198: Your own culture? Does it not make you feel like a fool, when you smile with glee at Western culture and frown upon your own culture. Does it not hurt you when you can speak a Western language better than your own mother tongue? Does it not hurt you when you don't know of the tradition(s) that you forefathers had practiced generations before you were born.

To me as a Nigerian, I'm fed up when I type in Nigerian music on youtube, I see a lot of Western-influenced or Bollywood influenced Music. Whenever I type in Senegalese or Malian music, they are playing their own music with pride, wearing their own traditional African clothing that is common amongst us West African folks. With Nigerian music nowadays you see them singing in Pidgin or English with a Westernized of Bollywood influenced beat. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Is not a shame for me to be more proud of Senegalese, Malian, Nigerien, Chadic, Burkinabe music than our own. Where is the pride and creativity?

Dude there is nothing wrong with holding on to our cultures that is applicable to our present evolved times..
Your kind of mentality and ignorance is the reason why most African countries have not developed with the times and stuck in the past is because we have refused to progress and evolved with the times..You either progress or regress. Why follow traditions that are not applicable in these times..

It is imperative to refine our cultures and traditions to work in the times we live in or they become absolete, regress and status quo remains and the west and rest of the world would continue to dominate us. There is no reason to walk to our destinations just cuz our forefathers did it when you could use a vehicle. It would also be absurd and stupid to go to Wars with spears just cuz that was the way of our forefathers.

We are regressing because we have stubbornly refused to evolve our Ways of doing things to match with the times we live in ..

nyameke: Dude there is nothing wrong with holding on to our cultures that is applicable to our present evolved times..
Your kind of mentality and ignorance is the reason why most African countries have not developed with the times and stuck in the past is because we have refused to progress and evolved with the times..You either progress or regress. Why follow traditions that are not applicable in these times..

It is imperative to refine our cultures and traditions to work in the times we live in or they become absolete, regress and status quo remains and the west and rest of the world would continue to dominate us. There is no reason to walk to our destinations just cuz our forefathers did it when you could use a vehicle. It would also be absurd and stupid to go to Wats with spears just cuz that was the way of our forefathers.

We are repressing because we have stubbornly refused to evolve our Wats if doing things to match with the times ..

So it's ignorant to not want Africans to become Westernized, if that is not the biggest bull crap argument I have heard then I don't know what is.

Being productive and moving forward and evolving has nothing to do with becoming Westernized, let us just set the facts straight. That is what you and many Africans mistake. You believe that just because it is the West, it must be right am I correct? This inferiority complex has got to go.

Africans can still be very traditional and very progressive at the same time, adopting another persons culture does not make that culture automatically more advanced.

Fulaman198:

So it's ignorant to not want Africans to become Westernized, if that is not the biggest bull crap argument I have heard then I don't know what is.

Being productive and moving forward and evolving has nothing to do with becoming Westernized, let us just set the facts straight. That is what you and many Africans mistake. You believe that just because it is the West, it must be right am I correct? This inferiority complex has got to go.

Africans can still be very traditional and very progressive at the same time, adopting another persons culture does not make that culture automatically more advanced.

obviously you didn't understand my post. My point was about your ignorant stance on tradition. My post had nothing to do with westernization or did I mention that..You seem to have an inferiority complex towards the western world..

Btw how and why do you think Africans are being westernized? Enlighten me

nyameke:

Btw how and why do you think Africans are being westernized? Enlighten me

thats the funny thing. he does not know apart from what 2 to 3 of his igbo friends told him..and his youtube search on nigerian pop artists.

and another thing i find amusing is that his part of nigeria is more arabized than westernized, but im yet to hear him whine about the arabization of nigerians. the guy is a closet boko haramist. u know, boko haram only has problem with westernization and not arabization.

And no you can't be traditional and be progressive at same time if the passed down traditions are not working in present times .. we have to change in order to survive. The new has its place in the new and the old has its place in the old.
What was a good way in the past would now be a poor way compared to another way that’s better in the present. Blindly following ancient ways and living in the past is the reason for our current predicament

ezotik: and another thing i find amusing is that his part of nigeria is more arabized than westernized, but im yet to hear him whine about the arabization of nigerians. the guy is a closet boko haramist. u know, boko haram only has problem with westernization and not arabization.

lol I believe his ignorance and inferiority complex led to those rants. Most black people with inferiority complex always blames the western world for their short comings

i'm not really convinced fulaman is nigerian, or pure fulani for that matter.

he's probably cameroonian or something.

tpia@:
i'm not really convinced fulaman is nigerian, or pure fulani for that matter.

he's probably cameroonian or something.

I agree.

Is it hard to have more than one culture?

KoboJ brought up an issue on culture, what it means, how it should be practiced and how often it should be practiced. I couldn't properly answer her questions because to be honest, culture is complex too define.

Is culture what I am born into or what I practice myself? Can a Nigerian born and in Nigeria practice his/her culture while practicing an American culture? What if he/she had lived in America more than she'd lived in Nigeria?

Some of you are really a disgrace to even call yourselves Africans. You attribute success with a Western moniker, shame on you. I bet your ancestors are shaking in their graves. How does being more Westernized = more successful, only a fool would think so.

tpia@:
i'm not really convinced fulaman is nigerian, or pure fulani for that matter.

he's probably cameroonian or something.

You are right I am Martian and from outerspace, now you are sounding ridiculous. What do you even know about Fulani culture, let alone the vast traditional Nigerian cultures, so you go follow Akata man Blyss na? am I correct?

I am a 3rd generation settled Mbororo from Mayo Belwa if you know what that is, if you don't, conduct some research; my family comes from very humble beginnings and we are a traditional family that will never forget where are roots lie like a lot of you sell outs have.

nyameke: lol I believe his ignorance and inferiority complex led to those rants. Most black people with inferiority complex always blames the western world for their short comings

If anyone here is one with inferiority complex it is you kissing and licking the boots of the Westerners and completely abandoning the culture of your forefathers. You must have some very low self-esteem to completely disregard your culture for another one. Look at yourself in the mirror, you will never be a Bob or a Timothy.

nyameke: And no you can't be traditional and be progressive at same time if the passed down traditions are not working in present times .. we have to change in order to survive. The new has its place in the new and the old has its place in the old.
What was a good way in the past would now be a poor way compared to another way that’s better in the present. Blindly following ancient ways and living in the past is the reason for our current predicament

Says who? someone who is a sell out to Western culture? Look around you, most countries do not speak English as their official language and they are doing quite well. Yet when Euromaster drops a bone for his low self-esteem African dog (you), you follow.

ezotik: and another thing i find amusing is that his part of nigeria is more arabized than westernized, but im yet to hear him whine about the arabization of nigerians. the guy is a closet boko haramist. u know, boko haram only has problem with westernization and not arabization.

What is so Arabized about this?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX54uzr68lU

A lot of you from the south don't know a thing about Arab culture and how it greatly differs from Sahelian/Saharan culture.


Anyways, it's ok if you guys want to continue kissing up to your masters. Maybe you will all change your name to Bob, Timothy, etc. etc. Who cares if you are ashamed of being an African, I will always be proud of being one.

Huh?

Ileke-IdI:
Is it hard to have more than one culture?

KoboJ brought up an issue on culture, what it means, how it should be practiced and how often it should be practiced. I couldn't properly answer her questions because to be honest, culture is complex too define.

Is culture what I am born into or what I practice myself? Can a Nigerian born and in Nigeria practice his/her culture while practicing an American culture? What if he/she had lived in America more than she'd lived in Nigeria?

By the way, you never answered anyone of my questions. . . .

lol..fulaman, my main man.

even though royal comes off as a nut case but some of his statements are true. so allow me to use his quote, because he best described u

~Royal~:

The man is literally one of the worst Posters on this forum, who has little to any known source of intelligence at all

Arabized Negroids are So tainted and Confused.

Ileke-IdI:
Huh?



By the way, you never answered anyone of my questions. . . .

It really depends on the individual, didn't mean to skip your question. Some Nigerians or people of other nationalities for example go to other countries and want to cut their ties to their country of origin. Heck, even some of them try to sound British, American, French, German, Italian (wherever they go) and make complete idiots of themselves doing so. They lack pride in their place of origin.

So really to answer your question, I think it is possible to have more than one culture, but one will always be more dominant than the other(s).

ezotik: lol..fulaman, my main man.

even though royal comes off as a nut case but some of his statements are true. so allow me to use his quote, because he best described u

As if I will take what a Westerner or a Western Puppet will tell me, Ezotik do me a favour, go and continue serving your master Royal his cake.

What is so Arabized about this?

and whats so westernized about these?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrzJoukoGw&feature=related


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOIcCUh-M4M


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcgyZV7ydmg&feature=related

A lot of you from the south don't know a thing about Arab culture and how it greatly differs from Sahelian/Saharan culture.

and a lot of u boko haramist in the north do not know anything about western culture and how it greatly differs from ours...hence why u are foolishly bombing the country based on cultural and religious intolerance

Anyways, it's ok if you guys want to continue kissing up to your masters. Maybe you will all change your name to Bob, Timothy, etc. etc. Who cares if you are ashamed of being an African, I will always be proud of being one.

is that supposed to be a diss? as if ur name is not mohammed, yusuf, alhaji etc etc..and u have not bowed down with the tip of ur head to the floor at least 3 times today facing ur arab masters in the east and praying to them. deny that u havent!

Fulaman198:

As if I will take what a Westerner or a Western Puppet will tell me, Ezotik do me a favour, go and continue serving your master Royal his cake.

awww, dont be mad, he best described u and i just quoted him for truth.

ezotik:

awww, dont be mad, he best described u and i just quoted him for truth.

If you really think I care what a Western puppet and a Westerner tells me, then you are seriously kidding yourself

Fulaman198:

It really depends on the individual, didn't mean to skip your question. Some Nigerians or people of other nationalities for example go to other countries and want to cut their ties to their country of origin. Heck, even some of them try to sound British, American, French, German, Italian (wherever they go) and make complete idiots of themselves doing so. They lack pride in their place of origin.

So really to answer your question, I think it is possible to have more than one culture, but one will always be more dominant than the other(s).

But you have to understand that Nigerians who often go outside of their country sometimes marry women of Non-Nigerian origin and bare children of non-Nigerian origin. Is it a crime to acquire his wife's culture while retaining his own? What of their children?

Retaining one's culture should not stop one from learning and practicing another culture.

What of children who left Nigeria quite young? What of children who were never born in Nigeria?

Another version of a question posed by KoboJ; How many times must we do something for that something to be called "practicing" culture? For example, our clothes is part of our culture. However, how often do you wear your traditional attire? Are computers and electronic gadgets part of our culture? How often do you use them? Our building architectures; have they changed? From which culture did we borrow the changes?

Real question; what do we classify as culture, and what do we that that strays us from that culture? What do we classify as westernization and how does it differ from "advancement" of (let's say) Yoruba or Chinese culture? How did cultural exposure from "other" culture affect our culture hundreds of years back?

Ok, just rambling here, so much questions, so much to think about. . . . lemme stop.

Fulaman198:

If you really think I care what a Western puppet and a Westerner tells me, then you are seriously kidding yourself

so it is what an arabized slave says i give a fvck about? haha, u must be crazy....forreal!

Ileke-IdI:


But you have to understand that Nigerians who often go outside of their country sometimes marry women of Non-Nigerian origin and bare children of non-Nigerian origin. Is it a crime to acquire his wife's culture while retaining his own? What of their children?

Retaining one's culture should not stop one from learning and practicing another culture.

What of children who left Nigeria quite young? What of children who were never born in Nigeria?

Another version of a question posed by KoboJ; How many times must we do something for that something to be called "practicing" culture? For example, our clothes is part of our culture. However, how often do you wear your traditional attire? Are computers and electronic gadgets part of our culture? How often do you use them? Our building architectures; have they changed? From which culture did we borrow the changes?

Real question; what do we classify as culture, and what do we that that strays us from that culture? What do we classify as westernization and how does it differ from "advancement" of (let's say) Yoruba or Chinese culture? How did cultural exposure from "other" culture affect our culture hundreds of years back?

Ok, just rambling here, so much questions, so much to think about. . . . lemme stop.

No your questions are good, very good for that matter

What I have noticed about Nigerians who marry non-Africans is that their children often become very Oyibo like, and know nothing about Naija and Naija cultures. Also I like how you said "His wife" lol as if Nigerian women don't marry outsiders ROFL.

Children who left Nigeria quite young can still be Nigerian if they have a will to be Nigerian. Believe it or not, there are children who behave more "Nigerian" than children living in Nigeria. Some Nigerians living in Nigeria behave very Western, while some children living abroad behave very "Nigerian".

If given the opportunity, I would always wear my traditional attire. To answer your question about computers and tech gadgets, I admit, that is where my fault lies in behaving like a "Westerner" but it ends there. Building architectures vary from region to region in Nigeria, for example where I'm from we have a Sudo-Sahelian type of architecture which is also commonplace in Mali, Niger, Chad, Northern Benin, Northern Ghana, Burkina Faso, Sudan, etc. It is only found in this region. The architecture in Southern Nigeria is more Euro/Western based.

The question about "what do we classify as culture, and what do we that that strays us from that culture? " is a very difficult question to answer, but I will do my very best to answer it. Culture in a way in itself is ones tradition in my Fulani language it is called "Finatawa" in our culture we follow a strict guideline called Pulaagu/Pulaaku. Sagata (courage), Semteende (Modesty), Hakille (Wisdom), Munyal (patience) are very key factors. Like other African cultures, we treat our Elders with the utmost respect (something that does not happen in the West (especially America) where being old in America is considered a bad thing).

For example, I am trying my best to show Sagata, despite all the people who are against me in this thread, I will somehow prove my point that Africans are giving up their culture in favour of Foreign cultures. How many of your friends do you know speak their mother tongue as well or better than the English language? If they speak English better, then they may want to be careful about their giving into Westernization. If they are listening to artists like Dbanj or 2face Idibia over more traditional artists like Sunny Ade, Okosun, Uwaifo, Mamman Shata, etc., then they are Listening to heavily influenced Western music over their own real music. It is really hard to answer your question, but I hope you get the idea.

Now to answer this question: How did cultural exposure from "other" culture affect our culture hundreds of years back?

African cultures have greatly influenced other African cultures. Overall, I would say it was all positive influences, as food all over the West African region is almost all the same (just with different names due to different languages). One may not know this, but the talking drum that the Yoruba are so proud of is actually Hausa in origin , though we don't know that because our neighbouring groups have all influenced one another for the better.

My qualm with Western culture is that I have seen so much bad from it. The dishonesty, the backbiting, the cowardice, lack of respect for elders, brash talking, that it makes me sick to my stomach.

ezotik:

so it is what an arabized slave says i give a fvck about? haha, u must be crazy....forreal!

If you are a female, then I apologize for arguing with you, I do not like arguing with ladies it is against my moral code. If you are male, then I will continue to see you as a puppet (who the heck quotes posts from other users like Royal without creating their own). It shows you are weak-minded if you can not create your own insults friend.

@ Fula Dude stop it. Your contentions are preposterous and full of ignorant blabber. You' seem to be a lost black man and obviously not intelligent or maybe it is just self hate..

I'm usually not into doing the back and forth with ignorants but I need you to enlighten me on why I'm a sellout and have completely abandon my forefathers culture for the western culture. While at it I also need you to define in your own words what culture means to you and then we can move on from there..

nyameke: Dude stop it. Your contentions are preposterous and full of ignorant blabber. You' seem to be a lost black man and obviously not intelligent or maybe it is just self hate..

I'm usually not into doing the back and forth with ignorants but I need you to enlighten me on why I'm a sellout and have completely abandon my forefathers culture for the western culture. While at it I also need you to define in your own words what culture means to you and then we can move on from there..

Just continue to stoop your head in cowardice, I have no time for the likes of you. If you want to continue with your coconut ways, then by all means do so. I for one am proud of my culture/ancestry. You will never see me change my name to Bob or Timothy.