CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Every individual, every family, and indeed, every society has principles and standards which are appreciated and held in high respect, as well as those which are abhorred. When these principles and/or standards are commonly held by peoples, they are termed social values. Social values then refer to the ideas shared by members of a society as to what is good, right, and desirable; things worth striving for. Since no two societies or epochs are identical with each other, social values thus, are different from society to society, and could change from time to time due to acculturation.
African traditional values would refer to those social ideals that pertain to and are indigenous to African people, which have either enhanced or hindered inter-communal relations. The values of a society are significant because they determine the contents of its norms, which help in maintaining social order. Each value has a corresponding norm, or put differently, all norms express social values. Thus, the values which are more difficult to identify because of their abstract nature are more easily inferred from social norms exhibited in actual everyday behaviours. This paper seeks to explore the gamut of African traditional values and how they affect relations between communities with, special reference to Nigeria as a nation.
Culture is the sum of learned beliefs, values, and customs that regulate the behavior of members of a particular society. Beliefs and values are guides of behavior and customs are acceptable ways of behaving. A belief is an opinion that reflects a person’s particular knowledge and assessment of an issue. Values are general statements that guide behavior and influence beliefs and attitudes. A value system helps people choose between alternatives in everyday life. Customs are overt modes of behaviour that constitute culturally approved ways of behaving in specific situations. Customs vary among countries, regions, and even families. In Arab societies, for instance, usury (payment of interest) is prohibited, so special Islamic banks exist to accommodate this.
Dominant cultural values are referred to as core values; they tend to affect and reflect the core character of a particular society. Core values are slow and difficult to change. Consequently, marketing communication strategies must accurately portray and reflect these values.
Secondary values also exist in any culture. Secondary values are less permanent values that can sometimes be influenced by marketing communications. In addition, core values are held by virtually an entire culture, whereas secondary values are not.
A subculture is a group of people who share a set of secondary values, such as environmentalists. Many factors can place an individual in one or several subcultures. Five of the most important factors that create subcultures are:
· Material culture – People with similar income may create a subculture. The poor, the affluent, and the white-collar middle class are examples of material subcultures.
· Social institutions – Those who participate in a social institution may form a subculture. Examples include participation in marriage, parenthood, a retirement community, or the army.
· Belief systems – People with shared beliefs may create a subculture, such as a religious group or political party. For example, traditional Amish do not use electricity and automobiles.
· Aesthetics – Artistic people often form a subculture of their own associated with their common interests, such as art, music, dance, drama, and folklore.
· Language – People with similar dialects, accents, and vocabulary can form a subculture. Southerners and northerners are two traditional categories in the US.
The concept of ‘community cohesion’ was established following a number of riots and disturbances in England in 2001 and the subsequent Report of the Independent Review Team (Cantle, 2001).
While continuing to emphasis the need to tackle inequalities, community cohesion programmes also attempted to build understanding between different groups and to build mutual trust and respect by breaking down stereotypes and misconceptions about the ‘other’. In many cases, there have been clear and measurable impacts of such programmes and these assessments are generally based upon attitudinal and behavioural change in the programme participants, or in the wider local community.
In addition to the small scale programmes focussed on divided communities, community cohesion was also developed at a city-wide or area level to develop support a broader consensus in support of diversity. These often included high profile campaigns featuring people from a range of backgrounds who ‘all belong’ and contribute to the economic and cultural life of the area. These campaigns were important in that they tried to present a new positive picture of diversity and whilst recognising the value of cultural heritage and distinctiveness, it placed a new emphasis on the commonalities between groups and thereby contributed to a less defensive and more progressive form of multiculturalism.
Indeed, from the outset, community cohesion attempted to develop a positive vision for diverse societies, (which was turned into a formal definition – see below), in which people from all backgrounds would feel that they belonged and were valued, enjoyed similar life opportunities and interacted with people from different backgrounds to break down myths and stereotypes and to build trust. This contrasted with the development of multiculturalism, which was still conceptualised as being largely defensive and negative – to try to stop the worst effects of a racist and colonial past. It was difficult to find any positive vision for multiculturalism before 2001, other than the 1966 statement of the then Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, which he suggested that ‘integration’ should not be ‘a flattening process, but as equal opportunity accompanied by cultural diversity in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance’ (Jenkins, 1966).
Community cohesion has then developed as positive vision of a diverse society and has been supported by a wide range of programmes to improve community relations. However, like multiculturalism, it is still largely based upon national and local institutions and programmes and often implemented in many contextualised ways at city or local area level. Inter-culturalism provides the opportunity to develop a much wider vision.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Every nation has a set of values and norms that govern the behaviour of its people. Similarly, every society has a system of social control or mechanism of ensuring that its people behave in consonance with its normative values in order to ensure social cohesion and integration. This is a way of keeping them together as one indivisible entity, with a common identity and destiny. The issue of national unity has become topical as Nigeria celebrates its 100 years of existence.
There is no gainsaying that the greatest challenge facing the country is the threat to its national unity. The reason is not hard to explain because Nigeria is a multi-ethnic nation with diverse cultures and traditions. But in spite of the seeming challenges of the cultural diversity of Nigeria, there have been many institutions promoting values which have continued to keep the nation united. Such institutions include the National Theatre in Iganmu Lagos state, the annual cultural festivals, state carnivals, unity schools, new yam festivals, National Youth Service Corps, NYSC and inter marriages.