Thank you for expressing what was on my mind, but being so early in the
morning when I wrote, was unable to articulate.  Your comment is eloquent
and to the point.  Thanks.

Maria
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rene Badjan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 8:34 PM
Subject: Re: African Culture Or A State Of Underdevelopment?


> Mariama,
>         Your point is well noted. May be, we should also realize that the
> issue is not so much as to the poverty of culture, but instead the culture
of
> poverty. Our culture is our way of life. Regardless of our stations in
life,
> the values and norms that characterized our culture, are permanent
imprints
> that leave marks on the sands of time. Whether it is in Banjul, or in
> Wahington or New York or elsewhere, the way Gambians celebrate their joys
and
> mourn their sorrows is essentially the same. The essence that validates
these
> shared values is rooted in a deep sense of identity; a sense of belonging.
It
> is not a surprise then, that a child who is born to a Gambian but the
other
> parent from a different culture, here is the USA or anywhere else, might
go
> through the same cultural rites of christening as the child born in the
> Gambia.
>
>     Secondly, most of the artifacts and the outward symbolisms of our
> culture, are concrete manifestations of the relevance they permeate in the
> past, whether for good or ill. The fears of the people, their beliefs and
> spirituality, their passions and tradegies, which had been an integral
part
> of the very basis of their existence, are the core representations of most
of
> the rites and ceremonies that shaped our culture. Whether it is the
Kankurang
> or the initiation ceremonies into manhood, or the songs( kassak) that
> reverberates their melody from the confinements of the circumcised, to the
> family that eats together in one bowl under the big Mango tree, the
cultural
> traits are as potent as the  drums that gathered the community together
for a
> dance. This is what we should celebrate, but not the huts or dilapidated
> Keringting houses that characterized the poverty of the people. Poverty
> should not be equated with culture. People are subjected to poverty.
Culture
> is their way of life.
>
>    Rene
>
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