Why a developing society needs culture

This article seeks to argue the point that while we can continue to stress the demonstrable aspects of our culture, it is not all aspect of our cultural traditions that can be put on stage.In our effort to present, promote, propagate and preserve culture, a deliberate effort has to be made to stress equally those […]

This article seeks to argue the point that while we can continue to stress the demonstrable aspects of our culture, it is not all aspect of our cultural traditions that can be put on stage.
In our effort to present, promote, propagate and preserve culture, a deliberate effort has to be made to stress equally those elements which in their totality give a fuller meaning to the concept of culture. We can only do this when we understand what culture is and are able to identify those other elements of culture beyond the visual and performing arts.
Culture is the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempt to meet the challenges of living. In the process of evolution, a man seeks and sometimes finds answers in one form or the other, to social, political, economic and religious challenges through a process of trial and error and solutions to problems of living are proffered and this happens over a period of time.
In this way, distinctive norms, beliefs or modes of organisation and characteristics are formed; while together distinguish a people from its neighbours. Culture is a set of unique values, social processes, traditions of communal actions and individual behaviours, modes of change of growth and beliefs within the overall organisation of the society. Professor S. O Biobaku, in his book, Culture in Nigeria says that “culture is the evolving way of life of the people, their response to their environment and changing circumstance”,
Many people still do not understand the meaning of the word culture. Consider for instance during Fest ac and long after the festival, most people of Nigeria, especially those who watch the festival through television have continued to refer to “culture” as meaning dancing, singing and play-acting or dramatisation.
For many people in Nigeria, the cultural festival featured nothing but songs, dances, and drama. As many times a one is faced with this sudden realisation, one is forced to think that not enough has been done to promote the present culture in the country.
We can now refer to the deficiency in the presentation of our as a primary cause of the misunderstanding of the full importance of the word culture. In our present situation therefore, all that can be done to make our ideas of culture a living reality must be encouraged. This effort must be deliberately pursued if our ideas of the Nigerian sense of values and thoughts are to be properly translated to the generations coming after us.
My interest put simple, is for a living culture that will use all its limitless resources of language, thought and visual images, to forge a dynamic and coherent society-distinct in its characteristics and progressive in nature. This can only be possible when we dwell much in our culture heritage. Let’s do only those things that benefit each and every one of us; not only a few. Let’s measure our abilities and needs.
It is an established fact that the most valuable instrument of forging understanding between people is communication. Thus there is a need for Nigerians to understand each other more than the situation warrant at present. And this can only be possible when we communicate in our local languages. We are confident that by doing so, it will enable us articulate all the essential elements of our culture because of language, in itself represents a people’s philosophy of life, the transmission of perceptions, their concepts of values and ideas as well as the expression of their beliefs.
Culture is also a necessity to economic development planning. Nigeria needs to begin to be conscious of the cultural dimension to economic development planning. This is because development plans and policy making seem to have head no conscious cultural dimensions it. Most of the emphasis usually of quantitative growth. Yet the truth ought to have been obvious that the whole purpose of development planning ought to be improvement in the quality of lives of Nigerians and that such an improvement is hardly possible, no matter what statistical increase in goods and services are attained, if the new changes do not consciously relate to the cultural roots and sensibilities of our people and if development is not seen consciously as an instrument for the dynamic development of Nigeria’s cultural heritage.
Finally, new patterns of demands of life are drastically changing the individual’s relationship with his living environment with a consequent growing lack of concern for the beauty or even the hygiene of the environment. As a result of all these, both the rural and urban areas have become ugly. Now the danger is that people who have become used to ugliness must find it difficult to see the beauty or the need to seek it. Here culture is a big asset.
Dibal wrote in from Department of Mass communication, University of Maiduguri.