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| Ghanaians must develop modus operandi ... |
1/7/2007 |
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to help live meaningfully
Accra, Jan. 6, GNA - Professor Kodjo Senah, Head of the Sociology Department of the University of Ghana, on Saturday said Ghanaians must devise a "modus operandi" that comfortably accommodates their peculiar hopes and aspirations in the context of a globalized world so as to live meaningful lives.
This he said "requires a national dialogue on what our national developmental parameters should be and the place and role of the people in development."
He was presenting a paper on: "Our Values In The Past Half Century" at the ongoing 58th Annual New Year School organized by the Institute of Adult Education of the University of Ghana, Legon.
Professor Senah said although the National Redemption Council''s "Charter of Redemption" failed to receive wide acceptance among Ghanaians, it nonetheless represented a spirited attempt to forge a united front, adding: "We can under congenial conditions forge a new development charter."
He observed that for several generations, the country had mimicked European ideas and values to her disadvantage, saying: "It is high time we created our own."
In the current political and economic arrangements, Ghanaians could not throw away their cultures or imbibe in whole the cultures of others because "we are defined in part by our cultural traditions" he added. "The only consolation is that, through the common norms and values of our tradition, the people have acquired a national character and therefore the core of our cultures would not die easily even in the face of Western cultural onslaught."
He said in analyzing the state of development of any society, it was important to examine the nature, quality and quantity of its human and natural endowment and social capital base, but to deeply appreciate this, it was important to supplement this analysis with the view that people in the society hold about themselves and their world.
This generalized view is encapsulated in what is commonly referred to as culture, which Edward Burnett Tylor in his book Primitive Culture described as "that complex whole, which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society."
He said norms and values constituted the core of any culture and that whereas norms were considered as the appropriate behaviour by a society, values were collective conceptions of what was considered good, desirable and proper or bad, undesirable and improper in a culture. Professor Senah said many well meaning Ghanaians had wondered where the nation was drifting to and that 50 years down the lane "we are still asking ourselves: In reality who are we?"
He said 50 years after independence it was unpardonable to continue to blame colonialism for the country''s inability to develop a home-brewed consciousness that informed every facet of national life. "Today our educational system is still unclear as to the kind of knowledge and skills we want our youth to acquire, our extended family system has lost its shock absorbers when we have not developed any alternative system to absorb individual shocks resulting from globalisation."
He said the attempt to marry both European and traditional norms and values had been disastrous, thus although we use watches, we distinguish between Ghana Mean Time and Greenwich Mean Time. "This is because by our socialization, time is not anything that must enslave us."
Touching on chieftaincy and ethnicity or tribalism, which has relevance to the national stability and identity, Professor Senah said the communitarian and kinship orientation required that people showed solidarity not only to kinsmen or women but also to all with whom they shared common culture.
This show of solidarity had been stretched to a point where ethnicity had led to favouritism, ethnocentricism and xenophobia, he said, and cautioned the public against that behaviour because although Ghana was usually described as an oasis of peace, the few ethnically driven skirmishes had shown the frailty of our body politic. He said their people usually recognized chiefs as legitimate but though their mode of selection violated democratic principles, "the morality of the modality is accepted as article of faith". This legitimacy was lacking in party politics in that the majority took the major decisions and carried them through in spite of the will of the other parties who represented a significant number of voters, which had resulted in many Ghanaians not favouring state funding of political parties.
In an answer to the mode of dressing by the youth, obscene films and music on the airwaves, Professor George Hagan, Chairman of the National Commission on Culture noted that the government was not about to change the Constitution to impose censorship on obscene songs, films and dressing.
He said it behoved on parents to caution and guide their children to practice good morality and dress decently adding that civil society organizations also had the responsibility to help correct this behaviour. 06 Jan. 07
Source:
GNA
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