If you look at the definition for culture it will tell you that, ” it is the customs, ideas and way of life of group of people or a country.” This obviously means that every group of human species has it own distinct culture which originates as early as human creation. Generally, the origins of cultures are categorised into three main types, namely: The Western, which is popular amongst Western countries, Eastern type is common among Eastern countries and lastly, African culture. Culture may differ within different types but will always have common characteristics. Within every culture there are traditions that may or may not show any form of distinction, take for an example, while it’s a norm for Africans to slaughter an animal whenever there is a cultural event, they differ on how they do it. The main purpose of culture is for each group to have its own identity and behavioural patterns. It is uncommon for people to speculate that culture is all about religion or that they are the same. While they may share one goal of guiding humanity towards morality, both culture and religion’s purposes differ in many ways. A religion can be associated with a certain cultural type, a typical example is that Western culture is commonly associated with Christian religions.

South Africa, although not obvious until its new democratic dawn in 1994, is known as a country with diverse cultural background hence also known as ” The Rainbow Nation.” This diversity makes South Africa a unique country. It makes it a beautiful blend of different cultural practices. This can however be a dangerous environment in terms of cultural preservation. Each culture is known to be very vulnerable when many cultures are put together. Some cultures that are regarded as minority can blend into dominant ones causing disastrous changes in behavioural patterns and therefore creating identity crisis, among many other side effects. There was an article recently on Briefly South African News’s Facebook page headlined, ” Young lovers show motorists flames.” The picture from that article depicted two black children, about twelve years old, a girl and a boy in what looked like an intimate or lovers stance. The comments about that article showed different emotions, some condemning and some praising. Normally a black person would not approve of this above mentioned behaviour because this it is simply un-African. In African culture this behaviour is decoded as undermining one of human beings’ behavioural pattern which is respect. Obviously those children did not see anything wrong with their act, because South Africa is a democratic country. They were within their rights. One would easily deduce that they have inherited this form of behaviour from the community they live in or from their families. Which sort of make sense if you you look at it logically. Images like these always leave most people with questions.

Since being democratic, South Africa has tried very hard to accommodate cultural diversity and has made ways for people to live together and be able to tolerate each other’s cultures. To embrace and appreciate their own cultural backgrounds. The big questions are: Is South Africa going towards the right direction? Is African culture under threat from other cultures. Do African people see their own culture as diminutive? Is the democracy the great enemy towards our cultures?

We live in a changing world, but there are cultural activities that has been around for many centuries and still exist even nowadays. Not only to African countries but throughout the whole world. Culture has managed to overcome many changes throughout many centuries of human evolution. Although some cultural activities withered with decades but many survived those tsunamis. One notable cultural activity is the “Umkhosi Womhlanga” or “Reed Dance” which is celebrated annually in KwaZulu Natal. The aim of this activity is not only to promote virginity to young girls. It is also to promote respect and to showcase this beautiful culture. This process of keeping culture alive is called cultural preservation. Another example of cultural preservation in South Africa is that of Orania. Orania is a place situated in South Africa and is populated by Afrikaner fraternity. Although many people may view Orania as a promotion of segregation, but if one can dissect this based on a cultural point of view, positive intentions of Afrikaans speaking people can be identified. Their main purpose is to try and preserve their culture and language, which is for some reason seems to be on the verge of extinction in South Africa. There is nothing wrong with that but there might be questions on their modus operandi. It is unfortunate that this particular culture is seen negatively by most people in South Africa and Afrikaans is still labelled as a language of oppression. This is due to the country’s bitter history of Apartheid. A spokesperson for that particular group once said that anyone was welcomed to come and become an Oranian, if that person is willing to understand and live according to their (Oranians) culture. It’s an interesting gesture but it comes with costs of abandoning your own culture to accommodate another’s. This is called cultural assimilation.

Cultural preservation is mostly done through history and has been like that for centuries. The channels used to preserve culture are mostly arts, through drawing, performances, etc. The most arguably popular way that has remained successful through many centuries is storytelling and writing. This started from those people telling historical stories to our great-great-grandfathers to those who wrote those stories down and those who are still continuing. Writing and storytelling in South Africa have given birth to many talented writers who have played a preserving role, not only on cultural awareness but also on creating different perceptions towards different cultures in South Africa. This would have been an impossible mission without language. Yes, language has been a great catalyst in cultural preservation. It has been a pillar of cultural existence. Through languages human beings have managed to pass culture from generations to generations. It can be said that language forms part of our cultural backbone, heritage.

If you read Mtutuzeli Matshoba’s “To kill a man’s pride.” You cannot help noticing how different cultures managed to bring different people together and to forget about social and political dilemmas of those times. This is an old short story. You can also get a glimpse of Afrikaans speaking people’s culture through most short stories by the late Herman Charles Bosman, although his stories are written in some sort of a polished irony. Those were times of political turmoil in South Africa. There are many other pioneering authors who managed to pass history and helped into shaping how South Africa is now, through phenomenal writing and storytelling. Some are still alive, some are gone. These are writers like Alan Paton, Njabulo Ndebele, Mbuyiseni Mtshali , Can Themba, etc. There were powerful women writers too, like Bessie Head, Mirriam Tlali, Nadine Gordimer, Sindiwe Mngoni and others. There are younger generation of writers that are still passionately holding that cultural torch. Writers like Lidudumalingani Mqombothi, Zingi Mda, Sisonke Msimang and others. It would be tasteless not to commend Fundza Literacy Trust for creating platforms and advocating for young and aspiring writers, storytellers, poets and other stakeholders to keep that flame burning. Many other initiatives like these are very important to every person, not only to preserve culture but also to keep the culture of learning in good hype.

Some cultures are funny, some are unbelievable and some are pretty weird. It is every human’s responsibility to appreciate their own cultures and maybe promote other people’s cultures. No culture is better than the other. No culture should become a victim of cultural erosion. People should stop being cultural bigots and should embrace the fact that each culture is the key to self identity, respect and heritage. A person without a culture is like a bee without honey. By preserving cultures we are creating some form of natural unity, therefore creating an antibiotic for cultural anonymity.