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THE EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON AFRICAN CULTURE: THE NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE
Abstract: The effects of globalization on various aspects of the life of developing nations has always been controversial. Of recent, emphasis has been on the impact of globalization on African culture. There is the fear that ultimately, globalization aims at cultural homogenization and moreover, that the culture that will emerge at the end of the day will be predominantly American, thus Americanization. It is against this background that this paper sets out to assess the effects of globalization on Nigerian culture. This work pursues three specific objectives namely to determine the effects of globalization on Nigerian culture, to ascertain if cultural homogenization is an American agendum, to determine the global implications of cultural homogenization and to ascertain if Nigeria is at the mercy of the forces of globalization culture-wise. Adopting theoretical and judgemental analysis, this work took the following positions with regards to the objectives: Globalization, as a double-edged sword, has impacted both positively and negatively on the Nigerian cultures to the extent that one cannot convincingly prove that its net effect is negative and to state also that the negative effects came as result of Nigerians copying what was wrong in foreign cultures of their own freewill. Therefore, Nigerians should take much of the blame for the extinction and dilution of our culture; There is not enough evidence to show that America is deliberately trying to impose its culture on the rest of the world, if cultural homogenization occurs as a result of acculturation, in this case, a process of natural selection that selects the best part of each culture and combines or unites them to achieve a perfect dominant global culture, humanity will be the better for it. However, a dominant global culture that emerges as a result of the forceful projection and imposition of one culture on the rest of the world is totally undesirable and unacceptable and Culture is perhaps the aspect of globalization for which Nigerians have the power to resist or moderate the process of globalization because we as intelligent human beings have the capacity to discern right and wrong and unless we accept a foreign culture, no force can impose it on us. This work also makes the following recommendations: The first step in preserving our culture is to transcend the inferiority complex that makes us believe that what is foreign is automatically better and realize that culture-wise, Nigeria has a lot that is superior and therefore admired by other peoples, our target should not be to retain our cultures in their pristine order because that is against the law of nature but to direct the process of cultural evolution in such a way that it is positive and in view of the critical role that culture plays in national development, our leaders should be conscious of the fact that there is a global culture competition going on and that if ignored or neglected, it may prove to be insidious and disastrous to a quest for national development.
Keywords: Globalization, Culture, Extinction, Africa, Foreign