I might add that cultures also evolve...
the Romans went from a type of 'polytheism ' to Christianity, the Britons went from 'paganism' to Christianity, the Babylonians Assyrians went from a type of polytheism to Islam,

Africa which has probably the most diverse ethnic and religious mix on the face of the planet, and it would be expected to have several conflict lines drawn from religion and 'culture' ...culture is morally ambiguous or just quite frankly amoral( it is neither wholly good or bad) we all take from it that which we need to survive or flourish.

The subject here is only of Afrikans who incorporate Abrahamic religions into their culture. When Indo-Europeans/Semites take them on, it will not have the same effect as it does on an Afrikan because the philosophy and ideology is still of them. However, when an Afrikan takes on these religions, they indirectly worship another people thereby subverting the purpose of culture (according to the definition) which is to "see each other as family can interact in mutually beneficial ways, providing for and protecting themselves from antagonistic, external forces." If you are indirectly worshiping the European or Arab, then you will also not exclude him from your meetings and organizations that help towards your Liberation. In not excluding them, you then only allow them to place an even more complicated strangle-hold on your self-determination.

Lastly, I'd have to disagree that culture is "morally ambiguous". Question for you...when it becomes a people's culture to systematically destroy, rape, murder, and exploit a group of people based solely on physical appearance, does it not fall on one end of the morality spectrum? If not, then that would explain why you think there was some good in the trans-Atlantic enslavement or Maafa.

So would you say that the 'influence' of European or other cultures has helped our African culture to evolve? Is our culture better off as a result of that 'influence'? Has African culture been helped because WE have taken from it what we need to survive or flourish?

Respect

I'm under the impression that Africans naturally infuse their own personal style and ways to anything they/we adopt.

Black church in america is generally different from white houses of worship....even north american slavery couldn't erase our ways of expressing spirituality

Islam in Africa has details, traditions that reflect the region............and differs from how islam is practiced in arab world.


I'm not a big proponent of organized religion, but I think of things in practical terms. Islam is deeply rooted and embedded in much of Africa.......original(pre Europe) chrisitianity is embedded in parts of Eastern Africa. White brand of christianity is deeply embedded in African diasporan culture. that's reality.


so deeply rooted that they can't be separated.


white christiantiy hasn't been as deeply embedded in Africa just yet...

Religious oppression is the most difficult form of oppression to expunge from a people who have suffered under it, would need an inquisition, a war even, to replace them with a homeland culture that promotes the safeguarding values the author mentions.

The Rastafarian religion would be another example of an infusion, hoping that they'll take to the Hebrew rather than the King James interpretation or use the Coptic version the Ethiopian church uses one day.... Santería would be another example although it can be excluded perhaps as the christian element was imposed and used to disguise their actual practices even though the imposed element is still in use.

All of your points are certainly good ones and duly noted. The question is do our people have a "culture" any longer after the infusion/imposition of these foreign ideologies?

Is this new way of life "designed to insure the physical, mental and spiritual survival of that people"?

Is it "mutually beneficial" and does it protect from "antagonistic, external forces"?

Do these ideological infusions/impositions given Afrikans the capability to discern who are "outsiders"?

"...a culture can be defined as everything manmade, material and nonmaterial, passed on from one generation to the next that is designed to insure the physical, mental and spiritual survival of that people. It provides the framework, the social mind and personality, by which a population of people who ourstorically see each other as family can interact in mutually beneficial ways, providing for and protecting themselves from antagonistic, external forces. Among a whole host of other things, culture is everything from the the rules which govern relationships between individuals and groups within that people to how those people see and interact with those they consider outsiders. It makes them one..."
Notes Toward Higher Ideals in Afrikan Intellectual Liberation by Mwalimu K. Bomani Baruti

a good, useful definition of culture.

i can add to this that culture is not stagnant. it is a set of ideas, attributes and expectations that change as people react to changing circumstances. as such, it can only be considered as whole and alive, or dead (useless), even when remnants of the original culture are still thriving, in much the same way an organism with all parts attached can be contrasted to, for example, a man who has lost his frontal lobe through accident, and is lying in a vegetative state or coma. because the individual has lost a part of their personality, it is hard seeing how what remains can be considered the whole individual, let alone see how a man crippled in this manner can be useful for themselves... can grow, learn, adapt and protect self from foes, unless there was a way to artificially grow brain cells, and reinstate their full functions.

unlike living organisms that can still stay alive when they have lost vital parts, a culture is either alive and well or it is dead, there is no in between. science has yet to find a way to grow fully functional brains, complete with the entire personality (memory, propensities, etc), but it is very possible to recreate a working culture. examples of people/nations that did this abound. china comes to mind.

cultural suppression that accompanied colonialism killed our cultures, and this is a fact we Africans need to come to terms with if we are to properly see why we are the way we are, and realize the task confronting us (what we have to do to survive and prosper). the skeletal structure that remained, which we erroneously still refer to as African culture, is useless for the purpose of affording us the wisdom required to thrive in a challenging world, "by which a population of people who ourstorically see each other as family can interact in mutually beneficial ways, providing for and protecting themselves from antagonistic, external forces". this is in large part the reason we are so easy to infiltrate and distract, abuse and trash, rob and rubbish, and unless this issue is tackled, we are simply going down.

there are no two ways about this...

a cultural revolution is what we require/need. the task of recreating a culture that befits our condition, that will be viable, is monumental, but it can be done. it needs to be done.

what must be understood is that when a people lose so much of their culture, they lose their accumulated wisdom that enabled them to survive in nature. they also lose knowledge of self, or identity. they lose the idea of who they are compared to who others are. in such a state, working against their own interests is the obvious next step since the line that separates friend from foe, constructive or self destructive activity is vague. speaking on a different but connected level, Mukasa Afrika puts it aptly when he says:

Our task to the future, is Pan African, that is to unite and build the fragments of the African worldview throughout the Amerikas, indeed throughout the world.
he goes on to say:

Putting black interests first, the view of Afrocentricity, is the plateau from which we launch our dialogues with those who are dedicated to the establishment of power among African peoples. Afrocentrism strives for reinforcing the New African Frame of Reference being forged by black brothers all over the world. It seeks for a collective identity founded on black ideas, rather than the ideas of non blacks.........we assert that all foreign isms, doctrines, ideologies, and systems of thought are not only inadequate but must be avoided. In taking this stance we are not so much anti-anything, we are merely pro Afrikan, or in other words Afrikan centered.

BTW: i see no differences in mind set between African church goers or Muslims with Afrikans who are not devout. we are actually all affected in the same way, all of us liable to become weak links in various ways, whether it is by facilitating destructive infiltration or otherwise. in fact, it is in churches and mosques where I have found the strongest pro Afrikan views expressed.

the inclusion of quotes from Mukasa Afrika may seem impertinent, but they are not. we are dealing with the same affliction and there are many ways of both describing and resolving it. Pan-Afrikanism and the worldview Afrocentrism are right on track for the topic raised.

conquest.....wars.....etc are as old as mankind.

Ideas,language, ways, technology, etc pass from one culture to a less dominant one. it happened when white and arab attacked Africa...and to a lesser degree when the great African empires Ghana,Mali, Songhai, Zulu conquered other Africans.

The isolation from the rest of the world's ideas, technology,etc is one of the reasons why our people have historically been vulnerable to attack.

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I think culture is important...but the world is progressing..and if you can't incorporate the beneficial "outsider" ideas,technology, etc.....you set yourself up to be left behind. It's not an "either or" situation...ideally you'd want to keep your culture and have access to the developments of the rest of the world.

for example..due to slavery and colonization.....all of us here speak English....some speak French...some speak Spanish .... it's wonderful and great if we also speak native tongues...

a culture is not a lifestyle, it is not something you can copy like watching American Rappers and adopting their mentality, tastes, etc. change for the better, technological advancement, comes from people, just as culture does.

a culture is a people's memory allowing them to find their place in time. it tells of what they are, paves a way for those in the present to conne