Dissecting, transforming culture
Published: Monday | August 17, 2009
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I READ with much interest and 'hmmm'-ing the article titled 'Festival daggering' by Carolyn Cooper in The Sunday Gleaner of August 16. It raises some very serious issues for deep consideration. It became even more relevant to me as I am currently in South Africa, attending a three-month course at the African Leadership Institute for Community Transfor-mation (www.alict.org ), and just last week classes focused on culture and worldviews. The discussions involved identifying and tracing the roots of the cultural practices in our local communities with a critical mind, and understanding the complexities that are involved in transforming culture.
Highly suggestive
The truth is many of those festival dances may indeed be deemed as highly suggestive. This has always been my conviction, and the struggle for me has been how do we accept some things as just cultural, while at the same time shield our young ones, and even adults, from the possible subconscious messages that may be sent?
As a theologian, I admit that the answers to the questions raised here by the columnists are important ones, and they can best be answered if we each come to the table (theologians, anthropologists, artistes, citizens, professors, etc) with a mindset that is not dogmatic, and one that is willing to do the hard work of dissecting culture. Kudos to Cooper.
I am, etc.,
Teddy A. Jones
ghettopriest@gmail.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090817/letters/letters3.html
