The just concluded activities of Amerindian Heritage Month during September, under the theme “Our Culture, Earth’s future”, should have served to remind us of the rich cultural legacies bequeathed to the nation by the various people that call Guyana home. The Amerindians or “Indigenous Peoples” have a special relationship with the earth, which forms an integral aspect of their way of life or culture.
They do not see themselves as having “dominion” over the earth, but a duty to live in harmony with it. When the Europeans arrived at the end of the 15th century, they thought they were looking at pristine, uninhabited forests. But within those “forests” that were in fact “pristine”, lived millions of individuals who did not see the need to clear those forests even as they farmed a multitude of crops to feed, house and clothe themselves. They were dubbed “uncivilized” but today, the world and its “civilization” have come full circle to appreciate the “sustainability” that lifestyle offers to the planet.
The Africans who were dragged across the Atlantic and the Indians from even further afield, also had more nurturing relationships with the earth, called “mother”. During August, following the Emancipation celebrations, we were also exposed to aspects of original African culture that survived the European project to denude Africans of their culture. Right now, the Hindus are engaged in the worship of God as female in various aspects, during their “NauRaat” period. One of those aspects brings to life the vision of earth as “mother”.
The point being made is our “multicultural” reality is a strength and must be cherished and nurtured rather than simply be given lip service at ceremonial occasions. As Bhiku Parekh, who authored the definitive text that became the basis of “multicultural Britain” wrote: “Different cultures represent different systems of meaning and visions of the good life. Since each realizes a limited range of human capacities and emotions and grasps only a part of the totality of human existence, it needs other cultures to help it understand itself better, expand its intellectual and moral horizon, stretch its imagination, save it from narcissism to guard it against the obvious temptation to absolutise itself, and so on. This does not mean that one cannot lead a good life within one’s own culture, but rather that, other things being equal, one’s way of life is likely to be richer if one also enjoys access to others, and that a culturally self-contained life is virtually impossible for most human beings in the modern, mobile and interdependent world.”
It is rather unfortunate that Britain itself in the throes of retreating from that multicultural ideal – as also the United States – after refusing to make root and branch reforms to take multiculturalism to its logical conclusion: practices that offers real equality to all cultures in all spheres of life. In Guyana, there can be no claim by any government that they are deploying the resources to culture in an equitable fashion to the different cultural groups in Guyana. For instance, there has been the promulgation of a policy to introduce music in schools, but was there any form of consultation with the several communities to ensure that all the musical strains are taught?
“Cultural industries” or “creative industries” have become accepted as an adaptation to the world-system into which even our villages are plugged into, and which combine the creation, production and distribution of goods and services that are cultural in nature and usually protected by intellectual property right. Have all the cultural groups in Guyana been brought to the table when the policy in this area was discussed recently at a “stakeholders’ meeting”?
It is clear that there is a great danger we may be repeating the historical tragedy – this time as farce – of the colonial era when all cultures were systematically marginalised by the government appointed gatekeepers.
This situation must be corrected and all cultures be given their rightful place.
