‘Is There such Thing as African Culture in the 21st Century? A Philosophical Appraisal

Abstract

This paper attempts to demonstrate that currently, there is nothing like African culture in the real sense of the word. If culture is understood as the sum total of a way of life of a particular set of people, it is unfortunate but obvious that modern Africa cannot pretend to have one. It is the opinion of this paper that colonialism and imperialism destroyed what was originally African. Talking of a genuine African culture in this twenty first century is a sham. It is shocking to realize that till date, most Africans still rely on the ‘Other’ [that is, the Western world] to name, qualify, define, and even classify them. This paper then concludes that Africans must regain themselves, that is; they must remain authentic through the revival and imposition of their genuine and unique personality if they really want to contribute to world history.

Keywords: Africa, Culture, Colonialism, Race and 21^st century