Social Debate: Do we have culture ?

[Muhammad]

do we Somalis have a culture?

 

culture is the norms, believes and values that one group shares. this means that all human groups who live in the same are and share the same characteristics has a culture.

 

so what is our culture? when studing culture of a particular society, it is good idea to start with the nomadic people. there are many reasons why - they are the roots and seeds of the society, they have not been influenced by foriegns as much as those in urban areas have been.

 

so if we want to understand our culture we should look at our nomads, especially those who herd camals, goats and sheeps. If you observe carefully you will see what the norms, believes and values of these people are thus see their culture.

 

there are also some very important things you must study, such as their poetry, songs, folktales, stories, proverbs, food, housings iwm. studing this will teach you every aspect of these people's culture, and history.

 

In some societies, culture and religion are integrated and it is very hard to distinquish one from the other, this is true in all Islamic societies, because Islam is more than a religion it is a way of life.

[Baashi]

What is culture?

Culture: the behavior patterns, beliefs, institutions and all other products of human work and thought especially as expressed in a particular community or period.

 

How our DHAQAN corresponds the definition stated above?

Our culture shares many traits with Arab and African cultures we are part of and yet is unique and diverse in many ways: Behavior patterns - the way we dress, greet, grieve, host guests, treat women/men, etc. No grey area worldview, everything is black and white.

Beliefs: deep down Muslims but Somalis give much credence to omens, magic, etc.

Institutions: clan institution, xeer (traditional jurisprudence) institution, village institution (agricultural), etc.

 

Somalis of yesteryears are different from Somalis of today. Decades ago we didn’t have concept of governance outside of our village or within our clan. Today we are integrated and forced to deal with each other. Seven decades ago, some of us were wearing goatskin as clothes (before mareykaan, boqor iyo dhacle, etc). Today we wear from thongs to Hijab. Decades ago we didn’t have a sizable community in the Diasporas exposed to new cultures. Today we hear news about Somali lesbians, gays, and murtadiin. Decades ago poetry was a means of communicating news and way of preserving history and hence we accorded much societal value. Not any more. In that sense, culture is a function of time. One thing is certain, as ever before - and that is the Islamic religion is a catalyst agent of our culture. Without it, we would not do these: pay dowry, marry four wife, circumcise females, pay zakat without government enforcing it, sacrifice goat for new born babies, etc.

 

Now, let me say that we are in an after shock period! Our culture (^) is being threatened (good or bad), and there are no think tanks or cultural institution formed to preserve our heritage (language, for instance), if there is anything, there are few commercial driven, ad-hoc publishers. The retreat-ist apparently baffled by the complexity of the new culture, retreated into the sanctity of their traditional world. Conformists are like sunflower (gabal-daye), not only they mimicked the surrogate culture but also they also sincerely become advocate for embracing the new ways. Malcontents are fuming they can’t effect changes nor they can persuade the converts to come back - they are inaptitude and effective intolerants. The only group with strategy at hand and succeeding so far is Ikhwaan. However, the secret is they are not preoccupied with culture - they are spreading the word of Allah; incidentally they are subconsciously and effectively preserving the Somali language, community values and other traits of our culture.

 

Raali ahaada waa ila tagtey e,

 

Farah, why don't u enlighten us with answers!

[Muhammad]

 

Somalis of Yesterdays!

[Macalin]

Brother Farah..salaams

 

Are you asking us if we do indeed have a culture?--or what IS culture?

if the question is the later, i would try to amalgamate both of the q's in some form of one simple paragraph.

 

From the webster dictionary culture is described as:

The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought

 

Lemme start with art: we do have our very own art..we may not be great innovators or engineers but we do have our very simple and small ways of artistic style.

beleifs: this is by far the best of the best as we indeed do have the best religion god sent us...in addtions to our very own beleifs some kinda barbaric other exotic and indiginous yet unique to somalis

 

Institutions:, great scholars,religious leaders,prophetical poets,music composers excetra excetra..

 

So brother we do have culture, Have some of us veered of the culture? Defintly yes.

have some of us been assimilated and have aquired other cultures?..sure we are refugees.

Have the authorities(parents/teachers) done anything to further keep this culture..i beleive we can do better.

 

in a nut shell ....i love my culture and or what remains of it--thanks and may god bless Yall

[Jamster]

Salaams,

 

uuh, so there is no Somali culture independent from external factors? if the answer is ye then that is something I can concede with.

 

As many of the above gents elluded to, Somali "cultute" is part of Islamic heritage and without it there is no Somali culture--- unlike other Muslims who had social beliefs and norms before they embraced Islam; Somalis were not that unfortunate. Our culture and collective thought is indeed Islam, consequently we have Muslim culture rather that a Somali "culture".

 

Respectively,

 

Farah

[Positive]

Nice comments sisters and brothers.

 

we have discussed , some what, about the definition of the word CULTURE. The title of this topic: Do we have culture ? is also debated.

 

ButI wish that we go deeper into the subject! The following questions in my letter stand unanswered:

 

 

Do we need/have a culture ? ( we have covered this question ! )

 

What is my/your role ?

 

How can the above ideals of the (four) groups be converged to the best interest of the people ?

 

Which ideal of the four groups can (best) serve the interest of the people ?

 

 

Feel free to make your comments please- preferably answering the questions

 

Positive

 

Lax kastaa shilalka ay isdhigto ayaa lagu qalaa.

[sayfulaah-almasluul]

well i think there is no doubt about somali having a culture i mean that so obvious,what i think we need to know is what is our special,specific cultures that makes us diffrent from the others?somali have very strong relations with their african and arab neighbours,and there is clear evedience that somali do share some african cultures though not as strong as that one we share with arabs.i say simbly cuz cultures as has been deffined by others isThe totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thoughtsomali behavious and belives are based on that of islam i do not deny one moment that alot somali behaviours and beleife are unislamic however the most social,beleifes and behavours are based our islamic relligione,so yes we do have cultures which i think wwe should be proud of it

[Paragon]

Before I could even come to agreeing wether there is such a thing as Somali culture or not, I guess it is worth looking at the role collective conscience plays in our cultural and social disorientation. Our clan system might have had a deliberation to construct 'collective conscienceness' in order to subdue the development of individualism in our society.

 

The development of individualistic thought and knowledge is key to the creation of positive intellectualism that prompts a change in social morality, based on clear conscience and rationality. This individualism was not evident in the Somali society, because leaders of the clan system did not permit such things to exist, in fear that it may undermine clan powers and structure.

 

Just as the West had created necessary illusions such as football and other sports to control their societies, to maintain the status quo of clanism, Somali elders devised a similar, but a much dangerous illusion for their subjects, inter-clan war games. The ensuing factor was warrior culture, which was strengthened by false pride and patriotism. These things bind the clan together regardless of individual rights. Camel and cattle wrestling was the favorite sport and had created the existence of inter-clan skirmishes, in which clan warriors were merited for their ruthlessness and bravery.

 

These warriors were made not to reason singly but fight jointly with blind loyalty diminishing their individuality to almost nothing. The motto was "Gar iyo Gar Darro waan ku garab taag nahay". and the spirit of not reasoning individually has become almost a mindset that is difficult to break whatsoever. Individualism threatens the basic fabric and foundation on which the clan exists.

 

So, coming to the Western hemisphere, where strong indvidualism is encrouged, some Somalis, whose individual needs were denied under the clan's sub-structures and Xeer, saw the need to embrace negetive individualism in its crudest form by breaking loose from traditional and cultural restrictions. What was needed here was a weighed balance of of individualism and collectivism.

 

...I guess the collective conscienceness of our clan system and how to de-construct it safely is another topic, but I think if we deal successfully with conscience, which is the cornerstone of every culture, we could overcome the cultural crisis we are facing now.

[Reality Check]

Positive,

 

 

I might be mistaken, but doesn't every culture change with time? What the Somali culture in the homeland the spitting image of the culture that existed 100 years prior? Change can be good or bad ...whatever you make of it really. In any case, positive, your categories are over-generalising people. So why don't you fully describe to us what the "perfect" Somali culture is? and where can one find the manual?

[king_450]

Amazingly those somalis who immigrated abroad lately seems to act Unsomlis all the time, by continously criticizing our btlf Somali Culture. If you don't know Yet how good our culture correction our Btfl Somali Culutre is ,then may i suggest don't even ask the Q Plz.

[Blessed]

I believe that we do have a culture and this manifests it-self in our dress code (dirac, guntiino etc) food, arts - poetry and buraanbur in particular as well as traditional Somali utensils... which are now used more as objects of decoration. Incence (uunsi) we are famous for those things for centauries…

 

and our values that are influenced by our religion and social norms (i.e maah maahyo) and our great love for camels (wiil geeljire ahoo gaajadu ____ waa waxa dhulkeena u gaar ahe!). Those are things that are specific for us – and hence our culture.

 

Everything else sorts of goes through transformation and adaptations.. I welcome any change that is positive- however some things I find pretty odd... like our weddings; what is Somali about the white dress, and the cake - I get embarrassed when my Asian and African friends ask me about weddings - !!

Somalis were also famous for their hospitality – lol that was kindly removed by our new found admiration for politicians.

 

 

Our Role - Be Proud

Islamic ideal best serves our people, as Islam is flexible. I disagree with the notion that to be Islamic one needs to be Arabic. You can be Islamic and be Somali – we don’t have to adopt their dress codes in order to observe hijaab. We don’t have to learn their dishes in order to eat xalaal. Our religion is that flexible. We don’t have to speak Arabic and Arabic only. We don’t have to say ukhti instead of walaal , aboow / abaayo / huuno lol what ever you fancy. – I find it hilarious when some wadaads go – ukhti iga bayd lol 0- I guess, it nice to be bilingual like that!

 

I think we’re losing our culture do to the negative connotation associated with Somalis and Somalia (civil unrest). Also the fact that most of us have grown up outside of Somalia – unless you have very cultural parents – it’s going to be very difficult to be aware of our culture let alone respect it and uphold it.… and lets not forget the power of globalisation..!! My cousins in Burco are asking for Arsenal tops-- bal yaa Arsenal uga sheekeeyay?

 

 

unlike other Muslims who had social beliefs and norms before they embraced Islam; Somalis were not that unfortunate.

lol. Thats a bit odd, so what were Somalis? Cave people? Surely we had a languange and a social system of some sort - otherwise we'd be none-existent..

[Paragon]

Thats a bit odd, so what were Somalis? Cave people?

Yah! lets leave it at that now, iyaah? lol

[NGONGE]

I’m not sure where to begin here! Positive (and farah) ask interesting questions. But, I’m tempted to add an extra question of my own. Why do we need culture?

Surely we live in a global village where most of the main norms and practises are the same the world over. Many people limit culture to history and heritage but even there we’re not really unique. J11 speaks of the way the tribes and clans used to operate. This is exactly how the Arab tribes operated. Others speak of our nomad life style and our arts, poetry and family trees! Again, this is nothing but a variation of the Bedouin way of life of Arabs (from the camels, all the way to the little artefacts we build). In fact, that part of Somali culture is a carbon copy of Bedouin cultures.

 

I wouldn’t say there is a culture crisis in Somalia. Cultures change and evolve. Things that fitted Somalis a hundred years ago might not work in today’s environment. To look at culture from that angle only leads to lots of navel gazing and prejudice!

 

Positive, the four groups you mention all make valid points but none of them is totally right. Why does it have to be a choice between any of them? The people that makeup the Somali nation come from all these groups and, in a free society, the views of all should be heard and able to progress and blossom. All will embrace logical ideas that will improve the society while weak ideas will whither and die. Having said all of this, I’m sure all groups agree on the main problems in our society, which is why they’re all trying to do something about it.

 

I personally don’t care much for the popular definition of “culture” amongst Somalis. It’s fake and it’s not really of any use to anyone. It’s a source of false pride for many people. It allows people who did nothing to claim the credit for the deeds of others.

[Paragon]

I personally don?t care much for the popular definition of ?culture? amongst Somalis. It?s fake and it?s not really of any use to anyone. It?s a source of false pride for many people. It allows people who did nothing to claim the credit for the deeds of others.

Now that is that NGONGE. But what do you [EDIT] think of [END EDIT]the idea of championing a new culture complete with best virtues and values, mostly Islamic?

[NGONGE]

I’m not sure I understood that, J.

 

 

"Now that is that NGONGE. But what do you if the idea of championing a new culture complete with best virtues and values, mostly Islamic?"

 

To have a Somali culture with the best virtues and values that is mostly Islamic would be great. That will only come about if the dominant group in Somali society are religious. Even then, many of the brothers and sisters who are, stick to the letter of Islamic Sharia and forget that there are other ingredients that made Islam great. The prophet (scw) told the Arabs of his time that he was sent to complete (or compliment) their values and morals.

 

Sorry, I’m starting to ramble on again...I’ll stop now.