Do we feel our culture is inferior to the west?

[Qac Qaac]

i was just wondering. i notice a lot of ppl who stay away from the samali things, u know our cultural stuff. which led me to this question do we feel our culture is inferior to the western culture..

 

saw many somalians who are embrassed to do certain stuff in front of their canadian, or american, or british friends...

 

what u all think, do u all notice this yes or no.

[Mombasa_QUEEN]

yes qac qac most somali people do fell that way and i'am one of them and its not that i hate being a somali peroson no but the point is ic my self being different form the other somali people and the reason why is it is becouse i wasent born in somalia but somehow i know the language and when it comes to culture when ever i try to do some mosr somali ppl i mean them pure one who where born in there try to tell me i know better these and that and let me do it so u might have seen alot of things like that and its true alot of people do get away from there own culture but sometimes its too much when it comes to reality. i hope i got to the point.

[Qac Qaac]

atleast u didn't born in Somalia, that is understandable, and u speak Somali. which shows u r not embarassed about your language. anyways i got ur pt.

[checkmate]

qac qaac brah as matter of fact yes i hav indeed noticed such behaviours amongst our communities and as i said b4..waxaa la yiri

dariskaaga mar ku dayo

marna ku diin

marna kaba darnoow ...........asxantu

[N.O.R.F]

Depending on which generation of somalis who grew up in the west u belong to, the case will be different for each. Whether u came to the west as a grown up, a nearly grown up, a child or even born here. So depending on each individuals experience on both side of the coin, there are some good and bad about each culture.

 

I personally love the fact that western 'whites' have this notion instilled into their minds from a very young age that they need to find work after their studies are over and are more or less on their own in that respect. They work all their lives and try to do the best they can. What they do with their money is something i dont agree with.

 

Then our culture has that 'family' feel which is beautiful. Tracing back your for-fathers, knowing yr extended family and treating them all like yr brothers and sister is something that wester cultures just cant begin to grasp. I tell my work colleuges that my family is similar to the film 'My big fat gree wedding' and their like :eek: . They cant walk into their cousins houses and make themselves a cup of tea, that if they know them at all apart fom weddings and funerals hey have no contact whatsoever,,,,

 

Obviously our culture also has bad parts to it, but if u try to enjoy the best of both worlds then its all good.

[Strawberry_Xu]

Originally posted by Careca-1990:

 

I personally love the fact that western 'whites' have this notion instilled into their minds from a very young age that they need to find work after their studies are over and are more or less on their own in that respect. They work all their lives and try to do the best they can. What they do with their money is something i dont agree with.

 

Then our culture has that 'family' feel which is beautiful. Tracing back your for-fathers, knowing yr extended family and treating them all like yr brothers and sister is something that wester cultures just cant begin to grasp. I tell my work colleuges that my family is similar to the film 'My big fat gree wedding' and their like :eek: . They cant walk into their cousins houses and make themselves a cup of tea, that if they know them at all apart fom weddings and funerals hey have no contact whatsoever,,,,

 

Obviously our culture also has bad parts to it, but if u try to enjoy the best of both worlds then its all good.

I know, that's what I love about my culture too. I love how when I'm in a strange city where I don't know anyone and I'm lost, I can rely on any somali family to take me in and feed me and take care of me. I like how when someone dies, the whole Somali community (including people you've never spoken to) comes to your house and helps you, and cooks for you, leaving their own affairs to help you with yours.

You don't find that as much with English people.

[Pucca]

hey

 

I’m not embarrassed of my somali background, but then being born and raised here I really don’t know much about the culture, I mean I know about the traditional dress and stuff like that but I mean I cant wear that –its practically transparent! As for the language its not spoken in my house so the chances of me learning it are slim to none. So all said what’s embarrassing to me is the fact that I cant speak my mother tongue nor practise my cultural ways...

that's the sad truth

[Som@li]

a/c

every culture is not perfect, and some of our own may not be perfect( as Careca-1990 pointed).

 

to answer the question "do we feel our culture is inferior to the western cultur", unfortunately the answer is yes, and i have seen many somalis who despise our culture. may be we are not alone in this and so many countries in the world feel that their culture is being eroded ,this is mainly due to western culture thru hollywood which is bombarded 24/7 to our homes.

 

there was time i met one somali girl,and her co-workers at a lift, i greet her with Äsalaamu ALAYkum,to my surprise, she replied ,Hi!! So Qac Qaac there are changes happening , don't be surprised to wat u see.

[Qac Qaac]

woow everyone is saying Yes. which means we are seeing changes, although we don't say it is inferior but our action says it. anyways God Help us.

[alyal04]

Nah , our culture is the best. Be patriotic ppl !!

 

 

 

PROUD TO BE SOMALI

 

Go ahead and say it

[Bambina]

Salam Alaykum ,

 

I dont think the Somali culture is fading away nor it is inferior to the western culture. As Careca pointed out , it all depends on each individual . In the same family , you could get a guy trying to learn & understand his roots while his other brother or sister might doesnt give a damn thing!

 

I tend to notice that Somalis get interested in their culture when they get a little bit older ,therefore mature enough to realize that the Somali culture isnt just about the 2 or 3 spoken Somali words or the fact that you go to Somali weddings , but it includes a lot of other things.

 

PS: cant stand those who reply hi to the Muslim greeting :mad: .

[NGONGE]

Culture covers many aspects of a person’s life. I can’t say for certain if Western culture is superior to Somali culture. From a religious point of view, I wouldn’t swap Somali culture with the western one. Having said that, the Somali culture is not strictly religious, is it? The brother above talked about having a large extended family and the fact that you can walk into your cousin’s house and make a cup of tea! No eyebrows will be raised if that cousin was a single female and was herself making a cup of tea there and then while wearing her nightdress. In fact, the brother could be a wadad and that scenario would still not bother him one little bit – she’s his “sister”!

 

 

The other problem here is that when people leave their country and live in a new society, they can’t help but pick up some habits and traits from their new society. If those habits are good, they start asking themselves, “ Why don’t we have this in Somalia?” If they’re bad, they just ignore them and blame it on the “foreign” people.

 

Finally, and this is really the crux of the matter, we’re all suffering from an identity crisis, or, we’re in denial. Lets face it, at this point in time; there is nothing to be proud of about being a Somali. NOTHING. This is why the younger generation shun their Somali roots and attempt (but miserably fail) to embrace their new culture and surroundings.

Cultures have role models, they have heroes, poets, writers, intellectuals, religious symbols, singers, actors and many others that help to either evolve that culture or at least bring out the bits that make it great. All these people I just mentioned are the same people who were there when my father was a young man! I’m not saying new ones don’t exist but if they do, they’re really not doing a good job of making themselves heard and seen.

 

Don’t want to depress you with the above (even though I believe it to all be true). However, all is not lost; in their race to embrace other cultures, what most Somalis managed to achieve is to create a new hybrid culture that is a mix of Somali and western (the small W is deliberate here). It does not fully fit into either side but it’s theirs and nobody else’s. Somalis in America (and Western Europe) have norms, habits and ways of interacting with each other and living side by side, which are exclusively theirs. Those rules will hardly work with Somalis living in the Arab world. They most definitely wont work with Somalis living back home either.

 

 

I’ll stop rambling on now....

[N.O.R.F]

The brother above talked about having a large extended family and the fact that you can walk into your cousin’s house and make a cup of tea! No eyebrows will be raised if that cousin was a single female and was herself making a cup of tea there and then while wearing her nightdress.

:confused: :confused: sorry i dont get that,,,

 

wud i walk into a room where a woman (who is family) is wearing a night dress??? no thats not what i meant, so plz dont confuse. I was talkin in general terms,,,,

[NGONGE]

I was being extreme when using the nightdress example. What I meant to say is that in Somali culture, female relatives who are not our sisters, mothers or wives are treated and regarded in the same way we would treat a sister or a mother. In many cases, your female cousin would run off and hide (or put her xijaab) on if a strange man came into the house. But, if this man is her brother (who is a mahram of course) or her cousin (who is not a mahram) she will not bother with the xijaab. When you ask her why she didn’t, she’ll reply “ waa walaalki dee”.

 

I was not talking about you personally, man.

[N.O.R.F]

I was not talking about you personally, man.

good