Modernization and Indigenous Cultures

According to Macionis (2009, p. 455), “Modernity involves ‘the progressive cohesive communities in which human found solidarity and meaning throughout most of history’ (Berger, 1977:72).” Modernization is the advancement of society, effecting indigenous cultures in other parts of the world, destroying traditions, values, beliefs, and lifestyles. Modernization brings technology and advancement in all areas of life, capturing indigenous cultures on film, to preserve their history to learning about life of the indigenous people. Indigenous cultures experience culture shock, anxiety, inequality, and lack of identity. According to Macionis (2006, p. 463), “…extensive social diversity, isolation, and rapid social change make it difficult for many people to establish any coherent identity at all (Wheelis, 1958; Berger, Berger, & Kellner, 1974).” Modernization affects the culture, traditions, values and beliefs of the people who live in small towns or villages. Rapid changes, isolation, and diversity create classes of society based on socioeconomic status.

The Batwa Culture

Africa is a vast continent with diverse cultures influenced by Western society. The Batwa is a group of indigenous people who are the most ancient culture of the land and inhabit parts of Africa: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda. “According to Minority Rights Group International, there are an estimated 70,000 - 80,000 Batwa people living in Africa” (First Peoples Worldwide, 2011, para. 3). The forest is vital to the Batwa identity; the Batwa believe the forest provides for all their needs and is the source of abundance. The Batwa perform rituals in the forest and have extensive knowledge about plants and animals within the forest land. The family and ethnic group are the focus of many African cultures. They have close family ties and teach children values such as farming, hunting, and other skills necessary for their survival. Extinction of the Batwa people began in the 1990s with modernization and conservation.

Natural Resources in High Demand

Africa has a rich abundance of economic and ecological resources. Africa’s economy largely relies on tourism, thus, leading to social change in specific cultures not previously infected with modernization, such as the Batwa. As early as the 1930s, “Ugandan leaders were persuaded by international conservationists that the area was threatened by loggers, miners, and other extractive business” (Dowie, 2005, para. 2). The Batwa stayed on the forest reserves continuing to live as they had for generations, harmoniously with the animals. In 1991, the World Bank’s Global Environment began to manage the national parks and forcefully remove the Batwa from their homeland.

According to First Peoples Worldwide (2011, para. 5), “The opening of several conservation parks, including the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (331 square kilometers) and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (33.7 squaer kilometers) in Uganda, succeeded in displacing the Batwa still living in these forests.” The Batwa have a large threat, what once was modernization, is now conservation groups which are threatening their livelihoods. Conservation groups and national government agencies continue to forcefully remove the Batwa from their homelands and offer nothing in return.

“Relocation often occurs with the tacit approval or benign neglect of one the five big international nongovernmental conservation organizations…or indigenous leaders” (Dowie, 2005, para. 10). Global conservation has become a corporate infrastructure taking over the land of the Batwa people. The conservation groups are granted award money to help conserve the land; in return the Batwa receive “ethnic prejudice, discrimination, violence, and general exclusion from society” (First People Worldwide, 2011, para. 6). No compensation is given to the Batwa; they are becoming outcasts to the political, economic, and social groups that form around them.

Culture Shock

Many Batwa believe themselves to be “the original conservationist” (Dowie, 2005, para. 8). The Batwa were self-sufficient conservationists living in the forest; now living on the edges of the forest, they are poor second-class citizens in a society filled with discrimination and economic inequality. The Batwa experience trauma when they are placed into a society foreign to them. According to Dowie (2005, para. 25), “In almost every case indigenous people are moved into the money economy without a means to participate in it fully.” The Batwa people are living on the edge of cities, working as farmers, servants, laborers, unskilled menial jobs, or begging. Most villages or towns made for these cultures have inadequate food, water, health and shelter. The Batwa people have become confused by the new world, stepping in front of cars, experiencing culture shock.

Discrimination and Isolation

According to Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, (2011, para. 2), “Signed 63 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the first global expression of the right to which all human beings are inherently entitled.” Conflicts between the Batwa rights occurred; they had no rights because the state did not consider them part of the general population. Societies like the Batwa “are being transformed from independent and self-sustaining into deeply dependent and poor communities (Dowie, 2005, para. 26). The Batwa have no public services available to them; education, identity cards, healthcare, and equal treatment. Anxiety, depression, alcoholism, and a host of other mental and physical illnesses are possible when trauma at this level is experienced. Many Batwa returned to the perimeter of the national parks to live – without running water or sanitation.

Raised to “except a bleak and difficult future and live for the present instead,” (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, 2011, para. 12) the Batwa live a different culture then the rest of the nation. When help is given, they will sell what was given to them to survive for the day; they do not understand the importance of planning and living for the future. The needs of the Batwa are vast; running water, housing, education, and health care. “According to modernization theory, poverty led to instability and provided a seedback for socialist ideas; therefore, the standard of living the poor nations had to be improved and their population growth rate had to be slowed” (Unger, 2011, para. 2). The Batwa people suffered the genocide of their culture in 1994. Fleeing to other areas, the Batwa continue to struggle with poverty, conservation, and modernization.

According to Refugee International, (n.d., para. 11), “Several hundred thousand Rwanda refuges who have fled to the forests of eastern Congo and are suffering and dying from disease, lack of food and water, and violence.” Humanitarian aid in Africa began to occur with the benefit toward the one helping versus the one receiving (the Batwa). Many foundations and aid groups are “committed to responding to problems of hunger and population growth abroad” (Unger, 2001, para. 2). Dividing the country by socioeconomic status is socially corrosive to society.

Social Development

“Modernization is associated with development aid from the developed countries” (Matunhu, 2011, p. 3). The Batwa were undergoing changes, modernization of their culture. The Batwa became educated and started creating social organizations to demand their rights. According to First Peoples Worldwide (2011, para. 7), “In 1991 a group of educated Batwa created the Association for the Promotion of Batwa (APB).” Other groups the Batwa created include the Community of Indigenous Peoples of Rwanda (CAURWA), the Association for the promotion of Batwa (APB), the Association for the Global Development of the Batwa of Rwanda (ADBR). These groups defend the rights and interests of the Batwa community, and to promote socioeconomic and political development. The focus is on promoting the Batwa culture, education, health care, and employment.

Although social groups continue to form, the Batwa communities still struggle. The Batwa population is decreasing rapidly as conservation, tourism and modernization continue. According to Dowie (2005, para. 18), “The total area of land now under conservation protection worldwide has doubled since 1990.” Many conservationists believe in conserving the land from any human involvement. Batwa organizations were ineffective in gaining rights to their land. Many Batwa are illiterate, so communication is nearly impossible in the political area. First Peoples Worldwide was founded in 1997 to assist the indigenous communities with their rights, authority, and control over their assets.

Conservation and Modernization

Interaction between the Batwa and the rest of society must be changed, communication needs to flow and learning needs to take place. “National laws that protect native land rights leave foreign conservationists no choice but to join hands with indigenous communities and work out creative ways to protect wildlife habitat and sustain biodiversity while allowing indigenous citizens to thrive in their traditional settlements” (Dowie, 2005, para. 29). Communication, higher education, and training in transport will benefit the Batwa community. However, the conservation and economic development leave the Batwa people filled with fear, self-doubt, depression, and a host of other struggles. According to Macionis (2006, p. 465), “Our society still denies a majority of people full participation in social life.” Americans are not only taking away land, resources, and livelihood of the Batwa, but Americans are also taking away the Batwa dignity, confidence, skills, beliefs, and values.

Society is a system of interrelated parts that are relatively stable. People interact in countless settings using symbolic communications. “Change is resisted because it brings in elements of uncertainty” (Matunhu, 2011, p. 3). The pre-dominate approach virtually wipes out the diversity of cultural traits, ignoring morals and virtues. According to Papers (2004, p. 10), “The new opportunities presented by global mobility for people to have more freedom, to be more assertive and to interact with others can cause diversification.” In many locations, ecologists and wildlife biologists are coming together with the Batwa people to live on, protect biodiversity and manage the national parks. Many conservationists are realizing the effects of conservation on the Batwa people; moral views, social impact, philosophical beliefs, and economic poverty.

According to Matunhu (2011, p. 3), “Africa needs to outgrow poverty and underdevelopment but this may not be possible as long as we still believe in the power and strength of modernity at the expense of promoting new theories for Africa’s development.” Scientific approaches to modernization are viewed as a way to “suppress and dominate Africans (Thairu, 1975, and Nyasani, 1997)” (Lassiter, 1999, para. 7). Taking a more active role in understanding the psychological impacts the indigenous cultures experience when forced into modern society may help people interact more effectively. Citizenship needs to be established, sensitize the assisting agencies, and provide education, health, social services including income generation for the Batwa community to survive modernization.

References

Alexander, B. (1993). World & I. Harmony Disturbed. ISSN: 08879346 Retrieved December 9, 2011

Dowie, M. (2005). Orion Magazine. Conservation Refuges. Retrieved December 9, 2011 from orionmagazine.org

First Peoples Worldwide. (2011). Batwa: The Forgotten People of Central Africa. Retrieved December 10, 2011 from firstpeoplesworldwide.org

Lassiter, J. E. (1999). African Studies Quarterly. African Culture and Personality: Bad Social Science, Effective Social Activism, Or A Call To Reinvent Ethnology. Retrieved December 9, 2011 from Africa.ufl.edu

Lee, U. (1981). Science. Rural Africa: Modernization, Equity, and Long-Term Development. DOI: 10.1126/science.21.4482.547 Retrieved December 9, 2011 from sciencemag.org

Macionis, J.J. (2006). Society: The Basics (8th ed.). Social Change: Modern and Postmodern Societies. Pearson Education, Inc.

Matunhu, J. (2011). African Journal of History and Culture. A critique of modernization and dependency theories in Africa: Critical assessment. ISSN: 2141-6672 Retrieved December 9, 2011 from academicjournals.org

Papers, A. (2004). Industrial Affairs. Globalization. Modernization and Cultural Effects. Retrieved December 9, 2011. ISSN: 14747782

Refugees International. (n.d.). Our History. Retrieved December 10, 2011 from refugeesinternational.org

Unger, C. R. (2011). Journal of Global History. Towards global equilibrium: American foundations and Indian modernization, 1950s to 1970s. Retrieved December 10, 2011 from journals.cambridge.org

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. (2011). Batwa: Development of a Marginalized Society. Retrieved December 10, 2011 from unpo.org

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. (2011). Batwa: NGO Lists Major Abuses Against Indigenous Communities. Retrieved December 10, 2011 from unpo.org