ColumnsCulture & TraditionOpinionOPINION: Has Ethnocentrism Become Our New Illiteracy?

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In our day-to-day activities, we encounter and even contribute our dose of ethnocentric behaviour, be it religion-centred or culture-centred. In this part of the world, sometimes, it seems it comes more from religious differences than culture.

For example, a bystander being approached by a fellow dedicated to performing their religious duties of introducing their faith to the ‘faithless’. Few seconds into the introduction, the bystander politely informs the dedicated of their inclusion in this faith and then the conversation moves from faith to dressing until it becomes clear that the dressing of the bystander does not match the standard of dressing of the dedicated, therefore, s/he has to be unserious with their faith or out of the faith and needs some consecration.

Another example is that of a ‘woke’(an informal slang used mostly by the younger generation, different from its etymology, to infer a feeling of freedom from rules) fellow verbally bullying another for dressing or behaving in a way they perceive as ‘archaic’ or out-of-fashion.

Very commonly, we see the married exhibit feelings of disgust and superiority towards the unmarried or divorced; and the latter exhibiting great pity for the former because they all have a fixed idea of the compulsion or time of indulgence in marriage.

Over the internet, we have seen clerics pitching against one another, directly or indirectly, still, because of the differences in ideology.

These different scenarios introduce the word ‘ethnocentrism’. This word can be divided into three: ethno, centre, and ism; ‘ethno’ being ascribed to race, people, or culture; and ‘ism’ denoting a theory or belief system. Aligning them together, ethnocentrism can be said to be the belief that one’s group, race, or culture, is in the centre, and is, therefore, the most essential amongst others. In general terms, It is often a judgment we make based on the feeling that our culture or religion is superior to others.

In itself, ethnocentrism has its beauty when practised amongst people of the same background as it enhances bonding amongst them. Every one of us learned ethnocentrism while growing up and if we were constrained, geographically, from communicating with people of different backgrounds, there probably would be no ugliness attached to it; however, that is not the world we live in today. We have people from the same culture but different religions, people from the same religion but different cultures, people from the same culture but of different social stratification, not to speak of people who are from an entirely different culture and religion and class, yet we need to communicate with one another.

The elites are not exonerated from this fault for we see many schooled fellows who have attained the highest level of formal education, unleash the virus of ethnocentrism in their interrelationships when their educational qualifications and experience demand that they lead a good example for all to see and emulate.

It is, therefore, important that we keep an open mind and practise a German method called verstehen, which means an empathetic understanding of human behaviours or simply, putting oneself in another’s shoes, for one who is enlightened is not one who seeks to downplay other people’s background but meets them with respect, even if in disagreement with them.

For unity’s sake, we should ask this reflective question often: ‘Has Ethnocentrism Become Our New Illiteracy?’ to eradicate this subtle virus tearing down the motto of our country.

♦ Favour Chiagozie Ebubechukwu is an Editorial  Staff Writer and columnist with the WAP

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