Nothing African about homosexuality: African culture has no place for homosexuality as a way of life because it does not fit with the view that humans should reproduce in order to be remembered for eternity. It is time African governments told the NGOs and their European and American government sponsors promoting homosexuality in Africa to take a hike; let them stick to their cultural traditions and respect ours! argues Ifa Kamau Cush.
THE LATE SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOLAR, C. Tsehloane Keto, observed in his book, The Africa-Centered Perspective of History and Social Sciences in the Twenty-First Century, that "the major part of the problem in language use, for history and the social sciences, arises when people who use the language claim universal validity and application for the parochial aspects of its connotation, thereby falsely depicting as universal that which is legitimarely parochial or regional." He was referring to the use of language by European imperial powers to rationalise their hegemonic control of Africa's political and economic space.Similarly, Western-controlled NGOs, along with their African shills, have, over the years, imposed their interpretation of homosexual relations as a natural expression of same-sex love on African countries, forcing many African governments, notably South Africa, to pivot away from what Keto called Africa's "epistemological centre" which eschews homosexuality, and, instead, adopt a paradigm that encourages such behaviour.
Homosexual acts contradict the very core of fundamental African beliefs in the sanctity of the perpetuation of the African family; beliefs that have been the bedrock of African culture and spirituality for thousands of years.
In the millennia preceding Christianity and Islam, African myths, rituals, art, language and works of wisdom celebrated the complementary relationship between the male and the female, according to the eight-volume UNESCO publication, General History of Africa. The ancient Africans of Egypt, dating back to 3200 BCE (Before the Common Era), complemented their supreme deity Amon-Ra with a consort goddess, Mut. And, down the millennia, the Yoruba people complemented their god of thunder and lightning Sango with his favourite wife, Oya, the goddess of the wind.
Dr Molefi Kete Asante, professor at Temple University, USA, and co-editor with Dr Ama Mazama of the seminal work, The Encyclopedia of African Religion, believes that the homosexual discussion in Africa is driven by "Western interests, not African interests". He alludes to what Dr Keto referred to as a Europe-centred perspective that is allegedly a necessary conceptual base arrogantly insinuated into African social discourse.
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According to Dr Asante, "the overall African philosophy is that life and the reproduction of life sit at the core of human society. Men and women have children who ritualise their parents and ancestors. In the process of building community, African culture has no place, no category and no concept that can accommodate homosexuality as a way of life because it does not fit with the view that humans should reproduce in order to be remembered for eternity.
"Nothing is more important than the cycle of life from the unborn to the ancestors; anything that breaks that cycle, such as homosexuality as a way of life, threatens the very core of African society and philosophy."
Dr Keto wrote that "different regions of the world that have evolved distinct cultures are entitled to develop paradigms based on the perspectives of the region's qualitatively significant human cultures, histories and experiences"--which explains the practice of polygamy in many African cultures and homosexuality in many European cultures.
Historians have written that homosexuality was one of the cultural facts of certain Roman provinces. Thomas K. Hubbard, professor of Greek and Roman literature at the University of Texas in Austin, wrote in Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents, that "homosexual relations were at home in the symposium, athletics and even civic/ religious rituals" in Greece and Rome and that "homoerotic themes abound in Greek lyric poetry from the seventh to the early fifth centuries BCE, and this material provides our earliest literary evidence" of homosexual practices in ancient European societies.
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So, homosexuality which evolved out of ancient Europe as a natural expression of same-sex love is being imposed on African societies as a historically universal practice when in actuality it was a parochial lifestyle dictated by the "paradigms based on the perspectives" of ancient Greece and Rome.
Tshepang G, Sidumo, a South African entrepreneur, commenting on the raging homosexual debate across the continent, has pointed out that homosexual practices never occurred in South Africa before the arrival of white settlers. "We had our initiation schools where our young boys were taught how to protect, defend and provide for their homes, and our young girls were taught how to take care of their families and raise their children," Sidumo explained.
The South African president, Jacob Zuma, married his fifth wife on 4 January 2009. The likelihood of European and Americans enacting legislation legalising polygamous marriages in their respective countries is as likely as a snowstorm in hell. European and American cultural arrogance is stunning. It is time African governments told those NGOs and their European and American government sponsors to take a hike; let them stick to their cultural traditions and respect ours!
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| Title Annotation: | AFRICA |
|---|---|
| Author: | Cush, Ifa Kamau |
| Publication: | New African |
| Geographic Code: | 60AFR |
| Date: | Feb 1, 2010 |
| Words: | 790 |
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