*Cultural ethnocentrism*

Ethnocentrism entails the use of one’s own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other
individuals or societies, generally leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms, and
behaviors. It is the habit of seeing things only from the point of view of one’s own group. As
sociologist William Sumner (1906), who developed this concept of ethnocentrism, said, “One’s
own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.”
Ethnocentrism has both positive and negative consequences.

*_Positively_*

📝It can enhance group stability by providing members with roots and a strong sense of meaning
and purpose.

📝 The tendency to view one’s culture as “the best” also has provided humans with many
different solutions to the problems of living.

📝 Most people are attached to their religious beliefs, foods, clothing, and other customs and are
unwilling to give them up, except under extreme conditions.

*_Negatively_*

📝Viewing one’s values and customs as natural and right, and those of others as inferior and wrong,
often contributes to prejudice and discrimination e.g. the 2019 xenophobic attacks in south africa.
_Xeno_(from Greek xenos, meaning "stranger" or "foreigner" and _phobos_, meaning "fear"). This kind
of behaviour leads to discrimination of foreigners as natives believe their culture will be interfered with.
The 'fear' of foreigners interfering with the natives' culture usually results in retaliation by natives who
believe foreigners don't deserve a place in their society. According to South World
News(01/11/2019:8:00) on the 2 and 3 september, 12 people were killed in anti-foreign riots in pretoria
and joburg townships. According to minister incharge of small business in development lindiwe zulu,the
rioters felt that other Africans were taking their jobs.Most targeted people were Africans from other
countries but also Pakistani and Chinese traders. The source(ibid) notes that one of the champions of
the anti-immigrants rhetoric is the deputy police minister who claimed in 2017 that Johannesburg
was taken over by foreigners and that “the future president of South Africa could be a foreign
national.” This kind of discrimination can be driven largely by ethnocentric views.

📝Creates interethnic conflict like genocide e.g. in Rwanda (Hutu and Tutsi civil war).According to
History.com editors on (14/10/2019), the Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against
the Tutsi, was a mass slaughter of Tutsi, Twa (earliest inhabitants of Rwanda, a group of
aboriginal pygmy hunter-gathers) and moderate Hutu (those who sympathized with Tutsi) in
Rwanda, which took place between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Rwanda’s
colonial period, during which the ruling Belgians favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus,
exacerbated the tendency of the few to oppress the many, creating a legacy of tension that
exploded into violence even before Rwanda gained its independence. These conflicts in Rwanda
were largely ethnic proving that the Hutu became ethnocentric since they felt they deserved to
rule Rwanda with an exclusion of the Tutsi minority.

📝An ethnocentric perspective prevents one from understanding the world as others experience it,
and it can lead to narrow-minded conclusions about the worth of diverse cultures.

📝It can limit intergroup understanding.For instance, according to South West News (ibid) in the 2019
case of Xenophobic attacks in south africa,there have been many reactions outside of the country. In
Nigeria, four outlets of the South African telecoms giant MTN were damaged by attacks in retaliation
to the violence against Nigerians in South Africa, while several Shoprite supermarkets were looted. As
a result, South Africa closed temporarily its diplomatic missions in Nigeria. In the DRC, protesters
smashed the windows of the South African consulate in Lubumbashi and looted South African-owned
stores. There was also a demonstration in front of the South African embassy in Kinshasa. Air Tanzania
suspended flights to Johannesburg because of the violence, while Madagascar’s football federation
announced that it would not send a team to play South Africa in a friendly because of security
concerns. In Zambia, students forced the closure of South African-owned shopping malls and the
president of the Economic Association of Zambia, Lubinda Haabazoka, declared that the AU should
not allow Ramaphosa to become its chairperson next year. President Ramaphosa apologized and sent
envoys to Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Senegal, the DRC and Tanzania. This overally shows how much
negative,cultural ethnocentrism can lead to isolation of a society.

📝 It can also create overt political conflict e.g. The Boko Haram insurgency in West Africa.According
to Heidi Schultz of National Geographic on 08/05/2014,Boko Haram —which means “Western
learning is forbidden” is an Islamic jihadist terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria,
also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon. Boko Haram seeks the establishment of an
Islamic state in Nigeria. It opposes the Westernization of Nigerian society and the concentration of
the wealth of the country among members of a small political elite, mainly in the Christian south
of the country.As James Verini wrote in a November 2013 article for National Geographic, "Boko
Haram has become something more than a terrorist group, more even than a movement. Its
name has taken on an incantatory power. Fearing they will be heard and killed by Boko Haram,
Nigerians refuse to say the group's name aloud, preferring instead to 'the crisis' or 'the
insecurity.' Since the insurgency started in 2009 after the death of Mohammed Yusuf its founder,
Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands and displaced 2.3 million from their homes and was at
one time the world’s deadliest terror group (Global Terrorism Index).

Looking at Boko Haram, cultural ethnocentrism manifested in their hate for western culture in
Nigeria and Christians in the south whom they feel they are favored politically.
In a nutshell,cultural ethnocentrism has a positive and a negative side. The positive side is usually
overshadowed by the negative side in the face of human rights respect and tolerance of cultural
diversity. In Africa, cultural ethnocentrism has showed largely the negative side with regards to
Rwandan genocide, Arab and black African conflicts in the north and the Boko Haram insurgency in
West Africa.

*Cultural xenocentrism* (The Greek root word xeno, pronounced “ZEE-no,” means “stranger” or
“foreign guest.”)

It is the tendency to assume that aspects of other culture are superior to one’s own. The term
xenocentrism also refers to the desire to engage in the elements of another's culture rather than one's
own. Styles, ideas and products can all be items of preference by someone with xenocentrist viewpoints.

Sometimes when people attempt to rectify feelings of ethnocentrism and develop cultural
relativism, they swing too far to the other end of the spectrum and become xenocentric.

*_Some Examples of cultural xenocentrism in Africa_*

In Africa, and Zimbabwe specifically, the concept of youth culture has emerged which is highly
xenocentric. Youth culture is a general way of life associated with young people (Giddens 2009).

📖In Zimbabwe, youth culture is largely xenocentric. Other youths show their coming of age by
rejecting or offloading their indigenous names. They adopt western and Christian ones. Some
Shona names were Anglicized, for example, _Hazvinei_ can be changed to Nomatter. Others gave
themselves names of their music idols, for example, Elvis from Elvis Presley. Yet others gave
themselves names of cities, such as Wellington, the capital of New Zealand (Samkange &
Samkange, 1980). If one is to profess his love to a potential lover in Shona/Ndebele, especially
using proverbs, he becomes a subject of public ridicule.

📖https://www.sundaynews.co.zw/inside-vuzu-parties/ (04/09/2016) reported that the digital era

has not helped the situation either as children can now freely tap into age restricted sites where
they learn nothing less than things reserved for adults. This has seen the emergence of a
disturbing trend in the city where school going teenagers are now attending wild parties now
known as “vuzu parties” especially during school holidays where alcohol abuse, sex and nudity are
celebrated. These house parties are characterised by wild sex orgies, reckless alcohol imbibing,
smoking marijuana and stripping activities which were a known Western phenomenon but is
permeating the African moral setup at an alarming and generation destruction rate.According to
https://www.chronicle.co.zw/shocking-revelations-fromvuzu-party-youths/

(12/07/2019)Bulawayo Ward 1 Councillor, Mlandu Ncube said vuzu parties are a foreign
phenomenon and a sign of moral decay. A nurse educator from Mpilo Central Hospital said vuzu
parties are contributing to the rise in new HIV infections and sexually transmitted infections in
the youth.“This is a threat to our vision of reducing HIV/Aids and new infections by 2030.Youths
are indulging in unprotected sex that puts them at the risk of contracting HIV and STIs,” said the
official.

📖 Another value which is fading out of Africa is African traditional medicine which played very
vital role in the health and productivity of African populations (Azabre 2015) . Medicines were not
obtained from anything apart from natural plants and parts of animals. They used natural
substances such as tree leaves, seeds, tree back, roots, tree fluids, and stems for medicine.
Animal parts such as droppings, bones, bone marrow, animal fat, urine, milk, and skin were used
for curing all kinds of diseases. In modern African societies, foreign drugs are now believed to
be effective. For example in Zimbabwe, foreign drugs are seen in most cities in Zimbabwe.
According to https://www.herald.co.zw/smuggled-drugs-flood-zim-market/ (09/12/2019) Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra) Commissioner-General Faith Mazani confirmed that drugs were being
smuggled into the country, saying this called for a joint operation involving the police and the
Ministry of Health and Child Care. Some of the drugs are banned by the Medicines Control
Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) because of their hazardous effects, but they find their way illegally
onto the market. This further reinforce Xenocentrism in most African societies as they drugs are
not indigenous African.

Each of these different examples are situations where there is a preference for another culture outside
of the culture in the home country.

*_strengths of cultural xenocentrism_*

📝xenocentrism can help to shed light on cultural deficiencies, whether it be ideas or products.e.g. our
african indigenous medical set ups have limitations especially on perfoming sofisticated surgical
operations.

📝offers the opportunity to fix that which may legitimately inferior to another country or culture.

*_Weaknesses of cultural xenocentrism_*

📝In psychological terms, xenocentrism is considered a type of deviant behavior because it sways from
the norms of society. It is unexpected that an individual would value the goods, services, styles, ideas
and other cultural elements of another nation.

📝A loss of population to emigration to countries whose culture they feel is superior to theirs

📝Negative impact on the identity of others in relation to culture. People may feel their identity is not
worthy to be proud of.

📝If adopted by large like-minded groups, xenocentrism could cause political polarization.one camp may
be ethnocentric whilst the other is xenocentric.

As you can see, xenocentrism can be a major problem when it occurs in a society, especially if it occurs
on a widespread scale.

Therefore, the applicability of Xenocentrism on African society can be evidenced by a growing

youth culture which is western in style, the beliefs and medicines which have been largely
foreign. Both positives and negatives can be deduced although the tendency of xenocentrism harvests
more negatives than positives.

*Cultural relativism*

It is the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that
person's own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another.

A culture has to be studied in terms of its own meanings and values. Cultural relativism
describes a situation where there is an attitude of respect for cultural differences rather than
condemning other people's culture as uncivilized or backward (Stockard, 1997).

Respect for cultural differences involves:

Appreciating cultural diversity- a perspective recognizing multiculturalism of a particular society

and promoting equal standing for all cultural traditions ; Accepting and respecting other cultures;
Trying to understand every culture and its elements in terms of its own context and logic;

Accepting that each body of custom has inherent dignity and meaning as the way of life of one
group which has worked out to its environment, to the biological needs of its members, and to
the group relationships;

Knowing that a person's own culture is only one among many; and

Recognizing that what is immoral, ethical, acceptable, etc, in one culture may not be so in
another culture.

Common features(strengths) of cultural relativism are:

📝 Cultural relativism is value neutral and objective

📝It places a priority on understanding other cultures, rather than dismissing them as “strange” or
“exotic.

📝 It stresses that something can be understood and judged only in relation to the cultural
context in which it appears.

📝 It emphasizes that there is no cultural superiority or inferiority but they are relative to their
context

📝 Cultural relativism stresses that different social contexts give rise to different norms and values.
Thus, we must examine practices such as polygamy, homosexuality, and monarchy within the
particular contexts of the cultures in which they are found. Cultural relativism stresses that different
social contexts give rise to different norms and values. This is applicable for Swaziland (now
Eswatini) which is ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III since 1986. In Eswatini, no king can
appoint his successor. Only an independent special traditional Council called the Liqoqo decides
which of the wives shall be "Great Wife" and "Indlovukazi" (She-Elephant / Queen Mother). The
son of this "Great Wife" will automatically become the next king (Muli 2002).

Although cultural relativism does not suggest that we must unquestionably accept every cultural
variation, it does require a serious and unbiased effort to evaluate norms, values, and customs in
light of their distinctive culture. For instance some cultural practices provide positive functions to
the society although negatives are there.
*_Some African examples which require application of cultural relativism(NB: note some weakness of
the practices)_*

📖 According to ApaNews-Mbabane(10/09/2017 15:34), in traditional Swazi culture, the king is

expected to marry a woman from every clan in order to cement relationships with each part of
Eswatini. This means that the king must have many wives. During the annual reed dance and
virginity celebration ceremony (umhlanga) usually held in August-september, semi-naked (bare
breasted) virgins dance before King Mswati III, the king picks one to be his wife. Some African
leaders attended these ceremonies as a sign of cultural relativism. According to
https://www.africanews.com/2017/09/05/zambia-s-lungu-joins-king-mswati-iii-atswaziland-s-reed-
dance-ceremony-photos// Zambian president Edgar Lungu attended the ceremony. Former
president of Zimbabwe RG Mugabe said witnessing the eight-day ceremony was a “privilege” and
urged Swazis not to abandon it. “Umhlanga is a beautiful occasion that grooms women of
tomorrow,” he said, adding that no other country had such a beautiful culture
(https://www.newsday.co.zw/2010-09-01).

However, in light of human rights and child protection, the practice has faced some international
condemnation. According to Human Rights Watch (2015) young women and girls are forced to
take part in cultural activities like the Umhlanga reed dance. Families of girls and young women
who fail to take part in such cultural activities are often punished or fined by their chiefs.
According to https://www.maravipost.com/swazi-parliamentallows-king-to-marry-14-year-old-
virginsreduce-age-from-17/ the Swazi parliament allowed the king to marry 14 year old virgins
because King Mswati will get a morally upright virgin befitting Queen’s title as most girls start
getting loose at the age of 15.Some sources are of the view that before Umhlanga, the girls
would have to queue up to have their virginity tested. This is normally done in a traditional way
which majorly revolves around examining the physical features of the vagina and shallow inserts
into the organ to see if the hymen is intact. It is believed that ladies who are no longer virgins,
for fear of being stigmatized, go as far as inserting raw meat into their vaginas so as to pass the
test.

Also, the Swazi practice is viewed as benefiting one group (monarchy) more than others within
the society. According to Thompson et al (2017), we should also guard against viewing all
cultural practices as being equally valid and worthy of respect. This is called the _relativist
fallacy_, and in its most extreme form it would treat even the most severe social pathologies,
such as genital mutilation, apartheid, and even genocide as legitimate cultural practices. In this
case, King Mswati III as an absolute monarch of a country where women have few legal rights,
cannot be turned down by any woman.

📖The Chewa people are one of the largest indigenous groups of Malawi but live throughout Central
and Southern Africa. When a person dies, one family tradition involves taking the body into the
woods, slitting the throat, and forcing water through the body to cleanse it. They do this by
squeezing the corpse’s stomach until what comes out the rear end runs clear. However, this
practice is unhealthy and can spread diseases like cholera. Xinhua, english.news.cn (2018-01-24
00:05:13) notes that the people of such cultural practice in Chegutu were blamed for spreading
cholera due to such cleansing practice. The source reports that when an 80-year-old woman died
from cholera on Jan. 8 in Chegutu, 100 km southwest of Harare, three relatives did a washout
of her intestines according to religious rituals.The three also contracted the disease and died, and
the same rituals were conducted on two of them without protection, said Mashonaland West
provincial medical director Wenceslaus Nyamayaro. Minister of Health and Child Welfare David
Parirenyatwa said this week that although authorities could not establish where Mungulisia had
contracted cholera, all the recorded cases were linked to her funeral.

📖 According to Africa-Facts.org, when a girl becomes a teenager in the Surma tribe of Southern
Sudan, she begins the process of lip stretching. The girl has her bottom teeth removed to make
space for a lip plate, which is increased in size annually. Circular plugs are inserted into the lips and
then gradually enlarged until the lips were stretched 4 inches or more. On the surface, this
custom seems to make little sense, but most cultures modify the face and lips in some way to
achieve beauty. For example, many American women use lipstick; some have enhanced their lips
surgically. Some scholars attribute the custom of placing large circular objects in the lips to
intense slave raiding a century ago. They contend that villages that practiced lip extension were
often avoided by slave raiders, and this may have encouraged villagers to exaggerate lip extension
as a symbol of beauty.

Understanding cultural relativism gives insight into some controversies, such as the international
debate about the practice of clitoridectomy—a form of genital mutilation. In a clitoridectomy
(sometimes called female circumcision), all or part of a young woman’s clitoris is removed,
usually not by medical personnel, often in very unsanitary conditions, and without any painkillers
e.g. Komba among the Shangani in Zimbabwe.

From the point of view of Western cultures, clitoridectomy is genital mutilation—a form of
violence against women. Many have called for international intervention to eliminate the practice,
but there is also a debate about whether disgust at this practice should be balanced by a
reluctance to impose Western cultural values on other societies.

Therefore, the applicability of the theory of Cultural relativism is evident in African societies
where other African heads of state have viewed the Swazis’ culture of monarchy and Umhlanga
as beneficial to the Swazi society. Other cultural practices around Africa are uniquely beneficial
to their respective societies. However cultural relativism’s objectivity maybe a challenge in the
modern world of globalization as some violate human rights, benefit a few or spread diseases.
Cultural diversity has to be respected and yet international standards of justice, health and
human rights have to be also taken into account.

*Cultural determinism*

It is the position that the ideas, meanings, beliefs and values people learn as members of society
determines human nature. People are what they learn.

Cultural determinism is the belief that the culture in which we are raised determines who we are at
emotional and behavioral levels.This includes a number of different things, from how we dress to what
we eat to how we communicate. It's also believed that this theory can be applied to economic and
political systems, as well.

There is the optimistic and pessimistic version of cultural determinism

*Optimistic version of cultural determinism*

It places no limits on the abilities of human beings to do or to be whatever they want. Some
anthropologists suggest that there is no universal "right way" of being human. "Right way" is
almost always "our way"; that "our way" in one society almost never corresponds to "our way"
in any other society. Proper attitude of an informed human being could only be that of tolerance.
This optimistic version of this theory also postulates that human nature being infinitely malleable,
human being can choose the ways of life they prefer. Inline with this thinking,Julius Nyerere of
Tanzania once said “No nation has the right to make decisions for another nation; no people for
another people”(ThoughtCo Julius Kambarage Nyerere Quotes)

📖In Africa for instance, Zimbabwe specifically, people have decided to shun homosexuality although
most western countries have embraced it. With reference to this idea of Zimbabweans
determining what they want, former president RG Mugabe once said in 2013 “We need continuity
in our race, and that comes from the woman, and no to homosexuality. John and John, no;
Maria and Maria, no … I keep pigs, and the male pigs know the female ones.” (NewsDay
09/2019-robert mugabe famous quotes) Again in 2015 , the source (ibid) reports that after US
Supreme Court legalises same-sex marriages he once said “If President Barack Obama wants me
to allow marriage for same-sex couples in my country, he must come so that I marry him first.”
Zimbabwe stands in sharp contrast with neighbouring South Africa, as well as Botswana and
Mozambique which have recently enacted LGBT(Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender)
protections.During Zimbabwe's 1995 annual independence celebrations, Mugabe proclaimed:

"It degrades human dignity. It's unnatural, and there is no question ever of allowing these people to
behave worse than dogs and pigs. If dogs and pigs do not do it, why must human beings? We have our
own culture, and we must re-dedicate ourselves to our traditional values that make us human beings. ...
What we are being persuaded to accept is sub-animal behavior and we will never allow it here. If you
see people parading themselves as Lesbians and Gays, arrest them and hand them over to the police!"
Same-sex marriage is banned by the 2013 Zimbabwe Constitution section 78(3) , and LGBT people enjoy
no legal protections from discrimination, violence and harassment. Members of the LGBT community
are heavily marginalised in both the legal and social spheres. Zimbabwe does not recognise same-sex
marriage or civil unions. In 2013, the Zimbabwe Constitution was amended to define marriage as being
between a man and a woman.

This further reinforces the optimistic version of cultural determinism as most African societies including
zimbabwe, have determined the culture they prefer.

NB:You can refer to various social,economic and political policies,beliefs,practices etc which African
societies including zimbabwe have remained attached to and have formulated themselves besides the
issue of cultural imperialism by Europeans on Africa.

*The pessimistic version of cultural determinism*

It maintains that people are what they are conditioned to be; this is something over which they
have no control. Human beings are passive creatures and do whatever their culture tells them to
do. This explanation leads to behaviorism that locates the causes of human behavior in a realm
that is totally beyond human control.

In Africa, due to colonialism, some of the European cultures have been determining the
behavior of most people. Sometimes it had been beyond their control. Ngugi wa Thiong’o once
said “Africa needs back its economy, its politics, its culture, its languages and all its patriotic
writers”. Paul Kagame of Rwanda also once said “Africa’s story has been written by others; we
need to own our problems and solutions and write our story.” (Powerful quotes from great African
leaders by Abasiama Essien).

Therefore on the optimistic side, the theory of cultural determinism is applicable to the African
context considering various cultural traits like homosexuality which Zimbabwe and other countries
like Uganda of Museveni banned in their societies. Various policies have been implemented to
decide what Africans want and protect what these societies have. On the pessimistic side, African
society is still being controlled by colonial Eurocentric cultural traits. Issues like English,
Portuguese and French languages and dressing have been internalised into our African culture and
they are still determining our behaviour.