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Then in the congress phase, a mass movement emerged as town-dwellers came up against the color bar ND began to question the authority of the colonial overlord (Uganda and Morrison: 1966: 82). It is from this background that the paper will critically discuss the impact nationalism to Zambia culture. But what really is ‘nationalism’? Firstly, ‘nationalism’ is derived from the word nation. The word ‘nation’ itself, according to Shari (1989:459), is derived from the Latin word ‘nation’ which denotes the idea of common birth or descent.
He states that the term today has its own significance. Identified with the word ‘nationality, the term ‘nation’ signifies the existence of a common lattice consciousness of a nationality. Nationality is a form of corporate sentiment of peculiar intensity, intimacy and dignity related to a definite home country. It is basically a sentiment of ‘oneness’ that unites the people of a particular kind and thus differentiates them from others who do not share similar feelings and sentiments.
Therefore, according to Shari (1989:461) nationalism is a ‘state or condition of mind characteristic of certain peoples with a homogeneous culture, living together in close association in a given territory, and sharing a belief in a distinctive existence and a moon destiny. Having explored the concept of nationalism, it is important also to look at what culture is. Hutchinson (1994; 30) defines culture as “a set of traditions that people express and hold. Geezer (1973; 89) also defines culture as, “a historically transmitted system of meaning embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions, expressed in symbolic forms by means of which human beings communicate and develop survival mechanisms. ” Generally however, culture can be defined as a complete way of life of a group of people or society. It includes not only arts and letters but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of a human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs.
The above stated definitions of culture have brought out salient points which Justify the notion that culture sums up all the activities of human beings. It portrays the unique nature of human species as compared to other creatures. People accumulate behavior which helps them to ensure that there is sustenance and preservations of social order. In this acquired behavior, people make decisions and create lifestyles, by way of the food they eat, owe they treat elders, how they welcome a newly born child and many more.
Under the leadership of our first Republican President, Dry. Kenneth Uganda introduced the philosophy of humanism in 1965 in order to try to unity the 73 tribes. This philosophy emphasized that each person whether Tong, BEMA or any other tribe is a human being and should be treated equally. This entails that there should be no segregation to say this is not my tribe mate. This worked and we saw a lot of intermarriages taking place (Megawatts, 1994). Government started posting workers to various parts of the country regardless of origin.
A BEMA was to western province, a loci was to eastern province and a Tong to Lupus People were encouraged and allowed to settle in any part of the country funny of origin. This was one way of overcoming tribalism. Uganda made a point persuade keepsake to aside since Beam’s could not possibly hold two t in both NIP and the government. Keepsake unwillingly obliged and Aka brought in Mains china, a southerner to replace keepsake. This was al Uganda used to cure tribalism by balancing the positions of the cabinet government so that all provinces feel represented in government (Man 994).
Above all, with an economy focused on copper mining, the urban a mines became a magnet for Zambia from across the country and all et seeking employment. By the asses almost half of all Zambia lived in our Despite ethnic stereotype, no group had an overwhelming advantage in u employment. All this effort of Dry. Uganda brought in the spirit or feeling among all ethnic groups and nationalism (Megawatts, 1994). In the AZ context, much of Samba’s political history is an account of the struggle b white colonial minority and the black majority.
Indigenous Zambia nation anxious to realize their right to self-determination, after realizing the ill-t they suffered through unequal opportunities for education, unpopular TA restricted movements. In Northern Rhodesia Africans embroiled themselves the formation of welfare societies and holding conferences. Megawatts cites the 1992 conference which was attended by nationalists like Ambulant, Kenneth Uganda and Godwin Ambiguity Leaning. These we shoots in the Zambia nationalism.
In Zambia, nationalism has to a great helped build a positive political culture. For example, most Zambia belie lattice tolerance and rejection of violence as a means of settling political or winning political popularity. In 1964, 1991 and 2011, Zambia from all united to bring about the desired change and were able to determine the destiny in a peaceful manner. The Post Newspaper (2011) shows how the section of the Zambia community condemned violence in the Just-ended elections where people are injured while some even lose their lives.
The purpose in condemning violence is testimony that Zambia have a strong belonging and they would not like violence to destroy the country. In add Nationalism creates feeling of love for the country and this extends to eve for its culture. Nationalism has imparted in Zambia the feeling of loving another despite different cultures and this has led to unity and harmony. Independence the people were separated in their distinct cultures with n religion but with the emergent of nationalism and the attainment of indeed people live in the Sauna’s slogan of “one Zambia, one nation”.
It was the nationalism that encouraged the people to work together in the fight for independence. People now work together and encourage, promote and c ACH other’s culture for national building and progress in every direction. (1976 is of the view that nationalists love their motherland and its physic human environment and says that their motherland is better than parade nationalism has particularly proved a blessing in creating a powerful poll consciousness as a result of which the oppressed people of Zambia were able to raise and overthrow the imperialistic alien nations.
It is for this reason that Shari (1989:469) states that, the emancipation of the peoples of Africa of political subjugation and economic exploitation could not occur without the rise of sectionalism. Nationalism has given a very sharp edge to the principle of national self- determination. Because of nationalism, the Zambia nation has gained world-wide respect for its ability to bring together the different people of its land with their different cultures, under one political culture of the “One Zambia, One Nation’.
Fighting to gain independence was one thing and bringing together 72 tribal groupings together in unity was another thing. This could only be achieved through the existence of a common political consciousness that procreates the tendency of distinct identity of the people. Aesthetics is another very important element of culture. Aesthetics is society’s concern with beauty rather than practicality (Webster universal dictionary 2002; 8). It dictates what is acceptable and appealing in the society culture. In Zambia, we have seen different traditional ceremonies being celebrated by many Zambia.
Examples of such ceremonies include the Matchbook celebrated by the Landau people, Safely pa Engage by the BEMA, Lined ceremony by the Tong, and Akimbo by the Loci. These ceremonies are only celebrated by a particular ethnic group but many different people from different sessions in Zambia Join in the celebrations thereby promoting the spirit of nationalism. These ceremonies are considered beautiful that has even promoted tourism thereby bringing in foreign exchange. In relation to this, different artifacts have been preserved in different Zambia museums that are used to preserve and explain some of the Zambia cultural beliefs.
The Zambia crafts according to Mustachioed, (2005) include some of the finest basketry and the many forms of raw materials including Bamboo, and Liana vines which are decorated with symbolic designs using traditional dyes instill in the people the spirit of nationalism that remotes culture. The tribal textiles in the Langue valley and other parts of Zambia produce unique design and hand-painted textiles made from 100% Zambia cotton retain strong ties to the tribe and clan of the people and national identity.
These inventions and creativeness of people is only done in the realm of nationalism where people share common knowledge and skills. In this way, culture is conserved and preserved. Despite the positive effects of nationalism on the Zambia culture mentioned above, nationalism has its own short comings on the Zambia culture. Some of the negative effects are going to be discussed below. Nationalism has not helped enough in bridging the gap between the different political parties in the country.
These different parties do not work together in developing the nation because of tribalism and selfish interests of people to gain power. For example, after independence there were divisions among the freedom fighters and developed different independent parties. And in 1973, Dry Uganda declared a one party system in which other political parties were not allowed to participate in political affairs of the country. This was a catastrophic that impinged on the rights of people to participate in decision making of the country and to have their views and petitions heard.
Also on terms of tribalism, political parties are built on the lines of tribes. For instance, if a leader off political party is Tong, then its membership will be full of Tong’s. Tribalism has led to ethnocentrism which is the regarding of one’s cultural practice to be superior to other cultures and stereotyping which is treating someone badly because they are different from you. These inequalities have hindered the development of culture in Zambia. So nationalism in itself is not enough to promote and preserve culture in Zambia (Morris, 1966).
Nationalism has a negative impact on Zambia culture because too much love for a country will hinder development of the country as other cultural practices or values will be considered inferior. This results in the hatred of foreigners who may come to share ideas or add new technologies to modify the already existing cultural values. Racism is one of the worst results of this kind of situation like what was happening in South Africa when foreigners were beaten, killed and harassed suspecting them of taking the Indigenous people’s Jobs and stubbing or interfering with their cultural beliefs.
This may cause wars between countries because there is no cooperation and tolerance. Shari (1982) suggests that what is required is to root out the dangerous aspects of nationalism. The other reason why nationalism is not enough to promote culture is that Zambia has high levels of corruption that hinders development. Resources are not distributed equally and certain groups of people have felt the most impact. For example, the Loci feel marginal’s and neglected in-terms resource distribution and the Lilting feels scripted.
Nationalism to some extent has failed to hold strong the Zambia culture because according to Boyce, 1982), the earth is a single integrated unit and becoming even more interconnected and interdependent. So Zambia turn to adopt western cultures. Samba’s indigenous traditional values are slowly fading away and being replaced by European or western cultures such as way of dressing, eating, and music. Zambia especially the youths do not understand the importance of some cultural practices to commemorate past historical events in Zambia and Just incarcerate on the western cultures (Britton et al, 2005).
In conclusion therefore, it may be stated that nationalism as a state or condition of mind that is characteristic of certain people with a homogeneous culture, who live together in close association in a given territory and sharing a belief in a distinctive existence and a common destiny, has indeed some positive effects. It is a bond of unity that brings people together towards a common goal. Nationalism is a common political sentiment. It is a result of the direct efforts of the people reacting against some form of alien yoke that objurgates them to oppression by the alien or foreign rulers.