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norm. In a similar vein, it could be that not all Africans exercise or subscribe to ubuntu (compassion, caring, etc for fellow human beings and nature), but that does not discount the fact that it is an African cultural value.

 

While Hountondji (1996:75 – 76) emphatically argues that “there cannot be a collective philosophy” and that to speak of African philosophy in the collective sense is a “huge misconception”, Wiredu (1980:37), though recognising the collectiveness of African philosophy, simultaneously recognises “a class of individuals in traditional African societies who, though unaffected by modern intellectual influences, are capable of critical and original philosophical reflections as distinct from repetitions of the folk ideas of their peoples”. What this implies is an appreciation of individual Africans’ embrace of their heritage while simultaneously being critical of unacceptable or obsolete aspects of the very same culture. Wiredu (1980:21) clarifies this point by noting that[t]those who seem to think that the criticism of African traditional philosophy by an African is something akin to betrayal are actually more conservative than those among our elders who are real thinkers as distinct from mere repositories of traditional ideas. If you talk to some of them you soon discover that they are not afraid to criticise, reject, modify or add to traditional philosophical ideas.

 

The point about culture as a collectively lived experience needs some attention because it has the potential to blur and to distort issues. Often observers tend to attribute an individual’s act to a collective culture. This tends to be often the case when discussions focus on African culture. In other words it would be a case where individual Africans’ misdeeds are linked to African culture. But this is not just the outside observers’ fault, but Africans’ as well, since some invoke African culture when they want to explain away their misdemeanors. So, as a matter of emphasis, culture in this chapter is informed by Gyekye’s (1997:198) observation that “[c]ulture is the way of a life of a people. It is a public phenomenon, a product consciously and purposefully created by a people or a society.” (my italics)

 

The words “consciously” and “purposefully” are emphasised because culture in this chapter is understood as constituting acts informed by thinking processes. Such emphasis is important because some prominent African thinkers such as Negritude writer, Leopold Senghor, in celebrating Africanness, have claimed that “Emotion is African, as Reason is Hellenic” (Hountondji, 1996:18). Senghor’s assertion is informed by what has been celebrated as Africans’ love for rhythm, dance, music and spontaneity. But culture, as Wiredu (1980:10) notes, “means more than art, song and dance”.

 

Based on these conceptual and philosophical understandings, it is now possible to examine the 2010 Journalism Class’ impressions of African culture before their engagement with the Cultural Literacy Module.

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