Culture and Heritage
Culture is both inheritance and creation. It is the fabric of values, traditions, and shared identity passed from one generation to the next. Yet when scarcity shapes culture, it can carry both deep wounds and deep wisdom.
In African history, colonialism fractured cultural systems and replaced them with structures of exclusion. Violence became normalised, not only through war and forced labour but also through everyday survival. In many communities, responding with aggression to unknown stimuli was not a choice, but a generational lesson.
At the same time, culture held people together. Songs, rituals, and storytelling carried hope, dignity, and a sense of belonging even in the darkest times. For the DeafBlind and disabled communities, culture often meant building new traditions of resilience — from tactile signing to self-advocacy movements that demanded recognition where society offered none.
Heritage, then, is never neutral. What we inherit is shaped by what society values or ignores. If children inherit exclusion, they internalise scarcity as “normal.” If they inherit inclusion, they begin to see themselves as full participants in community and economy.
The challenge for us today is to choose which culture we strengthen. Do we pass on silence as invisibility, or silence as shared strength? Do we pass on exclusion, or belonging? Do we repeat scarcity, or begin to build generational wealth — not only in money, but in dignity, equality, and vision?
🌱 Culture is a living choice. By reshaping what we inherit, we redefine what future generations will call home.