Is there anything cultural that should be preserved? An artifact perhaps? Or a dance style? What about food, or norms and practices (like ilobolo) etc.?
I suppose the answer depends on your definition or understanding of what culture is. I guess a simple definition is that culture is a way of life of a people, be it a nation, an ethnic group or a tribe. But it is clearly deeper than that, and encompasses a whole lot of things – language, technology and tools, indeed norms and behaviours, ‘education’/learning, etc. Technology and tools and ‘education’/learning play very significant roles.
In a sense I would see a river as a good metaphor for culture. Sometimes people talk about “traditions” as culture, and vice versa. In a deeper and stricter sense, this is incorrect. Traditions, which is what people usually mean by ‘preserving our culture’, are almost akin to a dam or stagnant water, to culture’s flowing river. Just as a river flows, culture may at times flow fast or slow, go over rocky terrain, have flotsam and jetsam, have deep or shallow points, etc. The key, however, is that it keeps flowing forwards. Because people sometimes fear the discomfort of change, or vested interests find certain current practices to their advantage, from time to time there is pressure and agitation to keep or preserve certain aspects of current culture. Although there may be some limited value in this, hanging on for dear life to practices that are centuries old may be inimical to cultural progression.
To hark back to old dress styles in the name of tradition, when newer and current methods are clearly vastly superior is foolhardy. Or to perpetuate practices that come from a time when women were regarded as inferior and akin to children or property, is also demeaning and outrightly dangerous. These traditions may suit certain vested interests, but are ultimately out of their time and should be discarded forthwith.
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