The Culture and Behavior of South Africa Conflicts - Case Study Example

CULTURES AND BEHAVIORS OF SOUTH AFRICA South Africa is a country with a population of around 40 million of which 75% of this population are black Africans while 15% are white Europeans and he rest 10% is a mixture of six ethnic groups in South Africa i.e. English, Chinese, Indian, Afrikaners and Malays. Citizens of South Africa speak 11 official languages but majority speak English and Afrikaans. South Africa is the most industrialized country in Africa because if has substantial resource for minerals including gold, silver, copper and diamonds (Nuttall 2003). Hofstede analysis shows that South Africa demonstrates their emphasis on individualism and has been ranked to be extremely high but not that there is no ranking with orientation with long term process. On the side of religion we find that 50%of the population of South Africa practice Christianity than Catholicism, of which the correlation between religion and hofstede dimensions has a very high rank of individualism (Nuttall 2003). South Africa is among he multicultural cultural countries in this world whereby different ethnic groups come up together in urban centers to make a population, moreover aspect of colonialism of the indigenous black people in south in south Africa has brought up existence of the white people i.e. Indians, Chinese, Europeans, Malays an d many others. Due to this aspect of different people who have dominated in South Africa from different continents has brought out diversity hence making it difficult to generalize etiquettes and culture (Clark 2008). On the aspect of families in South Africa we find that most families are nuclear, extended or tribe, whereby in most African traditional societies they value tribe mostly because it I an important community which is the same as a nation. In South Africa traditional Afrikaans culture recognizes extended families to be more important than the nuclear families while the white communities consider the nuclear families most. It is notable that the ultimate grassroots of tribe is the nuclear family whereby family units and tribe have been changed by changes in economic setup of a country. when some of the family members migrate to urban centre’s they try their much effort in maintaining family ties by providing both material an financial support to their family members whom they left at the village when they migrated to urban areas (Carter 2012). In south Africa there is great difference in the case of rural/urban dichotomy whereby there is great differences values of rural and urban dwellers, by examining them critically we find that the most of the whites who are in rural villages are Afrikaners whom they were brought down by Calvinists hence ending up practicing farming at the village. These whites in the village have a narrow view about the world hence valuing human decency more than materialism. There is affection in the lives of city dwellers since most of them live in the first lane hence affecting their outlook (Clark 2008). Most of Johannesburg dwellers are regarded to have materialistic values hence they are more interested in what one owns more than anything else while those from Cape Town are proud about their city hence having superior attitude about with the rest of the whole country of South Africa. Those from Cape Town treasure family ties, social standing and long term relationships to be very important. Most of the black communities living in the rural areas value most traditions of their heritage while their black colleagues living in urban areas combine roots they came up in rural areas with those of the urban environment together with international influences which they surround them (Nuttall 2003). South Africa Etiquette and customs Meeting Etiquette In south Africa greetings styles differ depending on the ethnic heritage of the person whom you have met with, when one meets a foreigner shaking is the greeting while looking on his or her own eye while smiling but some women do not necessarily shake hands but they nod their head so when you want to greet a woman it is best to wait until she extend her hand. Men kiss a woman whom she knows on her cheeks instead of shaking hands with her. South Africans treat greetings as leisure and he include in times of social discussion while they are exchanging pleasantries (Clark 2008). Gift Giving Etiquette During birth days and Christmas South Africans gives out gifts, in the case two birth day two people which have occurred simultaneously in a day they normally organize a large party to celebrate and giving out lavish gifts; for this function to be much successful is best for friends to contribute to make the cost much cheaper and easier. The people invited in South Africa for such parties are expected to bring things like: chocolates, flowers, wine and many other gifts which are well wrapped to show extra effort. The gifts brought to the hostess at the end are opened when they are received. Dining Etiquette When you are invited to South Africa for diner you are expected to arrive on time, you should have contacted the hostess in time so that you will b e able to know if you are required to bring anything like a drink or extra dish if necessary. When going just wear casual clothes or seek advice, first from the host first. In Johannesburg dressing in casual attire is more presentable more than in other parts of the country. In addition when invited for a dinner in 6South Africa if is important to offer assistances to the hostess in preparation of meals and cleaning up during and after meals (Spierenburg 2006). In south Africa there has been a great problem of ethnic diversity within their mode of culture and behavior and this has generally and this has resulted bin hindering the economic development and creating political instability and poverty in the nation large hence causing negative achievement in nation building. The ongoing European colonial historical challenges have been a fuel for ethnic divisions and challenges. We find that cultural diversity has been the cause of conflict in south and this has negatively affected the economic development drastically. Causes of Conflicts in south Africa European colonialism In South Africa .there is diversity in terms ethnic religion and clan and all these originated from European legacy of colonialism, diversity cannot explain generation of conflicts sufficiently in south Africa hence it has more to explain historical background. During the scramble for Africa, Europeans had a more ruling power in the societies of South Africa with the reason of possessing land. During the first world war that is 1870 we the colonialists that is the Europeans acquired a huge piece of land of the globes and hey were more interested in occupying more land which in turn led to conflicts and devastation in south Africa (Rothchild 2002). To end these conflicts a Berlin conference was held in 1885 and resulted in drawing territorial boundaries between the colonials and the existing cultural groups, the new countries formed after the conflicts resulted in undermining national solidarity because of the new force of western power hence causing diverse division which encouraged in form of language, race and religion. The conflicts caused artificial separation different ethnic groups in South Africa through the mechanism of them using the western power. The western power ignored ethnics which existed before together with the religious values and destroying cultural sites and le to the increment in conflicts and war. In summary we can see that western colonization caused separation of groups to gain to gain political objective without them considering the origin of culture of different groups causing war and conflict among different ethnic groups (Rothchild 2002). Underdevelopment Political instability which is caused by corruption in government politics with civil war erupting has affected economic development negatively in South Africa. The war does not only affect the economic development in the region but they also cause conflicts over resources. South Africa is rich in variety mineral and its distribution across the country has caused conflicts because each ethic group wants to land with resources (Spierenburg 2006). When the state or the ethnic group crab land with more resources to occupy we that at long run the scarce resources are being given to the minority group hence causing war within their boundaries. Internal and economic fragmentation within region has also caused armed conflicts in south Africa hence lacking regional development has created a barrier in achieving economic development. There is need to come up with trust and proper partnership in orders to move forward to achieve better economic development in South Africa (Carter 2012). Ethnic diversity Ethnic diversity has been blamed greatly as to have caused conflicts and war in South Africa because it simply states the originality of communal contenders hence causing different groups to fight in look of power over to control the other groups in South Africa. This attribute to the hatred entities among different tribes in terms of politics, conviction, traditions and religions therefore creating internal political cohesion which in real life situation is necessary for the existence of any nation (Carter 2012). This clearly shows that South Africa lacks emotional ties within the nation because ethnic diversity from artificial separation which ends up creating conflicts as a result of European colonialism. Generally we can see that ethnic issue and cultural diversity is a major challenge in South Africa as a nation because causes war and conflicts (Marger 2011). Due to the above mentioned causes of conflicts in South Africa we find that there has to be a consideration of ethnic stratification to solve the problem of the majority and minority. In this case there has to be adoption of emotional mobilization whereby different diverge ethnic communities converge together to balance power through enhancing better development of mobilized nations. When cultural identity is formed there will be recognition of cultures which could have diverse hence strengthening the social cohesion, by o doing we that there will promotion of national integration through emotional mobilization hence at long run we find that leaders are being supported (Rothchild 2002). Another thing which is needed by South Africans citizens in order for them to solve to solve their problems of conflicts with line with the majority over the minority is the adoption of education for peace building. People should be taught the importance of promoting cultural diversity to maintain peace in the society thus accomplishing change in the institution through policy implementation. Also there has to be manifestation intercultural understanding with tolerance, adopting culture with peace is made through education, information technology and the knowledge from different cultures. Information through the media targets every citizen and this can be implemented widely through training projects like work shops. We find that workshops assist in the implementation of cultural peace education in three main levels; schools, nation and community (Carter 2012). Cultural diversity enhanced by adequate education link indigenous knowledge via morn information technology. Generally we find that cultures are integrated to form cultural identity which then opens way to conflict resolution in South Africa. As compared to the United States racial and discrimination relations both have enacted laws against these vices notably after the end of apartheid rule. South Africa has strong cultural ties notably the family and societal units as contrasted with the United States cultural ties. At the same time ethnic hostility is far much notably in United States where in South Africa there is notable ethic hostility (Marger 2011). Conclusion According to the to the culture and behavior of south Africa Conflicts and war have great hindrances in the economic development of this region because of the effect of dispersing the country’s regional cooperation as well as making it to be underdeveloped. Basically from the look we find that the origin of all these conflicts are found from the colonization of Europeans whom they partitioned regions causing violence and eruption of violence’s among different ethnic groups. Also another aspect which ends up bringing conflicts is the level of economic development being low and party issues have affected political stability and the benefits of good building infrastructure in the institutions. Depending on the resources with greater level and fighting tendency motivated to seeking power among different ethnic groups has also in intra-state wars. On the convention view, enrichment of cultural identity plays an important role in unifying a nation. In summary cultural diversity can be used to be an asset for building a nation, cultural diversity has to be promoted through education to restore harmony and peaceful coexistence among the various communities and states in any country. References Carter, P. L. (2012). Stubborn Roots:Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. and South African Schools: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. and South African Schools. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Clark, D. (2008). South Africa the Culture. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. Marger, M. N. (2011). Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives. New York: Cengage Learning. Marja Spierenburg, H. W. (2006). Culture, Organization, And Management in South Africa. Hauppauge: Nova Publishers. Rothchild, D. S. (2002). Managing Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Pressures and Incentives for Cooperation. Washington: Brookings Institution Press. Sarah Nuttall, C.-A. M. (2003). Senses of culture: South African culture studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More