Child Raising in African Culture, a Blight on Human Dignity?

Reflection on Sade Adeniran’s "Imagine This"

Abstract

Trauma of migration has been seen as not only peculiar to African immigrants in the West. This is because Africans, on returning to their roots also experience other dimensions of trauma, meted and shielded by the custodians of culture all in the name of ‘Communal Child Raising’ manifest in culture shock, stereotyping, abuse and general disillusionment. Using the theory of Adultism, this paper examines how Sade Adeniran; a member of the Yoruba community interrogates the popular Yoruba adage- “it takes a village to raise a child”. This paper unravels the datum that this adage has been adversely wielded by African parents and guardians to mentally, financially, physically and emotionally abuse Africans under their care. Imagine This as a literary work, captures the injustice on the self image, identity and dignity which our African culture in this regard impose on affected young population. The theory of Adultism foregrounds the seeming undiscussed issue of oppression meted to children by adults who take advantage of the position of authority which they occupy in the lives of these young people. When custodians of societal values neglect their responsibility of building the human dignity in their wards via a more humane culture of child raising, it engenders a dysfunctional society with problems which eventually lead to social change. This paper there submits that education and respect for the human self, regardless of the age involved remain panaceas for sustainability of human dignity grounded in our Africaness.