...rage pantries or granaries. Africans, speaking their indigenous languages ould not call any of these huts. A hut, as defined by ebster, is 1. A crudely built delling or shelter. 2. A temporary structure for sheltering troops. If you return from traveling and tell your friends, 1 I slept in a hut, or 2 I slept in a palace, your friends ill have a very different image about your experience. You ill influence, through your selection of ords, ho your friends ill vie your experience, and through extension, the lives of the people you met and their quality of life. So if you slept ith the royal family, did you sleep in a hut or a palace Your choice of ords can sho the bias in ho you vie the orld. The ords and ideas that esterners typically associates ith Africa and other non-estern cultures are Third orld natives ho live in huts and practice itch craft. Unfortunately most of the messages e have received since childhood about our fello non-estern man and oman grossly simplify their lives and denigrates their state of being. It is a lexicon that has been generated, built and spread by ethnocentric estern anthropologists, missionaries, educators and Hollyood. The fact that non-esterners also, hen speaking our English and French, use terms like natives, huts, and itch craft doesnt validate the accuracy of the vocabulary. One of the lasting legacy of a century of foreign domination and oppression is language. Here the consequence of language structuring thinking is perhaps even more destructive and tragic because it moves from opinion to identity. To escape the pejorative labels and humiliation that language has brought to them and to boost self-esteem, many people born into non-estern cultures have felt compelled to educate and esternize and to adopt the estern devaluation of their uneducated countrymen and omen - ironically, some of hom may speak five or more different languages, and are extraordinary medical botanists, theologians or agronomists in their home environments. Though it is expedient, a lack of knoledge or a limited vocabulary is not justification for debasing and misrepresenting something. There is an axiom, It is better to sit quietly and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it beyond all doubt. Until e can learn accurately, find some ne ords and be descriptive about the broader orld it is better to continue to research and explore, than expostulate. So ho can e be more descriptive ith language. First, you might have to erase from your minds the vocabulary you use for non- estern cultures and the values they embody. Starting ith a clean slate, e can learn a vocabulary that imparts a greater depth of knoledge and understanding. Second, it is important to respect other peoples terms of self-identification. Ask, learn, remember and use the descriptions that they prefer. The folloing are some vocabulary tips. Though not an exhaustive list, it should help you be more sensitive, objective and accurate in your observations of non-estern cultures. orld OrderThird orld, though idely used, is a misleading and vague phase. It is used so generally that it is difficult to determine hats being described. It implies a hierarchy. But ho defined the order and on hat basis as it established Is the hierarchy really there Does Third orld refer to economics health, political sophistication, geographical area, social structure, arts and cultural complexity, national achievement, military might, or ethical and moral values On some scales of development a country ith loer and more efficient energy consumption might rank ahead of a asteful nonproductive energy guzzling nation. If e are discussing cultural character any ranking risks being subjective and ethnocentric. Ranking the ethics and morals of other societies is alays difficult especially hen they are sophisticated and complex, and you dont understand them. In talks about economics you can speak of loer average per capital income countries. Politically the reference may be to nely- independent countries. Geographically your subject may be distant lands or name the continent or country. Culturally, the reference is probably to societies that are non-estern, as oppose to a third orld culture. Part of the lesson of being a sensitive student or traveler is that there is one multicultural orld and each member has hisher on mix of physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual assets to contribute. Each deserves respect. None is second class. Though generally discounted, countries of Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean and South America produce some of the orlds best athletes, not second or third place competitors. They have been responsible for a variety of scientific discoveries that have changed civilization. By those ho kno, their cultures, artisans, philosophers and leaders are renon. I also hesitate at the phrase less developed. 1 The model for development is rooted in a paradigm that assumes human elfare is merely the sum of gross economic values. 2 The term implies that more filling of etlands, cutting of forests, paving of valleys, polluting of ater, poisoning of land, dirtying of air and consumption of resources -- e.g. development -- is better. And, 3 There is a cultural evaluation that a society that does employ as much ne technology is a lesser culture. Our linking of development and culture is often ethnocentric and tends to misrepresents and undervalues the sophistication of the culture, values, ethics, morals and social institutions of other civilizations. To use the verb developing orks better but can be vague. Hopefully e are all trying to improve the condition for life on the planet. Before e can make a useful measure of development e need to establish a ne paradigm hich is habitat-centered and sustainable. ith these standards e may find that countries ith large areas of urban blight, social dislocation and a toxic environments are further from the goal of development than a country ith a sustainable agrarian economy and a tight-knit social fabric. Under this paradigm the former is less developed. Ethnic IdentityAs a noun, associated ith non-estern cultures, native is generally used to refer to an anonymous person. hether it is meant or not there is an underlying tone of primitive and inferior life-style. Foremost, the people of the continent have identities, pride and dignity! They have roots in their continent, their modern nations, their racial background and their ethnic groups. They are Africans, and Pacific Islanders, or more specifically Malian and Samoan. Africans also identify by a number of linguisticracial groups Nilotes, San. Better yet learn and use their ethnic group Fulani, Kikuyu. There are natives indigenous to most areas of the Africa and the orld but in this form the ord only indicates the location of birth and should be limited to that form ithout implication to culture or life-style i.e. Our visiting professor, Kofi, is a native of Ghana. Similarly toss tribe for most app...
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