University of Nebraska - Lincoln

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

12-2011

Globalization of Cultural Heritage: Issues, Impacts,

and Inevitable Challenges for Nigeria
Mercy U. Nwegbu

Cyril C. Eze

Brendan E. Asogwa

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac

Part of the Library and Information Science Commons

Nwegbu, Mercy U.; Eze, Cyril C.; and Asogwa, Brendan E., "Globalization of Cultural Heritage: Issues, Impacts, and Inevitable
Challenges for Nigeria" (2011). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 674.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/674
http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/

Library Philosophy and Practice 2011

ISSN 1522-0222

Globalization of Cultural
Heritage: Issues, Impacts,
and Inevitable Challenges
for Nigeria
Mercy U. Nwegbu
Cyril C. Eze
Brendan E. Asogwa

Introduction

Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs,

knowledge, material objects and behaviour. It includes the ideas,
value, customs and artefacts of a group of people (Schaefer,
2002). Culture is a pattern of human activities and the symbols
that give these activities significance. It is what people eat, how
they dress, beliefs they hold and activities they engage in. It is
the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their
attempts to meet the challenges of living in their environment,
which gives order and meaning to their social, political,
economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of
organisation thus distinguishing people from their neighbours. In
Federal Republic of Nigeria (1988), culture comprises material,
institutional, philosophical and creative aspects.

The process of expanding culture has been under way for many
centuries, but technologies have increased the speed and have
also broadened the distribution of cultural elements beyond
communities and nations’ territorial frontiers.

However, culture can be transmitted or acquired through

information or symbol. Cultural identity is those attributes,
behavioural patterns, lifestyles, social structures and norms that
distinguish a people from other peoples (Omekwu, 2003). These
are passed on laterally or inherited from one generation to
another (cultural heritage), or horizontally passed on from one
society to another through such agent as globalization. Henslin
(2007) sees globalization as “the increased interconnectedness
and under dependence of different societies around the world”.
He also sees it as the breaking down of national boundaries
because of advances in communications, trade and travel.

Today the paradigm is shifting with the new opportunities and

challenges created by new technologies. The message of this
paper is therefore to examine;

 The emerging issues in the globalization of Nigerian

cultural heritage.
 The impacts of technologies on the globalization of
Nigeria cultural heritage.
 The role of libraries in the documentation, presentation
and globalization of cultural heritage
 And the challenges and suggestions on how these effects
may be overcome.

Now, what are the: Issues, Impacts, and Emerging challenges?

Contemporary Issues

Colonial Legacy: One of the greatest issues is that Nigeria is a

heterogeneous society. Before colonialism, the territory known as
Nigeria today was inhabited by different peoples, empires, tribes
and kingdoms. These peoples have different cultures, traditions
and religion. The colonialists did not consider these divergent
issues, but went ahead and welded them together as one country.
Until 1977, when the only cultural show was performed in Nigeria
(FESTAC) there had never been attempts to nationalize Nigerian
cultural heritage. So when we talk or plan for globalization of the
heritage it is pertinent to start at home/domestic level before
internationalization (i.e. cultural nationalization before cultural
globalization).

Cultural Diversity: Nigeria is a society with abundant rich cultural

heritage that are scattered within the diverse ethnic nationalities.
These cultural heritages include language, marriage rites, burial
rites, birth rites, dressing, greeting, music, folklore, religion, and
other tangible cultural monuments, natural sites and cultural
landscapes. Some of these cultures have died due to western
cultural influence and therefore needed to be revitalized and
uploaded in the net if those who know how they are performed
are still alive.

Information Technologies: The advent of ICT has forced libraries

and librarians to operate with such concepts and phrases like
information society, digitization, computer or information
explosion, globalization, cyberspace and information
superhighway. These technologies have forced the developed
world to operate in a context of change which automatically
affects the ways our cultural heritage are documented, preserved
and practiced. It has brought the culture, folklore and heritage of
western countries into our doorsteps, reading tables, desktop or
laptop with just a press of the computer keyboard or a click of
mouse. Where are Nigerian cultural heritage in the world cultural
arena?

Cultural Policy: Efforts to globalize Nigerian cultural heritage have

not been fully discussed, evaluated or strategized by the Nigerian
government. There is serious lack of co-ordination of Nigerian
cultural heritage between the Federal government and the
Ministry of culture. Many Nigerians are not aware of the Nigerian
culture due to the fact that cultural knowledge and practices are
not included in Nigerian education curricula.

Environment of Cultural Globalization: How adequate are the

libraries and information science in Nigeria prepared for the
globalization of Nigerian cultural heritage? In an electronic
environment, how many libraries in Nigeria have enough resources
in terms of technologies and manpower for the globalization of
Nigerian culture – steady power supply, computer literate society
and cultural websites?

These are some of the contending issues that form the analytical
framework for this paper. Other issues or questions are;

1. Can globalization of Nigerian cultural heritage serve as a

unifying factor or would it widen further the ethnic and
cultural diversities?
2. What would happen if Nigerian cultural heritage is not
globalized?
3. Is increased reliance on ICT a threat or an opportunity for
the globalization of Nigerian cultural heritage?
4. What specific roles should Nigerian government play
towards the globalization of Nigeria cultural heritage?
5. What are the challenges for IT and librarians in the
globalization of Nigerian culture? Is safeguarding or
preservation of Nigeria cultural heritage necessary if such
heritage cannot be accessible to the outside world?
6. What are the impacts of globalization of cultural heritage
on Nigeria, religion, family, culture socialization
(moonlight play give way to video game, cyberfraud, etc)

Impacts

The positive impacts include (a) integration of Nigeria culture (b)

speedy access to Nigeria culture in the internet, (c) digitization
and preservation of cultural artefacts and (d) global access to the
cultural heritage.

Integration of Nigerian Culture: The impact here is that

globalization would integrate Nigeria culture and allow each
cultural community to view the other’s culture in the internet. As
a sport (football) which is a western culture unites Nigeria more
than any other activities at the international arena, so would
cultural globalization to Nigeria’s cultural diversity. With the
name “Nigeria Cultural Heritage” on the internet, so the world is
viewing Nigeria as a more united cultural nation. A proponent of
this view Lechner (2002) outlined thus (1) that interaction across
boundaries leads to the mixing of cultures in particular places and
practices (i.e. pluralisation). (2) That cultural flows occur
differently in different spheres and many originate in many places
(i.e. differentiation), and (3) that integration and spread of ideas
and images provoke reaction and resistance/competition (i.e.
contestation).

Speedy Access: Once globalized, Nigerian cultures can be accessed

online. Cultural access through the internet can be localized. By
localization we mean a process by which foreign cultures viewed
in the satellite TV system or the internet can be practised in
Nigerian environment or and vice versa. This information can be
accessed online simultaneously without distorting the contents.

Digitization: Digital scanners and cameras can be used to capture

digital images (of cultural artefacts) for importation into
computer systems. Conway (2000) highlighted some of the
benefits of digitization to include: (a) digital images offer unique
advantages because information and contents may be delivered
directly to end users; (b) the data can be easily formatted,
edited, and printed; (c) the digital collections are accessible to a
large number of users simultaneously.

Negative Impacts

Globalization of cultural heritage has some negative impacts in

some areas. Akande (2002) seems to understand more of this
negative impact when he said that western adventures made
efforts to undermine the cultural heritage of various peoples
around the world through colonization, imperialism and now
globalization. He said that cultural imperialism left the colonized
in a state of cultural disorientation which is vulnerable to cultural
invasion.

Commercialization of Culture: The most important far reaching

effect of cultural globalization is the commercialization of
culture. Production distribution and consumption of cultural goods
and services have become commodities along with the essentials
of life. Music, food, clothes, fashion, art, sports images, etc are
now sold in the market, imported and exported.

Commercialization of culture has a disturbing impact on the

people of Nigeria. For example, what was once an element of
Nigeria’s cultural way of life has become a product, rather than
something unique which they have made to suit their specific
needs and circumstances. Nigerian markets are increasingly
bombarded with new images, new music, new clothes and new
values. The impact is that the familiar and the old artefacts are
being discarded. The fact is that these will be lost simply because
they are not valued by global markets. This undermining of the
peoples existing values and cultures has a corrosive impact on the
sense of who we are, what we want and what we respect. “The
cumulative effect” in Akande’s (2000) words “is a crisis of cultural
confidence, combined with economic uncertainty and crime which
global integration often brings”.

Religion: In the area of religion, the impact of globalization is not

left out. For example, Hock-Tong (2001) observes that Islamic
fundamentalism has in many respects served as a bulwark against
modernity, that Muslims generally see the secular influence of
western science and technology as inimical to traditional Islamic
values. This was the reason most non-Muslim researchers tend to
attribute the underdevelopment and under privileged state of
Muslim women to Islamic tradition.

As a result of cultural globalization, the movement of youths from

the rural to urban setting has caused a significant depopulation of
youths going to prayer houses in the rural setting. The arrival of
Christianity has also depopulated the traditional religious
adherents in many parts of Nigeria.

Proselytization: Information and communication technology is

gradually spreading its influence on religious evangelism. This is in
the areas and methods religious society globally use it for
teaching, proselytizing and in belief systems. It is now possible for
any religion to spread its faith beyond national borders, allowing
even small religious movements to engage in overseas
Proselytization activities.

The Family: In Nigeria due to the impact of globalization on

cultural norms, socialization processes and values are affected.
For instance some parents are no longer frowning at what the
youths put on. The traditional pattern of subordinating when
greeting an elder has changed to “hi”.

Our Languages: Today, the use foreign language, English, has

always been an important aspect of official language in Nigeria.
Though there is high rate of illiteracy in the rural population, the
use of our local languages has its limitations. Many elite families
would like their children to learn English language better than
their local language.

Today, Nigerians use and read books written in foreign language

faster and more fluently than those written in local languages. In
Nigeria, cultural globalization has impacted on the number of
Movies produced by Nigeria Nollywood. Movies produced in English
are much more than those performed and produced in Igbo and
other Nigerian languages. Globalization, Information Technologies
and Libraries: Information and communication technology
accelerates globalization of cultural values. As Omekwu (2006)
reiterated, the internet is a key development in the growth of
globalization because globalization has changed the nature of
national government imposing national and international cultures
on local culture. With information technologies, foreign cultures
can be preserved in libraries and accessed simultaneously by
library users and other Nigerians irrespective of their ethno-
cultural learning.

Globalization and the internet also allow cultural heritage of

different tribes in Nigeria to be uploaded, downloaded, and
accessed by other people in another side of the world thereby
projecting the cultural identity of Nigeria Omekwu (2003)
captures this impact very well when he said, “the internet
certainly offers the greatest opportunities for cultural exchange,
causing more books, journal reference and paper based
information media and cultural artefacts to migrate to electronic
format. He cites Basser (1995) to have stressed on the negative
impact of cultural globalization and the electronic media.
According to him, as more and more people are relying on online
access to culture, it is likely to have great effects on how people
view culture and on the internal working of our cultural
repositories, such as museum and libraries.

“As it become more and more convenient to view cultural objects

on home computers” Basser continues, “people are likely to visit
museums (and libraries) less frequently. More and more people
access…museum objects online without entering the museum and
libraries will rapidly become redundant and erode.”

Challenges

This section, sought to address the challenges that face libraries

and library professionals in globalization of Nigeria cultural
heritage.

Repositioning Library Professionals in the new age: Today,

professional librarians in Nigeria and other parts of Africa are
facing the challenges of becoming irrelevant in the digital
environment. This is because the analogue or traditional ways of
handling and managing information are fundamentally changing. If
professional librarians are not re-awakened to reposition their
stand in the profession, they might be by-passed. Librarians in
Nigeria must improve on their ICT and internet literacy in this
changing environment in order to fit in very well in this era of
information technology and globalization.

Management of Cultural Institutions: Libraries, museums and

cultural institutions or ministries need to manage their cultural
heritage in such a way that they will become access point to
users. To do this, these heritage resources need to be digitalized
for better preservation. The purpose of preserving anything is to
enable access to it in future. Without access, to cultural heritage
it would be difficult for people to learn from the past successes
and failures. Therefore, the challenges of digitization,
preservation and accessibility of cultural values remain a big task
for library professionals.

Competition: Increasing globalization creates winner-take-all

market for cultural output. That is why Carden (2008) referred to
it as a double-edged sword capable of helping national cultures to
revitalize their culture to face other cultures. The challenge for
librarians is that those with technology advances, the authors and
creators of technologies are better positioned to use these tools
to improve on their cultural heritage. This is capable of masking
African cultures at the global level.

Professional librarians in Nigeria have the task of repackaging

their cultural heritage in order to meet international standard.
This is so because survival in the new global business market calls
for improved productivity and increased competition.

Expansion into the Hinterland: There is the need to provide

enabling facilities for the rural community. Cultural heritage
information are accessible to only those who have the internet or
satellite TV, leaving out a substantial segment of the world
population. However the village or local areas in the country are
places where some of the immovable heritage is found. For the
rural community to benefit from the services provided by
Information technologies, the government should extend these
facilities to that area in order to bridge the ICT divide.

Conclusion

Today’s societies are multi-culture in themselves, which

encompasses a multitude of varying ways of life and lifestyle.
Most people are shaped by more than a single culture, which is
brought about by globalization. And globalization which is a
concept of uniformity assumes that cultures are becoming the
same as the world. In Nigeria, the instability of personality,
family, community and other activities are largely due to the
rapid erosion of our absolute traditional values and not due to the
advancement of information technology. Instead, technology has
come to accelerate our cultural heritage. Therefore, rejecting
advanced information technology or globalization is not a solution
for overcoming its disintegrating effects; rather, it may be viewed
as a form of escape.

The only remedy in ensuring cultural stability is for the agents of

change (government) to repackage and re-inculcate absolute
values through the use of libraries, mass media, and advanced
information technologies to counter negative changes that are
emerging today.

Therefore very few human communities will neither want to

reject technological changes or globalization, nor will they want
to return to the traditional pattern of community organisation
especially now that they have evolved new pattern to suit their
immediate needs.

Recommendations

In view of the contending issues, impacts and challenges, the

following recommendations are made for effective cultural
preservation in a global world environment.

 There is the need for the legal protection of the

intangible cultural heritage.
 There is need for the government to revive traditional and
popular forms of a people’s expression.
 Government should incorporate programmes relating to
traditional cultures, heritage and folklore in education
curricular at all levels.
 Government should develop legislative protection for
traditional culture, heritage museum, archives, and
libraries.
 Government should provide training in the use of ICT for
documentation, digitization and preservation of cultural
heritage.
 There is the need to establish “heritage club” where
issues of cultural heritage would be discussed as a means
of transmission of oral and intangible heritage.
 An international World Day for showcasing and safe-
guarding traditional cultural heritage should be
established.
 There is the need to hold seminars, workshops or
technical assistance for training of managers and teachers
in the field of traditional culture and heritage.
 Conservation, preservation and dissemination of
expressions of the intangible cultural heritage should
continue to be an important component of the library
profession.
 Public policies to protect the young from the abuse and
misuse of modern information technologies – indecent
dressing, violence, sex and phonographic materials that
find their way to some homes – should be made.

References

Akande, Wole (2002). Drawback of cultural globalization.

Available @ http://www.org/globali

Carden, Art (2008). Does globalization destroy culture? The

Independent Institute.

Conway, P. (2000). Overview: Rationale for digitization and

preservation. Available:
http://www.nedcc.org/digital/dighome.html. Accessed 23 April,
2009.

Croucher, Sheila L. (2004). Globalization and belonging: the

politics of identity in a changing world. New York: Rowman of
Littlefield.

Hock-Tong, Cheu (2001). Global culture and its effects on the

Malay family and community. Kokugakuin University: Institute for
Japanese culture and classic.

Lechner, Frank (2002). Globalization in a multi-ethnic state.

Available:
http://www.socioloy.emo.edu/globalization/issues05.html.
Accessed on 23 April, 2009

Omekwu, C.O. (2003). Information technology revolution, libraries

and cultural values: Issues, impacts and inevitable challenges for
Africa. 69th IFLA General Conference and council, Berlin August, 1
– 9.

Omekwu, C.O. (2006). African culture and libraries: The

Information Technology Challenges. Electronic Library, 24 (2),
247-248.

Schaefer, R.T. (2002). Sociology: A brief introduction. 4th ed.

Boston: McGraw Hill.

Wikipedia (2009). Free encyclopaedia. Available:

http://www.enwikipedia.org/wiki/culturalheritage. Accessed 23
April, 2009.